Lease Renewal 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
- Chicago landlords owe 30, 60, or 120 days' written notice before declining to renew or raising your rent, scaled to tenure.
- Illinois state law requires no notice at all when a fixed-term lease simply hits its expiration date.
- Month-to-month tenancies need 30 days' written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, and week-to-week needs 7 days.
- Year-to-year tenancies require 60 days' written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-205 before either side ends them.
- Illinois has no statewide just-cause rule, so outside Chicago a landlord may decline renewal for any lawful reason.
Understanding the Lease Renewal Clause
A lease renewal clause covers what happens as your term runs down: whether it rolls over automatically, who has to give notice, and how much warning you're owed. In Illinois the answer depends almost entirely on which side of the city line you live on.
Statewide, a fixed-term lease ends on its own expiration date and no notice is required from anyone. Inside Chicago the Fair Notice Ordinance flips that, putting 30, 60, or 120 days' written notice between you and a surprise non-renewal.
What renters assume
Renters assume a lease quietly renews unless somebody says otherwise, so silence from the property manager means another year in the apartment.
What is actually true
Under Illinois law a fixed term ends on its own date with no notice required. Only your lease's own renewal language, or Chicago's 30/60/120-day ordinance, changes that.
Illinois' 30-day bar covers month-to-month tenancies only; when a fixed term expires, state law asks for nothing at all. Colorado and Washington now require an actual cause to refuse a renewal. Chicago's ordinance is the only thing putting a Chicago renter anywhere near that company.
Plain English Version
A fixed-term lease works like a gym membership that ends on a printed date, and Illinois doesn't require anyone to remind you it's ending. Chicago is the one place that makes the gym warn you weeks in advance before it stops letting you renew.
Lease Renewal 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.
A holdover-renewal paragraph from a 1968 New York City Civil Court case - trial level, and quoted here for what the drafting does, not because it is authority in Illinois:
If the tenant continues in possession after the expiration of the term granted herein, then this lease is hereby renewed for a further period of one year and the rent during said period shall be increased $420.00 per year payable by the increase of each monthly payment in the sum of $35.00, unless the parties enter into a new written agreement.
Quoted from the published opinion in Renoir House, Inc. v. Solomon, 58 Misc. 2d 994 (N.Y. Civ. Ct. 1968). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“after the expiration of the term granted herein”
What happens after the last day is the whole question, and Illinois answers it in two places. Under 735 ILCS 5/9-213 a tenancy for a certain period ends by its own terms and no notice to quit is necessary; the statute's notice figures attach to periodic tenancies instead - 30 days for month to month under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, 7 days for week to week, and 60 days for year to year under 735 ILCS 5/9-205. Which of those you are in once the term expires is exactly what a clause like this tries to settle in advance.
“for a further period of one year”
A year is a long roll, and it is the shape Illinois's 60-day figure is built around: 735 ILCS 5/9-205 requires 60 days' written notice to end a year-to-year tenancy. In Chicago the ordinance usually answers the timing question first, because RLTO 5-12-130(j) puts the landlord on a 30, 60 or 120 day clock according to your tenure before a renewal can be declined.
“the increase of each monthly payment”
The rent increase is the half of this rule renters most often miss. The Fair Notice rule in RLTO 5-12-130(j) covers a rent increase as well as a refusal to renew: 30, 60 or 120 days' written notice, scaled to how long you have been in the unit. An increase announced late is a timing problem for the landlord, not only a budgeting problem for you.
“in the sum of $35.00”
A figure written into the lease is what let this tenant plan, and what made the landlord's larger demand fail. Our Illinois record deals with notice and timing rather than the size of an increase, and it records that the state has no statewide just-cause rule, so a landlord outside Chicago may decline to renew for any lawful reason. Inside the city, the ordinance's notice bands are the constraint that actually bites.
Read the date first. This is 1968, and a trial-level New York City Civil Court decision, so it carries little precedential weight - one trial judge reading one lease, not a rule laid down by an appellate court. Treat it as an illustration of a clause shape, never as controlling authority, and check current New York law before relying on any part of it. What the court did: it called paragraph 14 “crystal clear and unambiguous” and read it as an option the tenant exercises simply by staying in possession, at a fixed increase the lease itself named. The tenant held over and refused to sign a new agreement, so the lease was extended for a year at $292 a month, and the landlord's written notice raising the rent above that figure was “completely ineffectual.” The court also held that General Obligations Law § 5-905 did not let the landlord negate the option: that statute exists to protect tenants from automatic-renewal clauses that bind them unless they give advance notice to quit, not to defeat a renewal clause that runs the tenant's way. Petition dismissed, final judgment for the tenant.
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 Renewal Clause
- Under 735 ILCS 5/9-213, a tenancy for a certain period ends by its own terms and no notice to quit is necessary.
- 735 ILCS 5/9-207 requires 30 days' written notice for month-to-month and 7 days for week-to-week tenancies.
- 735 ILCS 5/9-205 requires 60 days' written notice to end a year-to-year tenancy.
- Illinois has no statewide just-cause rule, so a landlord outside Chicago may decline renewal for any lawful reason.
735 ILCS 5/9-207 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Illinois splits renewal rules by the kind of tenancy you hold. A tenancy for a certain period ends by its own terms under 735 ILCS 5/9-213, so no notice to quit is necessary when your one-year lease reaches its end date. Periodic tenancies are different: 735 ILCS 5/9-207 requires 30 days' written notice for month-to-month, and 735 ILCS 5/9-205 requires 60 days' for year-to-year.
There's also no statewide just-cause rule, so a landlord in Naperville or Peoria may decline to renew for any lawful reason and never explain it. Compare Colorado, where C.R.S. 38-12-1303 bars no-cause non-renewal outright and most no-fault grounds carry 90 days' notice. Illinois hands you a date on a calendar; Colorado hands you a reason.
Illinois Tenant Protections
A month-to-month tenancy can't be ended without 30 days' written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-207, and week-to-week takes 7 days. A year-to-year tenancy requires 60 days' written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-205 before either side walks away. Because a fixed term ends by its own terms under 735 ILCS 5/9-213, a landlord who wants you out sooner has to use the court eviction process rather than simply declaring the lease over.
What's Specific to Chicago
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 the protection Illinois never wrote. RLTO section 5-12-130(j), amended by the 2020 Fair Notice Ordinance, requires 30, 60, or 120 days' written notice before your landlord declines to renew or raises the rent, with the length scaled to how long you've lived in the unit. The longer you've been there, the more warning you're owed.
The RLTO doesn't cover every building, and small owner-occupied properties are commonly exempt, so confirm your unit qualifies before you lean on the ordinance. In a market where most Chicago leases turn over in spring and early fall, a 120-day heads-up is the difference between a calm search and taking whatever's left.
A fair clause names the exact date your notice is due and holds both sides to it. Vague timing lets a property manager claim you missed a window you never knew about.
In an RLTO-covered building your landlord owes 30, 60, or 120 days' written notice based on tenure. A lease promising less doesn't override the ordinance.
Watch for a clause rolling you into a new term at a rate set later. Chicago requires the same 30, 60, or 120 days' notice for a rent increase as for non-renewal.
Any line saying you agree to vacate at term end with no further notice is a red flag in a Chicago building. RLTO protections aren't yours to sign away.
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 5/9-207, 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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Auto-renewal with no exit window
The lease rolls into a full new term unless you cancel by a date buried on page four. Get that deadline confirmed in writing before you sign.
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Notice waiver at term end
Language saying the tenancy ends with no further notice required. In an RLTO-covered Chicago building that collides with the 30/60/120-day Fair Notice rule.
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One-sided notice deadlines
You owe months of advance notice to leave, while your landlord owes none to refuse renewal. A fair clause runs the same clock in both directions.
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Renewal rent left blank
The clause promises renewal at then-prevailing market rent. That's a number your property manager picks later, with nothing in the document to argue against.
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Fee for declining to renew
A charge imposed simply for choosing not to sign another term. Illinois lets a fixed-term lease end on its own date at no cost to you.
Your Rights as a Chicago Tenant
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30 days on month-to-month
735 ILCS 5/9-207 requires 30 days' written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy, and 7 days for week-to-week.
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60 days on year-to-year
A year-to-year tenancy takes 60 days' written notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-205 before either you or your landlord can end it.
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Chicago's tenure-based notice
RLTO 5-12-130(j) requires 30, 60, or 120 days' written notice before non-renewal or a rent increase, scaled to how long you've rented the unit.
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Your term can't be cut short
Under 735 ILCS 5/9-213 a fixed term ends by its own terms, so a landlord can't shorten it by announcing early that there'll be no renewal.
What To Do - Step by Step
Find your renewal deadline
Search the lease for renew, renewal, or automatic. Put the notice deadline on your calendar the day you sign, not the month it's due.
Count your Chicago notice days
Work out whether your tenure entitles you to 30, 60, or 120 days' notice, and confirm your building is RLTO-covered first.
Ask early, in writing
Email your property manager well before your notice window opens, asking whether a renewal is being offered and at what rent. Save the reply.
Save every notice you receive
Photograph any non-renewal or rent-increase notice with its delivery date. That date decides whether the ordinance was actually satisfied.
Answer the offer in writing
If you're staying, accept in writing and get the signed renewal back before your deadline passes. A verbal yes leaves you nothing to point at.
Call a Chicago tenant hotline
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization runs a free tenants' rights hotline. Legal Aid Chicago and Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing take landlord-tenant cases at no cost for income-eligible renters.