Lease Acceleration Clause
in Your Lease
What it actually means, what Illinois law says, what's specific to Chicago - and exactly what to do. In plain English.
Quick Summary - What You Need to Know
- Under 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1, your landlord must take reasonable measures to mitigate, statewide since January 1, 1984.
- A bill for the whole remaining term is cut down by what re-renting could recover.
- The statute sets no deadline or procedure, so reasonableness is judged case by case.
- RLTO section 5-12-140 voids terms waiving RLTO rights, confessing judgment, or charging you the landlord's attorney fees.
- RLTO section 5-12-130(e) abandonment: 21 days gone, rent unpaid, property removed; or 32 days gone, rent unpaid.
Understanding the Lease Acceleration Clause
This page is for Chicago renters whose lease has an acceleration clause: the paragraph that makes all the remaining rent due at once if you miss rent, move out early or break another term. On paper the bill is simple math, months left times the rent.
In Illinois that figure is a ceiling, not what you automatically owe. What you can be held to also depends on what your landlord did to re-rent the unit after you left.
What renters assume
If my lease says all remaining rent is due when I leave early, my landlord can collect every month of it.
What is actually true
Not in Illinois. 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1 makes your landlord take reasonable measures to mitigate damages, so the amount shrinks by what re-renting could recover.
Illinois sits in the protective half of that chart, though not at the top. Texas and New York go further and explicitly void any lease clause waiving the mitigation duty; the Illinois statute doesn't spell that out.
What backs Chicago renters up is local - RLTO section 5-12-140 voids waivers of your RLTO rights outright.
Rent Acceleration Clause Example - What the Wording Looks Like in Chicago, IL
The sample clause below is real lease language - a court quoted it word for word, and then ruled on it. What the judge decided is at the bottom of this block.
Find the equivalent paragraph in your own lease and read the two side by side. The wording will differ; the moving parts rarely do.
The three sentences the opinion sets out, in order. The lease paragraph continues past them with a sentence about late fees and interest on accelerated amounts, not reproduced here:
If any monthly installment under this agreement is not paid when due and remains unpaid after a date specified by a notice to Tenant, the entire principal rent amount owed for the full lease term shall at once become due and payable at the option of the Landlord and judgment may be had for all said amounts due. The foregoing provision shall not relieve the Landlord of its obligation to mitigate damages. In the event the rental premises is re-rented to another for full value prior to expiration of the lease term, Landlord shall file Notice of Partial Satisfaction of any judgment entered to the extent of the third party rental agreement.
[…]
Quoted from the published opinion in Summers v. Crestview Apartments, 2010 MT 164, 357 Mont. 123, 236 P.3d 586 (No. DA 09-0489). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
What the 4 highlighted phrases mean
“and remains unpaid”
Unpaid rent is only half of what Chicago's ordinance needs before a unit counts as abandoned. The other half is time. RLTO § 5-12-130(e) defines abandonment as 21 days of absence with rent unpaid and the tenant's property removed, or 32 days of absence with rent unpaid. Falling behind while still living there meets neither limb, and the distinction is worth holding on to, because much of what this paragraph lets a landlord do next is written for a tenant who has gone.
See the example
“and judgment may be had”
Read this next to RLTO § 5-12-140, the Chicago provision most likely to reach a clause like this one. It voids lease terms that waive RLTO rights, that confess judgment on the tenant's behalf, and that make the tenant pay the landlord's attorney fees. A paragraph contemplating that a judgment may follow is not itself a confession of judgment - it assumes a suit - but it sits close enough to that line that the rest of the lease is worth reading for who is agreeing to what.
See the example
“of its obligation to mitigate damages”
This is the statewide rule restated in the lease's own words. 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1 requires a landlord or the landlord's agent to take reasonable measures to mitigate the damages recoverable against a defaulting lessee, so a demand for the entire remaining rent is cut down to what re-renting could have recovered. The statute fixes no deadline and no procedure, which means reasonableness is judged case by case on what this landlord did with this unit.
See the example
“of any judgment entered”
A Notice of Partial Satisfaction is how a judgment for the whole term gets reduced after the unit is earning again, and in Illinois the reduction is not a courtesy: the mitigation duty is what forces the number down. It is worth seeing the alternative. In Pennsylvania there is no mitigation statute, and Stonehedge Square Ltd. Partnership v. Movie Merchants, Inc., 715 A.2d 1082 (Pa. 1998), holds that a non-breaching landlord whose tenant abandons in breach has no duty to mitigate. The same paragraph produces a very different bill on the two sides of that line.
The Montana Supreme Court struck this paragraph down, and its conclusion is one sentence: “Thus, we conclude that the accelerated rent provision is unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.” The tenants had moved out of their apartment on October 13, 2006, and Crestview answered with a Statement of Deductions from the Security Deposit charging rent through the end of the lease in June - $6,505.75 billed against a $2,170 deposit. Two reasons carried the court. Acceleration undermines the landlord's duty to mitigate and reduces the incentive to re-rent promptly, because a landlord already holding a judgment for the whole term has little reason to fill the unit. And Crestview drafted the lease while these tenants had no meaningful choice and no opportunity to negotiate any of it. The case was reversed and remanded, and two justices wrote separately - their objection being that the majority had gone as far as treating acceleration clauses as unenforceable in themselves. So read the holding narrowly, as the majority wrote it: this provision, in this residential lease, unconscionable and unenforceable. It is a Montana decision and it binds no other state's courts. What travels is the reasoning, and the reasoning is about mitigation - which is exactly the question the statute in your own city's decode answers.
How this state's law treats this clause
One court, one lease, one state. That answer is not automatically yours, and your lease may be worded to land differently. Use this to know what to look for and what to ask - your state's tenant hotline or a local tenant attorney can answer it for your document.
Illinois Law on Lease Acceleration Clause
- 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1 requires a landlord or agent to take reasonable measures to mitigate damages recoverable against a defaulting lessee.
- The statute sets no deadline or procedure, so reasonableness is judged case by case.
- Because damages must be mitigated, a clause demanding the entire remaining rent is cut down by what re-renting could recover.
- The duty applies statewide and has been in force since January 1, 1984.
Sources include 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Step by step
How it plays out
- You leave earlyRemaining rent may fall dueAn acceleration clause can make every remaining month due at once if you default.
- Unit sits emptyLandlord must try to re-rentUnder 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1 your landlord must take reasonable measures to mitigate. The statute sets no deadline, so reasonableness is judged case by case.
- Bill arrivesRe-rent value comes offA demand for the entire remaining rent is cut down by what re-renting could recover. You do not owe for months a new tenant pays.
Count it for your dates
32 days: when does it end?
What it means: After 32 days absent with rent unpaid, the unit can count as abandoned under RLTO section 5-12-130(e). Applies to Chicago units the RLTO covers; the line is 21 days if your property has also been removed (Chicago RLTO § 5-12-130(e)). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Copy and send: When your landlord bills you for the rest of the lease after you moved out
Ask what was done to re-rent the unit
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
In Illinois the answer comes from one short statute, 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1. It applies statewide and has been in force since January 1, 1984.
- The duty. A landlord or agent must take reasonable measures to mitigate the damages recoverable against a tenant who defaults. In practice that means listing the unit, showing it and renting it at a fair price, not leaving it empty while the bill grows.
- The effect on the clause. Because damages must be mitigated, a clause demanding the entire remaining rent is cut down by what re-renting could recover.
- No clock. The statute sets no deadline and no required steps, so reasonableness is argued case by case. That is why your own proof of what the landlord did or did not do carries real weight.
What's Specific to Chicago
How Illinois compares
Landlord duty to mitigate after an early lease break, state by state
No figureGuide coming soonYou are here
See all 25 cities as a chart
Figures are the state rule, or the stronger city ordinance where one exists. Verify the current law for your own situation before relying on it.
Chicago adds two protections through its ordinance, the RLTO, in buildings it covers. Section 5-12-130(e) defines abandonment: 21 days absent with rent unpaid and your property removed, or 32 days absent with rent unpaid.
A landlord cannot treat a shorter absence as abandonment under that definition. Section 5-12-140 voids lease terms that waive your RLTO rights, confess judgment against you, or make you pay the landlord's attorney fees.
Your balance should drop by rent collected after re-rental. 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1 already requires mitigation, so this wording just puts it in writing.
That turns a single late month into the whole remaining term. Ask for it to be struck or capped before you sign.
A set buyout amount tells you your exact exposure before anything goes wrong, unlike an open-ended acceleration demand.
Inside Chicago that term is void under RLTO section 5-12-140, along with any clause confessing judgment or waiving your RLTO rights.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1, read on codes.findlaw.com. FindLaw marks its copy of this section current as of January 1, 2025; Illinois publishes the official text at www.ilga.gov, which refuses connections from our build machine.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Full term due on one default
One missed payment turning into every remaining month is the harshest form of this clause. The mitigation duty still applies, but you may have to argue it.
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No re-rental credit language
A lease silent on crediting new rent does not erase the statute. It can mean the landlord plans to bill the full balance.
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A lump sum with no breakdown
A single number with no months, re-rental efforts or new-tenant rent listed cannot be checked. Ask for an itemized statement before you pay.
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Confession of judgment clause
This lets a landlord take judgment against you without a hearing. RLTO section 5-12-140 makes it void in Chicago.
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Abandonment defined too loosely
A lease that calls your unit abandoned sooner than RLTO section 5-12-130(e) allows does not match the ordinance.
Your Rights as a Chicago Tenant
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Landlord must try to re-rent
Your landlord must take reasonable measures to mitigate damages after you default. Doing nothing to re-rent while billing you each month does not meet that duty.
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No paying twice for one month
Rent a new tenant pays comes off what you owe. You do not owe for months someone else is paying.
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A real abandonment definition
In Chicago, abandonment is set by RLTO section 5-12-130(e), not by a landlord's guess.
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RLTO waivers are void
Under section 5-12-140, signing a Chicago lease term that waives your RLTO rights changes nothing.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find the acceleration language
Search your lease for "accelerate," "entire balance" or "all remaining rent." Copy out the exact wording, because every later step depends on it.
Check whether the RLTO covers you
The ordinance does not reach every building, and small owner-occupied properties sit outside it. If you are covered, sections 5-12-130(e) and 5-12-140 apply.
Ask for an itemized statement
Ask in writing for the months claimed, the re-rental efforts made and any rent collected from a new tenant.
Save the re-listing yourself
Screenshot listing sites and the building's own page the week after you leave. Proof that the unit re-rented fast supports your mitigation defense.
Send a mitigation letter
Cite 735 ILCS 5/9-213.1, state that damages must be mitigated, and ask what reasonable measures were taken. Keep it factual, dated and short.
Get a tenant attorney involved
Before you pay a demand for the full term, bring your lease, dates and screenshots to a tenant attorney, Chicago legal aid or a tenant-rights hotline.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Lease Acceleration rules near Illinois
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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