The Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (“RLTO”) contains a series of rules governing the acceptance of security landlords by Chicago landlords. These rules are being strictly enforced by the Courts and are leading many Chicago landlords to discontinue the practice of requiring security deposits from their tenants. Instead, many are now requiring non-refundable “move in” fees.

A recent appellate court decision shows why security deposits are on their way out. In its 2015 decision in Faison v RTFX, the Illinois Appellate Court has now held that the failure to provide a proper receipt for a $10.00 increase in a tenant’s security deposit gave rise to a requirement that the landlord return the entire $600.00 security deposit plus pay a $1,200.00 penalty plus the tenant’s attorney fees. The facts in Faison were that a landlord and tenant entered into a lease in April, 2007, which provided for a security deposit of $590.00. After the initial lease expired, the tenant continued on a month to month basis. The landlord increased the month to month rent from $590.00 to $600.00 in May, 2008 and collected an additional $10.00 security deposit, for which no receipt in the form required by RLTO was given. This happened again in May, 2009. The court held that claims regarding the May, 2008 $10.00 payment were barred by the statute of limitations but ruled that the May, 2009 $10.00 payment was not so barred.

Feel free to contact an experienced Illinois landlord attorney at Logan Law, LLC if you have questions about the handling of security deposits for properties subject to RLTO or any other area of the laws governing landlords and tenants.