Important Chicago Landlord - Tenant Laws

Additional Documents for Chicago Properties

Landlords in Chicago are required to include certain documents to go along with the Chicago Lease Agreement for signing. LeaseRunner supplies each of these addenda to be included with the batch of documents in your landlord account. The Documents include: City of Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance Summary, Bed Bug Information, Security Deposit Disclosure, Utility Cost Disclosure.

Chicago Lease Details

Chicago has some of the most complex landlord-tenant laws in the entire country. LeaseRunner has you covered by making all the required addenda available to issue when sending out a lease batch of documents for e-signature using our services. We provide a detailed Chicago Residential Lease Agreement (required for Chicago rentals) with all of the specifics, like the Late Fee Limit, Security Deposit in an interest-bearing bank account, and other requirements. Open a free account with LeaseRunner to read and obtain the Chicago lease template.

Tenant Screening Requirements in Chicago

Cook County, IL requires property managers and landlords to take a two-step approach to tenant screening of potential renters. In short, landlords are required to communicate any tenant screening criteria to the applicant before requesting the application fee. Once application fee is provided to the landlord, landlord can screen for financial ability of the tenant to pay rent, verify employment, income, and rental history. Once the applicant is pre-qualified, then the landlord can move to the second step: criminal background check. Please note that the ordinance allows landlords to consider only last three years of conviction history while LeaseRunner will show you seven years. This rule, however, doesn’t apply to sex-offenders.