Illinois HB3564 (No Junk Fees): What You Can and Can't Charge Starting 2027

Illinois just rewrote the rules on rental fees. HB3564 — the "No Junk Fees" law — was signed by Governor Pritzker and takes effect January 1, 2027. It caps application fees, bans a whole list of add-on charges landlords have leaned on for years, and forces every non-optional fee onto the first page of the lease. If it's not disclosed there, the tenant doesn't owe it. Here's exactly what changes, what you can still charge, and the one part almost everyone is already getting wrong.

The $50 Application-Fee Cap — and Its Exceptions

You can no longer charge more than $50 for a rental application or background/credit check. There are two important exceptions:

• Real third-party cost is higher. If the actual cost of a third-party background check exceeds $50, you can charge the true cost — but you have to pay it upfront and give the applicant a receipt showing the vendor's charge within 14 days. Miss that deadline and the fee is waived.
• The applicant brings their own report. If a tenant provides their own screening/background report from the last 30 days, you can't charge them a screening fee at all.

The days of a $100–$300 "application fee" that quietly pads the bottom line are over.

The Junk Fees You Can No Longer Charge

HB3564 bans a specific list of add-on fees outright. The prohibited charges include:

• Duplicate or second tenant-screening fees
• Lease modification or lease renewal fees
• Eviction notice or filing fees charged before a court order
• After-hours maintenance-request fees
• Fees for contacting the owner or property manager
• Travel fees for maintenance or repair work
• Maintenance hotline / call-line fees
• General or routine maintenance and upkeep fees
• Online account-setup or administrative processing fees
• Pest abatement or removal fees when the tenant did not cause the infestation
• In-person move-in or move-out walkthrough/inspection fees

Note the theme: these are charges for things that are simply part of being a landlord. Maintaining the unit, answering the phone, renewing a lease — you can't bolt a separate fee onto any of them anymore.

Move-In Fees: It's Not a Flat "20% Cap"

This is the part getting mangled online. A lot of the graphics circulating say HB3564 "caps move-in fees at 20% of rent." That's not what the law actually says. The real rule is narrower and more specific:

• A move-in or move-out fee can't exceed the itemized reasonable cost of the services it covers.
• You must give the tenant an itemized list of the reasonable estimated costs — including any bundled services — that make up the fee.
• The tenant can opt out of bundled services they don't want.
• And as noted above, an in-person walkthrough fee is banned entirely.

So a move-in fee isn't dead — but it has to map to real, itemized costs, not a round percentage of rent you picked because it sounded fair.

Every Fee Has to Be on Page One

HB3564's transparency rule may be the one with the biggest day-to-day impact: every non-optional fee — one-time or recurring — must appear explicitly on the first page of the lease. Not in an addendum, not on page four, not "as posted in the office." If a fee isn't on page one, it's unenforceable and the tenant is not liable for it. Rental listings also have to disclose whether utilities are included in rent or paid separately.

It Has Teeth: A Private Right of Action

This isn't a rule that only gets enforced if the city gets around to it. HB3564 gives tenants a private right of action — they can sue directly for injunctive relief, monetary damages, and attorney's fees. That attorney's-fees piece is what makes even a modest junk-fee dispute worth a tenant lawyer's time, the same dynamic that makes security-deposit mistakes so costly. The one carve-out: owner-occupied buildings with six units or fewer are exempt from the law.

What to Do Before January 1

• Audit your lease and fee schedule now. Strike anything on the banned list, and move every remaining non-optional fee onto page one.
• Cap your application fee at $50 — or set up a clean process to front third-party check costs and issue receipts within 14 days.
• Rebuild any move-in fee as an itemized cost list, and let tenants opt out of bundled services.
• Fix your listings so utilities disclosure is baked in.

HB3564 doesn't stand alone — it's one of several changes hitting Illinois and Chicago landlords right now. For the full picture, see our rundown of the 2026 Chicago & Illinois landlord law updates.

Key Takeaways

• HB3564 (the "No Junk Fees" law) is law — effective January 1, 2027, statewide in Illinois
• Application/background fees are capped at $50, with narrow exceptions for higher real third-party costs (receipt within 14 days) and tenant-provided reports
• A specific list of junk fees is banned — lease renewal/modification, eviction-notice, after-hours and routine maintenance, travel/hotline, account-setup, uncaused pest control, and walkthrough fees
• Move-in fees are not capped at 20% — they must match an itemized reasonable-cost list, with opt-out of bundled services
• Every non-optional fee must be on page one of the lease or it's unenforceable; utilities must be disclosed in listings
• Tenants get a private right of action (damages + attorney's fees); owner-occupied buildings of ≤6 units are exempt