Pet Policy 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
- Illinois sets no cap on pet deposits - the amount is whatever your landlord writes into the lease.
- Chicago's RLTO treats a refundable pet deposit as a security deposit, requiring a separate interest-bearing account and annual interest.
- A Chicago landlord who mishandles that deposit can owe double the deposit in damages.
- The Security Deposit Return Act requires an itemized damage statement within 30 days in buildings with five or more units.
- Assistance animals are never pets, so no pet deposit, fee, or pet rent can be charged for them.
Understanding the Pet Policy Clause
The pet policy clause decides three things: whether your animal is allowed at all, what it costs up front, and what happens when a manager finds out later. In Chicago, that cost is unlimited by law - your protection is about how the money is held, not how much of it there is.
Illinois puts no ceiling on a pet deposit or on monthly pet rent. What Chicago adds is bookkeeping with teeth: a refundable pet deposit counts as a security deposit under RLTO § 5-12-080, which means a separate account, annual interest, and double-deposit damages when a landlord slips.
What renters assume
Renters figure there has to be some legal limit on a pet deposit - a few hundred dollars, or the same one-month ceiling they've heard applies to security deposits.
What is actually true
Illinois sets no cap at all. A four-figure pet deposit is perfectly legal here, while Denver caps the same charge at $300 and Seattle at 25% of the first month's rent.
Illinois sits at the no-cap end of this chart alongside Texas, Florida, and Tennessee, so nobody is going to tell your landlord the number is too high. Your leverage here is different - Chicago makes a refundable pet deposit escrowed, interest-bearing, and returnable, and getting that wrong costs the landlord double.
Plain English Version
Think of a pet deposit as a tab your landlord holds while you live there. Illinois never says how big the tab can get - Chicago just makes sure it sits in its own account, earns interest, and comes back to you.
Pet 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.
PETS. NO PETS ARE PERMITTED. IF THERE ARE PETS, LESSEE(S) AGREES TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL $10 PER MONTH PER CAT OR DOG UNDER 40 POUNDS AND $20 PER MONTH PER DOG OVER 40 POUNDS. ONE DOG PERMITTED, NO ADDITIONAL FEE.
Quoted from the published opinion in Oldendick v. Crocker, 2016-Ohio-5621, 70 N.E.3d 1033 (Ohio Ct. App. 8th Dist.). Judicial opinions are not subject to copyright; the lease language is reproduced in limited part for commentary under 17 U.S.C. § 107.
“NO PETS ARE PERMITTED”
Three words that the rest of the clause immediately contradicts, which is why the Ohio court refused to read a rent figure out of it. Illinois would face the same problem: a clause that bans and prices in the same breath is ambiguous, and ambiguity in a lease is generally read against the party who drafted it. That is not the tenant.
“IF THERE ARE PETS”
“If” is the tell. The clause has already conceded that pets will happen and moved on to pricing them, which makes a later claim that the ban was absolute hard to run. In Chicago this matters for a specific reason: whatever the landlord collects under this sentence, if it is refundable it is security deposit money and stops being theirs to hold loosely.
“$20 PER MONTH PER DOG OVER 40 POUNDS”
Illinois sets no cap on the amount of a pet deposit or pet rent - 765 ILCS 710 and its companion statutes govern how deposit money is returned, not how much may be asked for. So a weight-banded monthly charge like this one is lawful in Chicago. What is not lawful is mishandling it once it is collected.
“ONE DOG PERMITTED, NO ADDITIONAL FEE”
The sentence that undoes the paragraph. After a flat ban and a price list, the lease grants one dog for free - so the ban was never a ban, and the reader has no way to know which sentence governs. If your own lease contains a carve-out like this, keep it and get it in the addendum. It is the strongest sentence in the clause and the easiest for a landlord to later say you misread.
The court called it what it is - an “internally inconsistent pet clause”. It bans pets and prices them in the same breath, so the court refused to read the rent out of it at all and used the parties' own stipulation instead. The tenant then won the part that matters: because the pet fee paid for pet-related risk, and the next tenant had no pet, the landlord suffered no actual loss and had no business keeping that money out of her deposit. She recovered the $640 balance plus $640 more in statutory double damages - $1,280 - under Ohio's deposit statute.
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 Pet Policy Clause
- No Illinois statute caps the amount of a security or pet deposit.
- The Security Deposit Return Act covers buildings with five or more units and requires an itemized damage statement within 30 days.
- The Security Deposit Interest Act requires interest on deposits in buildings with 25 or more units.
- Assistance animals are never pets under fair-housing law and carry no pet charges.
765 ILCS 710 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Illinois law under 765 ILCS 710 is about giving the money back, not limiting it. There's no statutory maximum on a pet deposit and no rule against layering monthly pet rent on top. The statutes only bite at the end: in buildings with five or more units, an itemized statement of damages is due within 30 days of move-out.
Compare Colorado, where a pet deposit is capped at $300, must be refundable, and pet rent can't exceed $35 a month or 1.5% of rent. Or Arizona, where every deposit combined is limited to one and a half months' rent. Illinois hands you none of those ceilings - only rules about how the money is held and returned.
Illinois Tenant Protections
In buildings with five or more units, the Security Deposit Return Act requires your landlord to deliver an itemized statement of damages within 30 days of move-out, or the deposit has to come back. The Security Deposit Interest Act requires landlords of buildings with 25 or more units to pay interest on deposits they hold, and a refundable pet deposit is deposit money like any other.
Fair-housing law places assistance animals entirely outside the pet clause, so no pet deposit, one-time fee, or monthly pet rent may be charged for a service or emotional support animal.
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 real teeth but no dollar cap. Under RLTO § 5-12-080, a refundable pet deposit is simply a security deposit: it goes in a separate interest-bearing account, it earns you annual interest, and mishandling it exposes the landlord to double the deposit in damages.
The RLTO doesn't cover every building - small owner-occupied properties are the usual exemption - so confirm yours before counting on it. Chicago leases also lean hard on nonrefundable pet fees and monthly pet rent, because money you never get back never triggers the deposit rules. Breed and weight limits, meanwhile, usually come from a building's insurer rather than city hall, which is why the same dog is welcome in Pilsen and banned in a River North high-rise.
Refundable makes it a security deposit under Chicago's RLTO, so it must sit in a separate interest-bearing account and come back to you.
Breed, weight, and name in writing is what stops a new manager from later calling your approved dog an unauthorized pet.
Illinois caps neither one, so this combo is legal and expensive. Negotiate one of them down before you sign - afterward you have no leverage.
A clause letting management withdraw permission at will can force you to rehome an animal mid-lease. Ask for approval that's written and permanent.
Sources
The law this guide relies on, and where to read it. Statutes change, so confirm the current text before you act on it.
- 765 ILCS 710.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
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Deposit renamed a nonrefundable fee
Chicago's escrow, interest, and double-deposit protections attach to refundable deposits. Calling the same money a fee moves it outside all of them, and the label controls.
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Uncapped monthly pet rent
Illinois sets no limit on pet rent and it renews with every lease term. Colorado caps the identical charge at $35 a month or 1.5% of rent.
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Per-day unauthorized pet penalty
Daily fines for an animal the landlord says was never approved pile up fast and usually arrive attached to a lease-violation notice. Get approval in writing at signing.
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Deposit not held separately
Chicago requires a refundable pet deposit to sit in a separate interest-bearing account. Commingled with the landlord's operating money, that's a violation worth double the deposit.
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No assistance-animal exception
A no-pets clause written with no carve-out isn't enforceable against a service or support animal. Assistance animals are never pets, and no pet charge applies to them.
Your Rights as a Chicago Tenant
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Your deposit has to earn interest
In Chicago a refundable pet deposit is a security deposit, so it must be held in a separate account and paid annual interest under RLTO § 5-12-080.
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Itemized damages within 30 days
In an Illinois building with five or more units, the landlord must give you an itemized statement of any pet damage within 30 days of move-out.
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Double damages for deposit violations
Mishandle a refundable pet deposit in Chicago and the ordinance's remedy is two times the deposit - a real number, not a warning letter.
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Assistance animals cost nothing extra
Service and emotional support animals sit outside the pet clause under fair-housing law, so no pet deposit, fee, or pet rent can be charged for them.
What To Do - Step by Step
Read the exact pet clause
Hunt for the words refundable and nonrefundable in your lease. That single distinction decides whether Chicago's deposit protections cover your money at all.
Split deposit, fee, and rent
List the three charges separately: refundable deposit, one-time fee, monthly pet rent. Landlords quote one lump sum because the pieces carry very different rules.
Negotiate before you sign
With no legal cap in Illinois, the lease is the only limit that exists. Ask for the fee cut or the deposit made refundable while you still have leverage.
Get the approval in writing
Add the pet's name, breed, and weight to the lease or a signed addendum. Verbal approval from a leasing agent evaporates the moment management changes.
Document the unit and the animal
Photograph floors, trim, and carpet at move-in and move-out, and keep vet and grooming records. Pet damage claims are where deposits quietly disappear.
Push back after move-out
If no itemized statement arrives within 30 days, or your Chicago deposit was never held separately, send a dated demand letter and call a Chicago tenant hotline or legal aid office.