Requesting Repairs in Illinois Rentals

To get a repair made in an Illinois rental, put the request in writing and send it by certified mail, because the state's repair-and-deduct law and the Chicago and suburban Cook County ordinances all count their deadlines from a written notice, usually 14 days. Statewide, the Residential Tenants' Right to Repair Act then lets you hire a contractor and deduct the bill from rent if the repair costs no more than $500 or half a month's rent, whichever is less. Chicago's Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO) and suburban Cook County's Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance (RTLO) raise that limit to whichever is greater and set 24-hour deadlines for withholding rent when heat, water, or another essential service fails. Since January 1, 2025, the Landlord Retaliation Act has barred landlords anywhere in Illinois from punishing you for requesting repairs your lease or local code requires.

Which repair rules cover your rental

State law sets the minimum everywhere, including the implied warranty of habitability, a promise courts read into every residential lease that the unit is fit to live in. A local ordinance adds to it where one applies.

Example: on $1,100 rent, half a month's rent is $550, so the state limit is $500 and the Chicago or suburban Cook County limit is $550. On $760 rent, half is $380, so the state limit is $380 and the local limit is $500.

The RLTO covers most Chicago rentals, but not units in owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units, most hotel, motel, and rooming-house units, dorms, shelters, employee quarters, or owner-occupied co-ops. The county RTLO also excludes owner-occupied buildings with six or fewer units, plus a single-family home or condo that is an individual owner's only rental, was lived in by the owner or an immediate family member for at least a month in the 12 months before it was marketed, and is managed by the owner personally. It does not apply in suburbs whose own ordinances set out landlord and tenant rights and remedies. Evanston, Mount Prospect, and Oak Park have their own, and their rules can differ: Evanston landlords get 10 days to make a repair instead of 14.

How to write and send the request

Illinois Legal Aid Online's Rental repair letter Easy Form helps you sort out your town's rules and draft the letter. Whatever you use:

1. If the problem is urgent, call the landlord or use the repair portal your lease names, then put the request in writing that day.
2. Date the letter, name your unit, describe each problem and where it is, and ask for a repair date. Keep a copy and dated photos.
3. State any remedy you may use. The state law requires the notice to say you intend to have the repair made at the landlord's expense, and in suburban Cook County each remedy notice must say what you will do if the problem is not fixed within 14 days.
4. Send it by certified or registered mail or another restricted delivery service, to the landlord's or agent's address in your lease, or to the last known address if the lease lists none. A return receipt helps document delivery, but the state repair-and-deduct law does not expressly require one.
5. Let the repair person in. Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, and suburban Cook County landlords must give 2 days' notice before entering for a non-emergency repair, and an emergency repair needs no notice.

For what to include in any repair request, see how to report maintenance issues to your landlord.

Repair and deduct under state law

The Right to Repair Act applies to any repair your lease, a law, or a local code requires, as long as the reasonable cost fits under the limit. If the landlord has not made the repair 14 days after your notice, or sooner in an emergency, you can have the work done and subtract the bill from rent. An emergency is a condition that will cause irreparable harm to the unit or its fixtures if not fixed right away, or one that poses an immediate threat to anyone's health or safety in the unit or a common area.

To keep the deduction valid:

• Hire a tradesperson or supplier who is not related to you, holds any license the work requires, and is adequately insured. You cannot bill for your own labor, and you are responsible for any damage the contractor causes.
• Have the work done properly and to code.
• Give the landlord the paid bill, plus the contractor's name, address, and phone number if the bill does not show them, and only then deduct. The deduction cannot exceed the limit or the usual price for that repair.

Tenants in public housing, condos, housing co-ops, owner-occupied buildings of six or fewer units, and mobile homes covered by the state's mobile home tenant law cannot use this Act. Neither can a tenant whose own carelessness or deliberate act, or a family member's or guest's, caused the problem. If you skip a requirement, the deducted amount is no defense when the landlord sues for rent or eviction. How repair and deduct works compares the Illinois limits with other states.

Withholding rent under the implied warranty

No state statute sets a rent-withholding procedure for repairs. Outside towns with their own ordinances, the right comes from two Illinois Supreme Court decisions. Jack Spring, Inc. v. Little (1972) held that a tenant sued for possession over unpaid rent can raise the landlord's breach of the implied warranty of habitability, and Glasoe v. Trinkle (1985) applied the warranty to every residential lease, whether or not the town has a housing code.

Glasoe also set the conditions:

• The defect must make the unit unsafe or unsanitary. Cosmetic flaws and minor inconveniences do not qualify.
• You must have told the landlord about the defect and allowed a reasonable time to fix it.
• You owe only what the unit was worth in its defective condition. Glasoe favored measuring the cut as the difference between the unit's fair rental value as promised, for which the agreed rent is evidence, and its value with the defect.

The court, not you, sets that number. If you withhold, the landlord can serve a written demand giving you at least 5 days to pay and then file an eviction case if you do not pay in time. If the judge allows a smaller reduction than you took, or none, you owe the difference, so keep the withheld money set aside until the case ends. Illinois Legal Aid Online advises talking to a lawyer before you reduce your rent. Can you legally withhold rent explains how withholding works in other states.

Faster deadlines in Chicago and suburban Cook County

Suburban Cook County's RTLO spells out each notice. If the unit significantly fails the lease or the ordinance's habitability standards, send a written notice listing the problems, on any day of the month, that says which remedy you will use if they are not fixed within 14 days after the landlord receives it:

• Withhold rent on the next rent date, in an amount that reasonably reflects the unit's reduced value.
• Repair and deduct from your next rent, giving the landlord the paid bill when you deduct; in an emergency, the landlord gets only as long as conditions allow. If the repair affects facilities other units share, tell those tenants your plans first.
• End the lease and move out. If you stay longer than one month after the 14 days end, or past the end of the next rental period if that is later, your notice counts as withdrawn.

If heat, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, plumbing, or internet access that the lease requires the landlord to provide stops, send a written notice naming the service. After 24 hours you can withhold the reduced value, buy the service and deduct it with paid receipts, sue for damages, or move to substitute housing and owe no rent for that time. After 72 hours you can end the lease in writing and move out within 30 days or by the end of the next rental period, whichever is later. These remedies do not cover a condition you, your family, or a guest caused, or an outage caused by the utility company rather than the landlord. No county agency enforces the RTLO, so you rely on your notices and, if needed, a lawsuit or a defense in court.

Chicago landlords also get 14 days after written notice for most repairs; for emergency repair and deduct, they get only as much time as conditions require. For a code violation or lease breach that poses an immediate danger to your health and safety, or a failure of heat, running water, hot water, electricity, gas, or plumbing they must provide, send written notice. While the problem continues after notice, the RLTO lets you buy reasonable amounts of the service and deduct the cost with paid receipts, find temporary housing, or sue for damages. Withholding rent based on the unit's reduced value requires the problem to remain uncorrected for 24 hours after notice. If an essential service is still out after 72 hours, you can give written notice that you will move out within 30 days. These withholding and termination remedies are unavailable if the failure is due to the utility provider's inability to supply service. Call 311 to report a code violation to the city. Your right to habitable housing in Illinois lays out each RLTO remedy with its notice period and dollar limits.

Protection from retaliation

The Landlord Retaliation Act (765 ILCS 721) took effect January 1, 2025, and replaced the Retaliatory Eviction Act. A landlord may not knowingly end your tenancy, raise your rent, cut services, file or threaten an eviction case, or refuse to renew your lease because you, in good faith, asked for repairs that a code or your lease requires, complained to a code official or community organization, joined or organized a tenants' union, testified about the building's condition, or used a legal remedy such as repair and deduct.

If the landlord takes one of those actions within one year after your protected activity, the law presumes it was retaliation. The landlord can overcome that by proving a legitimate reason, and the presumption does not arise if the landlord started the action first. A tenant who proves retaliation has a defense to the eviction and can end the lease and get back the security deposit, interest, and prepaid rent, or recover possession if the landlord has put the tenant out or is trying to. You can also recover up to 2 months' rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees.

The Act does not stop an eviction for unpaid rent or a lease violation the landlord can prove, so withhold rent only through one of the procedures above. Suburban Cook County's RTLO has its own retaliation rule with a one-year presumption, but the presumption does not arise if you complained after receiving written notice of a proposed rent increase, and the landlord has not retaliated if you mainly caused the code violation. Retaliation protections for tenants compares these rules with other states.