Your Chicago Tenant Hasn't Paid Rent. Here's What to Do, Step by Step.
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Rent was due on the first. It's the fifth. Your tenant hasn't paid, hasn't texted, and isn't picking up the phone.
- The first legal step is a written 5-day notice under Illinois law (735 ILCS 5/9-209). It applies to every Illinois landlord, including owner-occupied two-flats.
- The notice must include one specific sentence about full payment. With it, taking a partial payment doesn't cancel the notice. Without it, it can.
- Serve it one of four ways the statute allows, and count the days the way Illinois law counts them.
- No lockouts and no utility shutoffs, even in a building you live in. Only a court can order the tenant out, and only the Cook County Sheriff can enforce that order.
The first moves after a missed payment decide two things: whether you get paid, and whether you can evict legally if you don't. The expensive mistakes in a nonpayment case tend to happen early, and they're avoidable once you know the handful of rules below. Each one comes with its section number, so you can check it yourself.
First: Talk to Them, Don't Threaten Them
Reaching out to ask what's going on is fine. A tenant who lost a job or had a bank problem may pay quickly if you ask. What gets landlords in trouble is pressure the law doesn't allow.
Chicago's lockout ban (RLTO 5-12-160) makes it illegal to push a tenant out without a court order. That includes changing or plugging the locks, blocking the door, removing doors or windows, cutting off heat, water, gas or electricity, removing the tenant's belongings, or using force or threats. The City can fine a landlord $200 to $500 per offense, and each day is a separate offense. A tenant who proves a lockout recovers possession plus up to the greater of two months' rent or twice their damages (5-12-160), and attorney's fees if they sue and win (5-12-180).
Second: Know Which Rules Cover Your Building
The 5-day notice is state law, so it works the same way whether or not the Chicago RLTO covers your building. What changes is what happens after you serve it.
- RLTO-covered buildings (most Chicago rentals): the tenant has a one-time right to cure under 5-12-130(a). Even after the notice period ends, and right up until the court issues an eviction order, the tenant can stop the termination by paying the rent owed through the date of payment, plus the filing fees and service costs you've paid. If they do, the case is dismissed. Your attorney's fees don't count toward the cure. On a later nonpayment, the tenant gets the five days again, but not the same cure.
- Owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer: the RLTO cure right doesn't apply, but the state notice rules below and the lockout ban above still do.
Not sure which one you are? The free RLTO checker tells you in about a minute.
Third: Get the 5-Day Notice Right
Under 735 ILCS 5/9-209, once rent is due you can demand it in writing and tell the tenant the lease will end unless they pay within a stated time of at least five days after the notice is served. The notice must prominently include this sentence, word for word:
"Only FULL PAYMENT of the rent demanded in this notice will waive the landlord's right to terminate the lease under this notice, unless the landlord agrees in writing to continue the lease in exchange for receiving partial payment."
Section 9-209 is a demand for rent. Adding late fees, utilities or other charges to the amount demanded is a common reason a notice gets challenged, and in Chicago a late fee above the RLTO cap is a prohibited lease term (5-12-140(h)). The Chicago 5-day notice guide walks through the notice itself in more detail.
Fourth: What Partial Payments Actually Do
Landlords hear conflicting advice about this, but the statute is specific. Section 9-209 says a notice is not invalidated by payments that don't add up to the full amount demanded by the end of the notice period, as long as the notice contains the required sentence above.
- Notice has the sentence: you can accept a partial payment and the notice still stands, unless you agree in writing to continue the lease in exchange for the partial payment.
- Notice is missing the sentence: accepting a partial payment can waive the notice, and you may be back to the start.
- After you've filed: collecting past-due rent doesn't invalidate the eviction case (9-209).
Whatever you accept, write down the date, the amount, and what you said when you took it. The partial rent guide covers the common "I'll have the rest next week" situations.
Fifth: Serve It Correctly and Count the Days
Service is a separate statute, 735 ILCS 5/9-211. The options are:
- handing the notice to the tenant,
- leaving it with someone 13 or older who lives on or is in possession of the premises,
- sending it by certified or registered mail, with a returned receipt from the tenant, or
- only if no one is in actual possession, posting it on the premises.
To count the days, Illinois law (5 ILCS 70/1.11) excludes the day of service and includes the last day. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, it moves to the next day that isn't one.
If They Still Don't Pay: The Court Process
If the tenant hasn't paid in full by the deadline in the notice, 9-209 lets you treat the lease as ended and file an eviction case without further notice or demand. In Chicago that case goes to the Circuit Court of Cook County, and you can ask for the unpaid rent in the same case.
Filing opens the case; it doesn't end it. The tenant can appear and raise defenses, and the judge decides. If you win, the court enters an eviction order, and only the Cook County Sheriff can carry it out. You still can't change the locks or move belongings yourself, even with an order in hand. The Cook County eviction process guide maps the court steps in order.
Throughout: Document Everything
Keep a record from day one: when rent was due, when it wasn't paid, every message you sent and received, how and when the notice was served, and every payment after the due date. If the tenant later says they paid, or that you agreed to something, your records are what a judge looks at.
Key Takeaways
- The first legal step is a written 5-day notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-209, and it applies to owner-occupied buildings too
- The notice must include the exact "Only FULL PAYMENT" sentence; with it, a partial payment doesn't cancel the notice unless you agree in writing
- Serve it by one of the four methods in 9-211 and count days under 5 ILCS 70/1.11
- In RLTO-covered buildings the tenant has a one-time right to cure, until an eviction order issues, by paying rent owed plus your filing and service costs (5-12-130(a))
- Lockouts and utility shutoffs are illegal in owner-occupied buildings too (5-12-160), with City fines of $200 to $500 per offense, each day a separate offense
- Only a court can order a tenant out, and only the Cook County Sheriff can enforce an eviction order
Common Questions
Talk to the tenant without threats, then, if rent stays unpaid, serve a written 5-day notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-209 that includes the required “Only FULL PAYMENT” sentence. Lockouts and utility shutoffs are illegal, even in owner-occupied buildings.
Yes, if the notice includes the required full-payment sentence. Under 9-209 a partial payment doesn't invalidate the notice unless you agree in writing to continue the lease in exchange for it. If the sentence is missing, accepting part can waive the notice.
Yes. The 5-day notice is Illinois law, so it applies whether or not the Chicago RLTO covers your building. The owner-occupied exemption removes the RLTO cure right (and most other RLTO rules), not the state notice.
No. Changing the locks, cutting utilities or removing belongings is an illegal lockout under RLTO 5-12-160, even in owner-occupied buildings, with City fines of $200 to $500 per offense, each day a separate offense. Only the Cook County Sheriff can enforce an eviction order.
The 5-day notice ends the tenant's right to stay, but it doesn't remove them. If the deadline passes without full payment, the next step is filing an eviction case in the Circuit Court of Cook County. If the court rules for the landlord, it enters an eviction order, and only the Cook County Sheriff can carry it out. Until then, changing the locks, cutting utilities or removing belongings is an illegal lockout (5-12-160), even in an owner-occupied building. Many landlords in this spot are surprised by how long the court stage takes; how long a Chicago eviction takes walks through each stage.
The first question is whether the tenant actually gave up the unit: returned keys, a written notice, or a signed move-out. A unit that only looks empty isn't legally abandoned, and retaking it too early is an illegal lockout (see what to do if a tenant abandons the property). In RLTO-covered buildings, the RLTO sets its own test for abandonment (5-12-130(e)). Owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer are exempt from that rule, so landlords there typically rely on a written surrender from the tenant or a court order. Either way, the security deposit still has deadlines: an itemized statement of damage, with receipts, within 30 days to keep any of it for damage, and the deposit back within 45 days (5-12-080 for RLTO buildings, 765 ILCS 710 for owner-occupied ones). Unpaid rent is still owed and can be pursued in court, and landlords must make reasonable efforts to re-rent the unit (735 ILCS 5/9-213.1; in RLTO buildings, 5-12-130(e) requires a good-faith effort at a fair rent).
