Two Illinois laws now demand the first page of a lease, and boards renting units must satisfy both
Two Illinois laws now demand the first page of a lease, and boards renting units must satisfy both
2026-09-10 · Illinois · Legislation
What happened. Illinois enacted two separate statutes that each commandeer the first page of a residential lease, on effective dates one year apart. Any association or management company that leases units in Illinois has to satisfy both in the same document.
First: the Summary of Rights for Safer Homes Act, P.A. 103-1031, codified at 765 ILCS 752, took effect January 1, 2026. Second: HB 3564, signed June 26, 2026 as Public Act 104-0479, adds a new Section 35 to the Landlord and Tenant Act at 765 ILCS 705/35.1
The junk-fee ban, and the eleven prohibited charges
Section 35 requires that all non-optional fees, one-time or recurring, be “explicitly contained on the first page of a lease agreement.” The sanction is direct: “If a fee is not explicitly contained on the first page of a lease agreement, a tenant shall not be liable for payment of such fee.” Non-optional fees must also be disclosed clearly and conspicuously in the listing or an accompanying weblink at the time of listing, and the lease or listing must state whether utilities are included in rent.
Subsection (c) then prohibits eleven charges outright:
- an application or background-check fee over $50 — with a narrow exception where a third-party check actually costs more, the landlord fronts it, and bills the applicant with receipts within 14 days (miss the 14 days and the fee is waived; and this fee may never ground an eviction in the lease's first year);
- any ancillary application-time fee duplicating screening costs or covering non-screening costs;
- any fee or fine for lease modification or renewal;
- any fee or fine for an eviction notice, or for filing an eviction before an eviction order issues (court costs and filing fees remain recoverable);
- after-hours maintenance request fees;
- fees for contacting the owner or property manager about maintenance, lease questions or tenancy matters;
- travel fees for maintenance or safety repairs;
- maintenance-hotline fees;
- fees for routine maintenance and upkeep of the unit;
- pest abatement fees where the tenant did not contribute to the infestation;
- fees for an in-person move-in or move-out walkthrough.
The anti-evasion clause and the scope carve-out
Subsection (e) is blunt: “A landlord may not rename a fee or charge to avoid application of this Section.” It applies to all residential leases entered into after the effective date, except leases for dwelling units in owner-occupied premises containing 6 units or fewer. Subsection (d) makes it a floor for home-rule units, which may regulate tenant fees but must be at least as restrictive. Subsection (f) supplies a private civil action with injunctive relief, monetary relief, attorney's fees and costs.
A date discrepancy worth knowing about. The enrolled text's Section 99 says the Act “takes effect July 1, 2026” — a date that had already passed when the Governor signed on June 26. ILGA's official record and the ILCS source note both state January 1, 2027. Use January 1, 2027, and flag the discrepancy if a lease term turns on it.
The Safer Homes summary, and why it is not the federal VAWA notice
Several 2026 practitioner alerts describe the 765 ILCS 752 requirement as a “VAWA lease notice.” It is not. It is a state Act. The IDHR Director prepares a summary of survivor housing rights under six Illinois statutes — the Safe Homes Act, the Eviction Article, the Illinois Human Rights Act, the utility-deposit deferral at 220 ILCS 5/8-201.6, and the anti-penalization provisions at 65 ILCS 5/1-2-1.5 and 55 ILCS 5/5-1005.10.
Section 20 requires the landlord or the landlord's agent to attach that summary as the first page of any written residential lease, for new rentals and renewals alike, and to obtain each tenant's signature in the acknowledgment at the bottom of each page. Section 25 makes the absence of that evidence a rebuttable presumption of non-compliance. Section 30 makes a non-complying landlord liable for the greater of actual damages capped at $2,000 or $100, plus costs and reasonable fees, with no requirement to go through IDHR first.
Reconciling two page-one mandates
The statutes are not literally in conflict — one requires the summary as the first page, the other requires fees to be “explicitly contained on” the first page — but a lease cannot have two first pages, and neither statute anticipates the other. The conservative construction is a lease whose first physical page is the IDHR summary followed immediately by the fee schedule on the same signature run, with per-page acknowledgments as Section 20 requires. The form is one for Illinois counsel to review, not for a board to draft.
Who this actually hits in the association world
Associations that own units. An association holding a unit taken by deed in lieu, or through a 9(g)(3) sale, and renting it out is a landlord for both Acts. The six-unit owner-occupied exemption will not save it.
Management companies leasing investor-owned units. The prohibitions bite hardest here, because three of the eleven — lease-renewal fees, fees for contacting the manager, and after-hours maintenance request fees — are established ancillary revenue lines in Illinois third-party residential management.
Boards enforcing leasing rules. Nothing here restricts an association's ability to require lease riders or to cap leasing. But an association whose rules require an owner to charge a tenant a move-in fee, or that imposes its own fee routed through the lease, should check it against the list.
What to watch next
Whether Chicago's Protecting Renters Ordinance passes, since subsection (d) permits a home-rule unit to go further and the PRO does exactly that.
Related Illinois HOA Topics
Stay on top of Illinois HOA law
Every week: new Illinois legislation, court rulings, and regulatory developments affecting condos, planned communities, and property managers. Free.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.