Illinois eviction notice periods, explained
Illinois sets three notice periods: five days for unpaid rent, ten days for a lease violation, and thirty days to end a month-to-month tenancy. The notice is a prerequisite to filing, not the eviction itself — only a court can order a tenant removed, and only the sheriff can carry it out.
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How much notice does an Illinois landlord have to give?
It depends on what the tenant did. Unpaid rent takes a five-day notice. A breach of some other lease term takes ten days. Ending a month-to-month tenancy where the tenant has done nothing wrong takes thirty days, and a week-to-week tenancy takes seven.
Serving the notice does not end the tenancy by itself. It is the step that must happen before a landlord can file an eviction action, and a notice that is defective — wrong period, wrong wording, wrong service — sends the landlord back to the start after weeks have passed. Cook County and Chicago each add obligations on top of these state minimums.
What is the 5-day notice for unpaid rent?
Under 735 ILCS 5/9-209, a landlord demanding unpaid rent must notify the tenant in writing that unless payment is made within a stated time, not less than five days after service, the lease will be terminated. If the rent is not paid in that window, the landlord may treat the lease as ended and file an eviction action without further demand.
The statute also requires the notice to prominently state that only full payment of the rent demanded will waive the landlord's right to terminate under that notice, unless the landlord agrees in writing to continue the lease in exchange for a partial payment.
That clause is where small landlords most often lose weeks. A landlord who accepts a partial payment without putting the agreement in writing has generally waived the notice and has to serve a new one and start the clock again.
What about a lease violation that is not rent?
A breach of some other term of the lease — an unauthorised occupant, a pet in a no-pet building, damage to the unit — takes a ten-day notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-210.
The statute provides that when default is made in any of the terms of a lease, it is not necessary to give more than ten days' notice to quit, and the notice must state the specific default and require the tenant to quit and deliver up possession within ten days.
Unlike the rent notice, a ten-day notice does not have to offer the tenant an opportunity to cure the breach unless the lease itself requires one.
How do you end a month-to-month tenancy?
Thirty days' written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, for a month-to-month tenancy or any other periodic tenancy of less than one year. A week-to-week tenancy takes seven days' written notice under the same section.
Ending a tenancy this way is not an eviction, and it does not require the tenant to have done anything wrong. The notice still has to be properly served and properly timed against the rental period, and getting the timing wrong pushes the termination to the following month.
What extra rules apply in Cook County and Chicago?
Suburban Cook County has had its own Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance since 1 June 2021, and it requires 60 days' notice before declining to renew a lease — double the state's 30-day figure for ending a month-to-month tenancy. The Cook County ordinance covers almost all rental units in suburban Cook County and does not apply inside the Chicago city limits.
Chicago has its own separate Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, which has been in force far longer and carries its own notice, deposit and disclosure rules.
A landlord operating in suburban Cook who has read only 735 ILCS 5 has read roughly half the rules that apply to them, and the ordinances carry penalties the state statute does not.
Can you sell a house with tenants still in it?
Yes, and the lease goes with it. A buyer takes the property subject to any existing tenancy, which means a lease with eight months left is the buyer's obligation — and the buyer's rental income — for those eight months.
This surprises landlords who assume a sale terminates the lease. It does not. In practice it narrows the buyer pool: a family buying a home to live in generally cannot close on a house someone else has the legal right to occupy, while a buyer who intends to hold it as a rental often prefers a tenant already paying.
It is one of the few situations where a house being occupied makes it easier to sell rather than harder, provided you are talking to a buyer who wants the tenancy rather than one who needs it gone.
When eviction is the wrong tool
Eviction is slow, it costs money, and it does not recover unpaid rent by itself — a possession order returns the unit, not the arrears.
Where a tenant is a few weeks behind and communicating, a payment plan usually costs less than a filing. Where the real problem is that being a landlord has stopped being worth it, eviction solves the wrong thing: you finish the process, you still own a rental you no longer want, and now the unit is empty and generating nothing while you decide what to do with it.
Selling with the tenancy in place skips both the filing and the vacancy. It is the reason a tired landlord and a landlord with a problem tenant often reach the same answer by different routes.
Illinois notice periods at a glance
| Situation | Notice required | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Unpaid rent | 5 days | 735 ILCS 5/9-209 |
| Breach of another lease term | 10 days | 735 ILCS 5/9-210 |
| Ending a month-to-month tenancy | 30 days | 735 ILCS 5/9-207 |
| Ending a week-to-week tenancy | 7 days | 735 ILCS 5/9-207 |
| Declining to renew, suburban Cook County | 60 days | Cook County RTLO |
The Illinois tenancy statutes behind this page
- Demand for rent — not less than 5 days — 735 ILCS 5/9-209
- Default in lease terms — 10 days' notice to quit — 735 ILCS 5/9-210
- Terminating periodic tenancies — 30 days, or 7 for week-to-week — 735 ILCS 5/9-207
- Cook County Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance — Effective 1 June 2021, suburban Cook County
When keeping the rental is the better call
Where the unit rents easily, the tenant pays, and the building is not consuming your weekends, a Chicagoland rental is a reasonable asset and selling it to solve one bad month would be a mistake. Selling earns its place when the arrears keep recurring, when deferred maintenance has reached the point where a financed buyer's inspector would stop the deal, or when the honest answer is that you are done being a landlord and have been for a while.
Two ordinances, one county
A Chicagoland landlord has to know which rulebook their building sits under. A rental inside Chicago city limits falls under the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. A rental in suburban Cook County falls under the Cook County Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance, in force since 1 June 2021. A rental in DuPage, Will, Kane, Lake or McHenry generally falls under the state statute alone, unless the municipality has adopted its own ordinance. The state notice periods are a floor everywhere; they are the whole rulebook almost nowhere in Cook.
Questions about Illinois eviction notices
Can I change the locks or shut off utilities?
No. Self-help eviction is unlawful in Illinois and exposes a landlord to damages. Removal happens by court order, carried out by the sheriff, and a landlord who takes a shortcut usually ends up paying for it.
How long does an Illinois eviction take start to finish?
The notice period is the short part. After filing, the timeline depends on the county's court calendar, whether the tenant appears and contests, and sheriff scheduling. Cook County is generally slower than the collar counties.
Does the security deposit cover unpaid rent?
A security deposit can be applied to unpaid rent, subject to strict statutory and local rules about accounting and deadlines. Cook County and Chicago both impose deposit rules with real penalties for getting them wrong, so a deposit is rarely the clean answer landlords hope for.
Do I have to give notice if the lease has simply expired?
For a fixed-term lease ending on its own date, generally no notice is required. Once a tenant stays on and the landlord accepts rent, a month-to-month tenancy usually arises, and from then on the 30-day rule applies.
What if I want to sell but the tenant will not allow showings?
A lease gives a tenant possession, and access rights depend on the lease and the local ordinance. This is one of the most common reasons Chicagoland landlords sell to a buyer who does not need showings at all — we buy occupied rentals without ever seeing the inside on a Saturday afternoon.
Will you buy a property with a tenant who is behind on rent?
Yes. We buy occupied rentals including ones with arrears, and we take the tenancy as it stands. You do not have to complete an eviction first, which is usually the point — finishing the eviction costs you months and leaves you owning an empty unit.
Why trust us with this?
You should be skeptical of anyone offering to buy a house they have not seen. Most owners get the postcards — no company name on them, a mobile number, a promise of top dollar. Being skeptical of that is the correct instinct, and we would rather you applied it to us as well.
So here is what can be checked. We have bought a great many houses in the situations sellers actually find themselves in — inherited and probate homes, pre-foreclosures, divorces, tenant-occupied buildings, long-vacant properties, fire and water damage, and houses nobody had touched in forty years. Whatever yours is, it is very unlikely to be the first of its kind for us. We look at the property before committing to a number, we show you how we got there, and you are never under any obligation to accept it.
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Free, no obligation, and nothing to fix, clean, or clear out first. Tell us what you are dealing with and we will give you a straight number — and a straight answer about whether selling is the right move at all.