How Much Notice to Raise Rent in Chicago? 30, 60, or 120 Days — Here's Which

Chicago has no rent control, so you can raise rent by any amount. But you can't raise it on any timeline you choose. Under the Fair Notice Ordinance (§ 5-12-130(j)), the written notice you owe before a rent increase takes effect is tiered to how long the tenant has lived in the unit:

Length of tenancy	Written notice required
Less than 6 months	30 days
6 months to 3 years	60 days
More than 3 years	120 days

The same tiers apply whether you're raising rent, declining to renew, or terminating a tenancy — and they apply to written leases and month-to-month arrangements alike.

The Increase Amount Doesn't Matter — The Notice Does

There's no dollar threshold or percentage that triggers these requirements. A $25 increase needs the same notice as a $400 one. The ordinance is about advance warning, not size — the point is giving the tenant time to absorb the change or find somewhere else, and a long-term tenant gets more of that time than a new one.

This replaced the old pre-2020 rule, which let landlords raise rent or non-renew with a flat 30 days regardless of how long the tenant had been there. The City decided long-term tenants deserved more runway, and the tiers are the result.

The Mistake That Costs You Months

Here's where landlords get burned: serving the wrong tier. The most expensive version is treating a long-term tenant like a new one.

Serve a 30-day notice on a tenant who's been in the unit for four years, and you haven't started a 30-day clock — you've created a 120-day problem. The notice is non-compliant, and the consequence isn't just a do-over. If a landlord gives short notice, the tenancy continues at the old rent for the entire legally required notice period. So the four-year tenant you tried to raise on 30 days' notice keeps paying the old rent for the full 120 days you should have given in the first place.

A notice period standard in most other markets — 45 or 60 days — is simply non-compliant for that long-term tenant in Chicago. The tier is set by occupancy length, not by what's normal elsewhere.

Two Details That Trip People Up

Exactly three years sits in the middle tier. A tenancy of exactly three years falls in the 60-day bracket, not the 120-day one. The 120-day tier is for tenancies of more than three years. The boundary matters when a tenant is right at the line.

Mid-month termination dates can be defective. The notice period is generally calculated to run to the end of a rental period, not an arbitrary mid-month date. A notice built to terminate a tenancy mid-month can be treated as defective — which, if you proceed to eviction, gets dismissed. The cleaner practice is to align the notice with the rental period and count the full tier from there.

What This Means Operationally

If you manage more than a handful of units, the 120-day tier is the one that demands a system. Four months of lead time means a non-renewal for a long-term tenant whose lease ends in June has to be served in February. Landlords who handle notices reactively — when the renewal conversation comes up — routinely miss the long-tier deadlines and lock themselves into another period at the old rent.

The written requirement is firm: verbal notice doesn't count, and you'll want proof of delivery. Because there's no rent control, the constraint on your increase isn't the amount — it's getting the tier and the timing right. The relationship between this and the broader no-rent-control picture is covered in Is There Rent Control in Chicago?, and the full notice framework is in the Chicago Landlord Entry Rights overview. For a specific tenant, Dweller IQ can tell you exactly which tier applies and when the notice has to go out.

Key Takeaways

• Chicago's Fair Notice Ordinance requires 30 days (under 6 months), 60 days (6 months–3 years), or 120 days (over 3 years) of written notice to raise rent
• The same tiers apply to non-renewals and terminations, for written leases and month-to-month tenancies
• There's no dollar or percentage threshold — even a small increase requires the full applicable notice
• Short notice doesn't just fail — the tenancy continues at the old rent for the entire required period
• A tenancy of exactly three years falls in the 60-day tier; the 120-day tier is for more than three years
• Notices built to terminate mid-rental-period can be defective; align the notice with the rental period and count the full tier