Your Security Deposit Rights in Illinois

Illinois sets no statewide limit on security deposits, but since January 1, 2024, the Security Deposit Return Act has covered every residential landlord; before then, it applied only to buildings with 5 or more units. To keep any of your deposit for damage, the landlord must send you an itemized statement with paid receipts or cost estimates within 30 days after you move out (or after your right to live there ends, if later); otherwise it must return the full deposit within 45 days after you move out. A landlord that refuses to send the statement, or sends one in bad faith, and does not return what it owes can be ordered to pay twice the deposit plus court costs and attorney's fees. Chicago and suburban Cook County add their own rules on receipts, interest, and deadlines.

Which Illinois deposit rules apply to your rental?

The state Return Act applies to every Illinois rental. Your building's size and location decide what else applies:

What must an Illinois landlord send after you move out?

Under the Return Act, a landlord can keep part of your deposit for damage only if it gives you an itemized statement within 30 days after you move out or your right to live there ends, whichever is later. It can hand the statement to you, mail it to your last known address, or email it to a verified email address you provided. The statement must:

• List each item of damage with its estimated or actual cost to repair or replace.
• Attach paid receipts or copies. If a cost was estimated, the landlord must send the paid receipts within 30 days after it sent the statement.
• Charge no more than a reasonable cost for the landlord's own labor, if it did the work itself.
• For a cleaning or repair charge that your written lease sets in dollars, cite that amount and include a copy of that part of the lease. A lease amount must cover damage beyond normal wear and tear and be a reasonable cost to restore the unit to its condition when the lease began.

A landlord that cannot get receipts through no fault of its own must instead send an itemized cost list, any other evidence of the cost, and a sworn statement explaining why. Understanding security deposit deductions explains which charges to challenge.

Without a proper statement and receipts, the full deposit is due within 45 days after the day you moved out. That rule covers deductions for damage. Illinois appellate courts have held that it does not apply when the landlord shows evidence of a good-faith dispute over something else, such as rent owed after a tenant left early, so a missing statement alone does not entitle you to the full deposit or the penalty if you left owing rent. Example: 45 days after you moved out, your $1,400 deposit has not come back and no statement ever arrived. If a circuit court finds the landlord refused to supply one, it can award twice the deposit due, or $2,800 (2 x $1,400), plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

Does your Illinois landlord owe interest on the deposit?

Under state law, only larger landlords do. The Security Deposit Interest Act applies when your landlord has 25 or more units in one building or in a complex on adjoining lots and holds your deposit more than 6 months.

• Rate: the rate that the largest commercial bank with its main office in Illinois, measured by total assets, paid on minimum-deposit passbook savings accounts (basic savings accounts) on December 31 of the year before your lease began. Ask the landlord which bank and rate it used.
• Timing: within 30 days after the end of each 12-month rental period, in cash or as a credit against rent, once the interest reaches $5. The landlord can skip the yearly payment while you are in default under the lease, such as behind on rent, but at the end of the tenancy it must pay all unpaid interest, however small.
• Penalty: if a circuit court finds the landlord willfully failed to pay, it owes you an amount equal to the deposit, plus court costs and reasonable attorney's fees.

Chicago sets its own rate for RLTO units, covered below. Security deposit interest requirements lists the other states that require deposit interest.

What extra protections do Chicago renters have?

The RLTO, chapter 5-12 of the Municipal Code of Chicago, adds these rules for the units it covers:

• Receipt. The landlord must give you a receipt with the owner's name, the date it received the deposit, and a description of the unit, signed by the person who accepted it.
• Separate account. The landlord must keep your deposit in its own account, apart from the rent it collects.
• Yearly interest. A landlord holding a deposit or prepaid rent more than 6 months owes interest from the start of the lease, at a rate the City Comptroller sets each year, paid within 30 days after the end of each 12-month rental period in cash or as a rent credit. The rate is 0.01% for 2026, the same as every year since 2015, so a $2,000 deposit earns 20 cents a year.
• Move-out deadlines. To deduct for damage, the landlord must send an itemized statement of the damage within 30 days after you move out. It must return the deposit and interest, minus unpaid rent and damage charges, within 45 days.

If the landlord fails to hold, pay interest on, account for, or return the deposit as the RLTO requires, the ordinance awards you damages of twice the deposit plus interest, and a tenant who wins can recover court costs and reasonable attorney's fees. The Illinois Supreme Court held in Lawrence v. Regent Realty Group (2001) that a missed yearly interest payment is enough to trigger that penalty, whether or not the landlord meant to skip it. If the landlord paid interest on time but too little, you must first tell it in writing. It avoids the penalty by paying the correct interest plus $50 within 14 days. If it instead sends a written explanation of its calculation and a court finds the calculation wrong, the double penalty still applies.

Example: your Chicago landlord has held your $2,000 deposit for two years and never paid the yearly interest. You can claim twice the deposit, $4,000, plus interest, court costs, and attorney's fees.

What are suburban Cook County's rules?

The Cook County RTLO, in effect since June 1, 2021, covers most rentals in Cook County outside Chicago and outside towns with their own landlord-tenant ordinance. Its deposit section, Cook County Code section 42-811, says:

• Cap. A deposit cannot exceed 1.5 months' rent, whatever the landlord calls it. You can choose to pay any amount above one month's rent in up to 6 equal installments within the first 6 months of the lease.
• Refund. The deposit is due within 30 days after you move out, minus unpaid rent, certain court costs, and a reasonable cost to repair damage beyond reasonable wear and tear. Damage charges need an itemized statement with paid receipts or estimates.
• Handling. The landlord must give you a signed receipt, keep the deposit in a federally insured account at an Illinois financial institution separate from its own money, and name that institution in your written lease.

Breaking the cap, installment, or refund rules costs the landlord twice the deposit plus reasonable attorney's fees. For a receipt, account, or disclosure problem, you must first send the landlord a written notice saying it has breached the rental agreement and must fix the problem within 2 business days or face damages. The same penalty applies only if it misses that window, and this notice is separate from a demand for your deposit back. Example: at $1,600 rent, the cap is $2,400 (1.5 x $1,600), and you can spread the $800 above one month's rent over as many as 6 monthly payments.

How do you get your Illinois deposit back?

1. Give a forwarding address in writing, by mail or email, before you leave. Under the Return Act, a landlord is not liable for damages or penalties caused by your failure to provide one.
2. Mark your dates. Count the 45-day state refund deadline, and Cook County's 30-day refund deadline, from the day you moved out. Count the state's 30-day damage-statement deadline from that day or the day your right to live there ended, whichever is later. In Chicago, list each year's interest payment you did or did not receive.
3. Send a demand letter by certified mail that cites the law that applies (the Return Act, the RLTO, or the RTLO), the amount owed, and a payment date, such as 14 days out.
4. File a small claim in circuit court if the landlord does not pay. Illinois small claims cases cover up to $10,000, not counting interest and costs.

Taking your landlord to small claims court walks through filing and the hearing, and security deposit return timelines lists each state's refund deadline. Illinois lease rules beyond deposits are in your lease rights in Illinois, and the overview of state security deposit laws shows how other states handle deposits.