Tenant screening and landlord-tenant law in illinois

Illinois does not impose a general statewide dollar cap on tenant screening or application fees today, but it regulates fees in two ways. First, under the Reusable Tenant Screening Report provision (765 ILCS 705/30, effective January 1, 2025), a landlord generally may not charge a screening or application fee to an applicant who provides a compliant reusable report, though a landlord may still charge for additional processing that isn't duplicative of that report. Second, a newer Rental Fee Transparency and Limitations provision (765 ILCS 705/35) will generally cap application/background-check fees at $50 — with an exception allowing a higher fee only if the actual third-party background-check cost exceeds $50, the landlord fronts that cost, and bills the applicant within 14 days with receipts — and will ban a list of other "junk fees." This $50 cap section is not yet in effect: Illinois's own legislative database flags it as carrying a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027, so as of today it should be treated as an upcoming change rather than current law, and landlords/screening providers should track it. It would exempt owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer and would let local governments set stricter (but not looser) fee rules.

Illinois has not enacted a statewide law comparable to Cook County's Just Housing Amendment or Chicago's Fair Chance ordinance restricting how private landlords may use criminal conviction history. What Illinois does provide, confirmed on the Illinois Department of Human Rights' official housing-rights page, is that arrest record is a protected characteristic under the Illinois Human Rights Act in housing — so an arrest that didn't result in conviction generally may not be used to deny an applicant. That state list does not include "conviction record" as a housing-specific protected class (conviction record is protected in Illinois employment decisions, not housing, under current state law). Landlords in Chicago and suburban Cook County face materially stronger local restrictions.

Yes — Illinois protects source of income as a characteristic under the Illinois Human Rights Act, confirmed directly on the IDHR housing rights page, which lists "Source of Income" alongside the federal Fair Housing Act categories and other state-added categories (arrest record, immigration status, military status, and more). In practice, this generally means a landlord may not refuse to rent to, or otherwise treat differently, an applicant solely because they plan to pay with a housing voucher or other lawful income source.

Illinois has not enacted a state-specific adverse-action notice requirement layered on top of FCRA for tenant screening. Federal FCRA §615 baseline rules — providing notice when a report contributes to a denial, and identifying the reporting agency and the applicant's dispute rights — generally apply as the operative framework in Illinois.

Illinois does not cap the dollar amount a landlord may collect as a security deposit at the state level. Timing and process are regulated by the Security Deposit Return Act (765 ILCS 710): a landlord generally must furnish an itemized statement of damages, with paid receipts or a lease-specified cost, within 30 days of the tenant vacating (or the right of possession ending), or must return the full deposit within 45 days if no itemized statement is provided. A landlord who refuses in bad faith to itemize or return a deposit can be liable for twice the deposit plus court costs and attorney's fees. Separately, the Security Deposit Interest Act (765 ILCS 715) requires interest payments only for buildings with 25 or more units in a single building or contiguous complex, at a rate tied to the largest Illinois bank's passbook savings rate, paid within 30 days after each 12-month period once accrued interest reaches $5, and in full (regardless of amount) at lease termination.

Illinois has a statewide ban on local rent control. The Rent Control Preemption Act (50 ILCS 825) bars any unit of local government — including home-rule cities — from enacting or enforcing an ordinance that controls the rent charged for private residential or commercial property; the only carve-out is for property in which the local government itself holds an ownership interest. Illinois has no statewide just-cause eviction requirement for private market-rate housing. Illinois separately prohibits landlords from retaliating against tenants who assert legal rights, under the Landlord Retaliation Act (765 ILCS 721).

Chicago has its own, more detailed Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance covering security deposits, notice requirements, and other tenant protections, plus a separate Fair Chance Housing ordinance addressing criminal history. Landlords operating in Chicago should treat state law as the floor and check current Chicago ordinances directly. Cook County's Human Rights Ordinance, including its Just Housing Amendment, extends criminal-history and source-of-income housing protections to suburban Cook County — areas within the county but outside Chicago's separate city ordinance. We were not able to confirm the current specific lookback periods and procedural requirements of that county ordinance from a live fetch of Cook County's official site, so landlords in suburban Cook County should verify current requirements directly with the county. We did not independently verify specific tenant-screening or source-of-income ordinances for other individual Illinois cities (such as Evanston or Urbana). Illinois does organize some non-city land into townships as a unit of local government, but townships are not typically the bodies that adopt landlord-tenant or fair-housing ordinances in Illinois — that authority sits with municipalities and counties, as reflected in the Chicago and Cook County examples above.

Does Illinois cap tenant screening or application fees? Not yet at the state level as of this writing. Illinois law already limits fees indirectly by barring a duplicate screening fee when an applicant supplies a qualifying reusable tenant screening report, and a separate $50 application/background-check fee cap has been enacted but does not take effect until January 1, 2027.

Is source of income a protected class in Illinois? Yes. The Illinois Human Rights Act lists source of income among its protected housing characteristics, so declining an applicant solely for using a housing voucher generally raises fair-housing concerns.

Does Illinois have rent control? No. State law affirmatively bars any Illinois local government from enacting rent control, so there is no statewide or (currently enforceable) local rent-control regime anywhere in Illinois.

Are criminal history rules the same everywhere in Illinois? No. Statewide, Illinois protects arrest record (but not conviction record) in housing. Chicago and Cook County have separately adopted broader, locally enforced criminal-history restrictions that go further than state law.

Checkr can help Illinois landlords build a consistent, FCRA-aligned screening workflow that reflects the state protections outlined above. Get started at tenant.checkr.com/signup to set up screening for your Illinois rental properties.

The resources and information provided here are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Always consult your own counsel for up-to-date legal advice and guidance related to your practices, needs, and compliance with applicable laws.