{
    "dataset": "Homzora Illinois Security Deposit Statute Reference 2026",
    "jurisdiction": "State of Illinois",
    "scope": "The Security Deposit Return Act, 765 ILCS 710, and the Security Deposit Interest Act, 765 ILCS 715. These apply statewide and sit underneath any local ordinance.",
    "how_it_layers": "Inside Chicago, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance imposes additional and generally stricter requirements, including an interest obligation on most city rentals rather than only those with 25 or more units. A Chicago tenant is covered by both. Suburban Cook County and Evanston operate their own ordinances with different terms again.",
    "documented_disagreement": "Several published sources state that Chicago caps security deposits at one and a half times monthly rent. That cap appears in the Cook County Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance rather than in the Chicago RLTO. A Chicago law firm comparison published in 2026 lists the 1.5 month cap under Cook County and lists no cap under Chicago, and two other sources state the Chicago ordinance sets no specific cap. Homzora records this disagreement rather than resolving it, and does not publish a Chicago deposit cap figure.",
    "basis": "Compiled from published statutory text and from published summaries identified as such.",
    "sources": [
        "Illinois General Assembly, 765 ILCS 710 Security Deposit Return Act",
        "Illinois General Assembly, 765 ILCS 715 Security Deposit Interest Act",
        "Published practitioner summaries of Illinois deposit law, 2026"
    ],
    "verified": "2026-09-13",
    "note": "This is not legal advice and does not evaluate any particular tenancy. Statutes change and their application depends on facts specific to your situation.",
    "license": "CC BY 4.0 for the Homzora compilation. Statutory text is a public record.",
    "methodology": "https://homzora.co/chicago/guides/methodology/",
    "rows": [
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 710/1",
            "subject": "Itemized statement within 30 days",
            "what_it_requires": "A lessor may not withhold any part of a deposit as reimbursement for property damage unless, within 30 days of the date the lessee vacated or the date their right of possession ends, whichever is later, they furnish an itemized statement of the damage with paid receipts or estimates.",
            "key_figure": "30 days",
            "notes": "Delivery may be by personal delivery, postmarked mail to the last known address, or email to a tenant supplied address."
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 710/1",
            "subject": "Paid receipts follow estimates",
            "what_it_requires": "Where the itemized statement gives estimated costs, the actual paid receipts must be delivered within 30 days after the statement.",
            "key_figure": "30 days after the statement",
            "notes": ""
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 710/1",
            "subject": "Full return where no statement",
            "what_it_requires": "If no itemized statement is supplied, the lessor must return the security deposit in full within 45 days of the date the lessee vacated.",
            "key_figure": "45 days",
            "notes": "The 45 day deadline is the consequence of not itemizing, not an alternative to it."
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 710/1",
            "subject": "Penalty",
            "what_it_requires": "A lessor who fails to comply within the time limits is liable for twice the amount of the security deposit due, together with court costs and reasonable attorney fees.",
            "key_figure": "two times the deposit",
            "notes": "The Illinois appellate court has described the purpose of the statute as correcting abuses by landlords who withhold deposits without basis."
        },
        {
            "provision": "SB1741",
            "subject": "The five unit threshold was removed",
            "what_it_requires": "From 1 January 2024 the Security Deposit Return Act applies to all residential landlords in Illinois. Before that date, landlords with fewer than five units were exempt.",
            "key_figure": "all landlords since 2024",
            "notes": "A material change. Guidance written before 2024 describing a five unit threshold is out of date."
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 710",
            "subject": "Transfer of the property",
            "what_it_requires": "On a sale, lease or other disposition of the property, the transferee is liable to the tenant for any security deposit including statutory interest or prepaid rent. The transferor remains jointly and severally liable.",
            "key_figure": "joint and several liability",
            "notes": "A new owner inherits the obligation and the previous owner does not escape it."
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 715",
            "subject": "Interest, but only at 25 units",
            "what_it_requires": "A lessor of residential property containing 25 or more units in one building, or in a complex of buildings on contiguous parcels, must pay interest on a deposit held more than six months.",
            "key_figure": "25 or more units",
            "notes": "Below that threshold there is no state interest obligation. Chicago imposes one on most city rentals regardless of size, which is why the city rule matters more than the state one inside Chicago."
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 715",
            "subject": "How the state rate is set",
            "what_it_requires": "The rate is that paid on minimum deposit passbook savings accounts by the largest commercial bank in Illinois as of 31 December of the preceding year, and applies to the following year.",
            "key_figure": "passbook savings rate",
            "notes": "A different mechanism from the Chicago rate, which the City Comptroller calculates from an average of three account types at the bank with the most Chicago branches."
        },
        {
            "provision": "765 ILCS 715",
            "subject": "When the state interest is due",
            "what_it_requires": "Interest must be paid in cash or credited against rent within 30 days after the end of each 12 month rental period.",
            "key_figure": "30 days",
            "notes": "The same timing as the Chicago obligation."
        },
        {
            "provision": "no state cap",
            "subject": "Deposit amount",
            "what_it_requires": "Illinois sets no statewide limit on the size of a residential security deposit. One or one and a half months rent is customary rather than statutory.",
            "key_figure": "no statutory limit",
            "notes": "Mobile home park deposits are reported as capped at one month rent, which Homzora has not verified against the statute."
        }
    ]
}