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Illinois month-to-month lease agreement
Written for Illinois law, checked October 1, 2026 General information, not legal advice
A month-to-month tenancy renews each month until the landlord or the tenant gives notice. Choose month-to-month as the lease type, or set a fixed-term lease to convert to month-to-month when its term ends.
Illinois rules that apply
- Ending month to month
- 30 days
- written notice; 7 days for week to week, 60 days for year to year
- 735 ILCS 5/9-207735 ILCS 5/9-205
- Rent increase notice
- None for homes
- no statewide notice period for apartments and houses; a mobile home park of 5 or more homes must give 90 days; local rent control is barred
- 765 ILCS 705735 ILCS 5, Article IX50 ILCS 825/5765 ILCS 745/6
Ending a month-to-month tenancy
You may end a month-to-month tenancy, or any periodic tenancy of less than a year other than week to week, with 30 days' written notice. A week-to-week tenancy needs 7 days' written notice, and a year-to-year tenancy needs 60 days' written notice before the end of the year.
735 ILCS 5/9-207 735 ILCS 5/9-205
More detail (5)
- For a year-to-year tenancy, you may give the 60-day notice any time in the 4 months before the last 60 days of the year. 735 ILCS 5/9-205
- Once the tenancy has ended by notice, you need no further demand before filing an eviction case. 735 ILCS 5/9-208
- A lease for a fixed term ends on its end date with no notice needed. 735 ILCS 5/9-213
- A lender or buyer who takes control of a property in foreclosure must give a tenant with a bona fide lease at least 90 days' written notice. 735 ILCS 5/9-207.5
- For a home covered by Cook County's RTLO, a landlord must give at least 60 days' written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy or decline renewal. If that notice is missing, the tenant may remain for up to 120 days after proper written notice is given, under the previous month's terms. Cook County Code § 42-109(c)(2)
The Illinois lease says either party may end a month-to-month tenancy with 30 days' written notice before the last day of the rental period.
Rent increase notice
Partly readNone of the Illinois acts read for this page sets a notice period for a rent increase on an apartment or house. During a fixed term the lease controls; a month-to-month tenancy can be ended with 30 days' written notice, which is how terms usually change. A mobile home park of 5 or more homes must give 90 days' notice of any rent increase. Cities and counties may not adopt rent control.
765 ILCS 705 735 ILCS 5, Article IX 765 ILCS 745/6 765 ILCS 745/1
More detail (7)
- A local government may not enact or enforce any rule that controls the amount of rent charged for private residential property. 50 ILCS 825/5
- You may not raise the rent because a tenant made a good-faith complaint or exercised another protected right. 765 ILCS 721/5 See Retaliation on the Illinois page
- You may not raise rent to recover utility payments a tenant lawfully deducted after you failed to pay a utility bill you owed. 765 ILCS 735/4
- You may not switch a tenant from landlord-paid to tenant-paid utilities during a lease term unless you and the tenant sign a written lease amendment, and you must give each affected tenant at least 30 days' notice of the change, or for a tenant under a lease, at least 30 days before the lease ends. 765 ILCS 735/1.2(b)
- A mobile home park of 5 or more homes must give 90 days' notice of any rent increase, and the increase cannot take effect until 90 days after the notice. 765 ILCS 745/6 765 ILCS 745/1
- For Chicago tenancies governed by 5-12-130(j), give written notice of a rent increase, periodic termination or fixed-term nonrenewal at least 30 days before the stated termination date for a tenancy under six months, 60 days for six months to three years, and 120 days for more than three years. The owner-occupied, six-or-fewer-unit exclusion expressly preserves this notice provision. Check the other coverage exclusions, the listed breach/abandonment exceptions and any pilot rule before using a tier. Insufficient or defective notice can extend possession at the prior terms; do not assume a defective 30-day notice produces only a 30-day extension. Chicago Code 5-12-130(i)-(j) Chicago Code 5-12-020
- The Jackson Park pilot in 5-12-135 supersedes the ordinary notice tiers for qualifying leases within its defined area. It lists longer 90-, 120- and 180-day tiers and applies its lease-start and duration conditions. Check the street boundaries, effective date and lease history before selecting a deadline. The published text overlaps at exactly twelve months; obtain a current local interpretation rather than choosing the shorter tier automatically. This review did not verify the enacting ordinance's exact start-date mechanics. Chicago Code 5-12-135
For a Chicago unit, the Illinois lease states the city's written notice periods before a rent increase; for other units it sets no rent increase notice.