No. 1 · Tuesday, December 15, 2026 · Illinois · 7 minutes | Two Illinois laws start on Jan 1, and one of them changes a definition. The one that reaches the most owners of a unit or two is about the lease and the listing: every non-optional fee goes on page one, 11 fees are banned by name, and an application fee stops at $50. The exemption turns on the owner living there, not on size. | 17 days to Jan 1: 2 Illinois laws. |
| Illinois · Public Act 104-0479 (HB 3564) Non-optional fees on page one, and 11 banned outrightStarts Jan 1, 2027 What changed A lease’s non-optional fees, one-time or recurring, “shall be explicitly contained on the first page of a lease agreement”; a fee that is not there is one the tenant is not liable for (765 ILCS 705/35(b)). The listing, meaning any ad that says a property is for lease and gives the rent, must disclose them too, clearly or through a linked page, and the lease disclosure or the listing says whether utilities are included ((a), (b)(1), (b)(2)).
Eleven fees are banned by name (c): an application fee over $50, background checks included; a second application fee that duplicates screening or adds costs unrelated to it; a fee to modify or renew a lease; a fee for an eviction notice or for filing an eviction before the court grants an order (court costs and filing fees stay recoverable); after-hours maintenance requests; contacting the owner or manager about maintenance, the lease or the tenancy; travel for needed repairs; a maintenance hotline; routine upkeep of the unit; pest abatement the tenant did nothing to cause; and an in-person move-in or move-out walk-through. Above $50 is allowed only for a third-party background check that really costs more, paid by the landlord upfront and billed to the applicant within 14 days with the provider’s receipts; billed late, the fee is waived, and in the lease’s first year it can never be the basis for an eviction. Renaming a fee to escape the section is barred (e). Who it reaches Every lease for residential rental property entered into after the start date; no unit count, no owner type. Outside it: leases for “dwelling units in owner-occupied premises containing 6 units or fewer” (e). Both halves must hold. A landlord who does not live on the premises has no exemption in the text, at 1 unit or at 4; an owner living in their own building of 6 or fewer is outside it. The text stops there: it defines neither owner-occupied nor premises, and says nothing of an LLC, a trust or a relative living in the building. The trigger A lease entered into after Jan 1, 2027. A lease already running is outside by those words; whether a renewal counts as a lease entered into, the text does not say. The price tag No fixed amount. Anyone alleging a violation may sue, and the court may order injunctive and monetary relief, plus attorney’s fees and costs (f). Two consequences sit in the text itself: a fee not on page one is not owed (b), and a screening fee billed after 14 days is waived (c)(1). Starts Jan 1, 2027signed Jun 26, 2026. The act’s own Section 99 says July 1, 2026; Public Act 104-0514 (HB 5234), signed the same day, rewrites that line to January 1, 2027. Before it starts Dec 31: read page one of the lease form and count the fees named there, then count the non-optional fees named anywhere else in it; find which of the 11 appear; check the current listing for a line on utilities. The signed text The first act’s own page says it took effect last July. The date it starts is in the second act, signed the same day. |  | - Public Act 104-0793 (HB 5284), the Menopause Equity and Care Act: in the Human Rights Act, pregnancy now means pregnancy, childbirth or related conditions, “including menopause-related conditions” (775 ILCS 5/1-103(L-5)). The act’s purpose clause is about workplaces, and it reaches housing through that definition alone: an owner who acts in a real estate transaction because of unlawful discrimination, pregnancy among the listed grounds, commits a civil rights violation (3-102). Outside it: a building of 4 or fewer families where the owner lives in one (3-106(B)), except for the ad and application rule; rooms in a private home where the owner or family lives (3-106(C)). That cutoff is the Human Rights Act’s own, not the fee law’s. No new penalty.
Signed laws found as of Nov 6, 2026 We checked the titles of all 854 Public Acts of the 104th General Assembly (a title stays as introduced, so a title search can miss) and the amendment histories of the 12 landlord acts and articles we track in the Illinois Compiled Statutes: the only 2026 act in any of them is Public Act 104-0479. Not checked: the governor’s pending list, anything from the veto session that starts Nov 17, regulations, court rules and forms, local ordinances. Missed one? Write to hello@landlorddispatch.com. | | 30 days for the list, or all of it back in 45765 ILCS 710/1 gives a lessor 30 days from move-out, or from the end of the tenant’s right of possession if that is later, to send an itemized statement with paid receipts; with none, “the lessor shall return the security deposit in full within 45 days of the date that the lessee vacated the premises” (a). A circuit court that finds a refusal or bad faith, and money not returned in time, awards “an amount equal to twice the amount of the security deposit due, together with court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees” (c). Since Jan 1, 2024 the act reaches a lessor of any size: Public Act 103-224 struck the five-unit floor. The court story, in roles. An LLC leased a unit for nine months, Sep 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024, with a $1,400 deposit; the tenants left May 25. A demand letter came Sep 11; a $447 check dated Sep 20 followed, mailed Sep 21 by the trial court’s account, 119 days after move-out, with an undated letter that apologized for the delay and listed damages and unpaid utility bills. The tenants sued for the other $953 and a $2,800 penalty, twice the deposit. The trial judge found unauthorized animals, damage and unpaid utilities, found no bad faith, and ruled for the landlord. The appeal court reversed on the $953: “the landlord must return the entire security deposit if the tenant proves that the Act was not complied with.” The penalty stayed refused, since “the act of refusal requires more than mere noncompliance”, and the no-bad-faith finding stood, partly because the tenants, on their own on appeal, brought no trial transcript. The judge believed the damage was real. The money went back anyway, because the list came late. Citation: Verhaeg v. McElligott, 2026 IL App (5th) 250731 (Sep 25, 2026), filed with opinion; its first page warns the text may be changed or corrected before a petition for rehearing is disposed of. Opinion PDF; 765 ILCS 710/1. The same rule in the other seven states, shortest clock first New York: 14 days, itemized, or the landlord forfeits any right to keep any of it. Willful violation: punitive damages up to twice the deposit. N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 7-108(1-a)(e), (g). Florida: 15 days to return it; 30 for a certified-mail or agreed e-mail claim notice. No notice, no claim on it. Loser pays fees. Fla. Stat. § 83.49(3). California: 21 calendar days, itemized. In bad faith, the landlord loses any claim to it and faces up to twice the deposit, plus actual damages. Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5(h), (m). Texas: 30 days after surrender and a written forwarding address. Late is presumed bad faith: $100, three times the amount wrongfully withheld, and attorney’s fees. Tex. Prop. Code §§ 92.103, 92.107, 92.109. Washington: 30 days, documented statement, or the full deposit is owed and defenses barred. Intentional refusal: up to twice the deposit. Loser pays fees. RCW 59.18.280. Oregon: 31 days, written accounting and refund. Money withheld with no accounting, or in bad faith, costs twice the amount. Winner may get fees. ORS 90.300(12), (13), (16); 90.255. Virginia: 45 days, itemized; 15 more for the itemization if damage tops the deposit and needs a contractor, with notice. Willful failure means the deposit back, plus actual damages and attorney fees. Va. Code § 55.1-1226 A, E. | The 1099 line is $600 $2,000For payments made after Dec 31, 2025, a 1099-MISC (rents) or 1099-NEC (services) is due for anyone paid “$2,000 or more in any calendar year”, not $600 (26 USC 6041(a), 6041A(a)(2); Pub. L. 119-21, sec. 70433), when the payment is in the course of a trade or business; whether a rental is one is not a question this letter answers. For 2026 payments: Mon, Feb 1, 2027 for the 1099-NEC and all recipient copies; the 1099-MISC to the IRS by Mar 1 on paper, Mar 31 electronically. 26 USC 6041; IRS instructions, Dec 2026. | On ILGA’s bill list, HB 3564 is still HUMAN RIGHTS ACT-REAL ESTATE, its title as introduced. The act is about fees. Know a landlord with an Illinois rental? This is the one to send. Next dispatch: Tuesday, December 29. |  |
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