Utilities 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
- No landlord may cause or request a utility shutoff in an occupied building (765 ILCS 735/1.4).
- A shutoff earns you a 100% rent abatement for the time without service, plus consequential damages.
- A deliberate, reckless or bad-faith shutoff can add up to $300 per tenant, capped at $5,000 in total.
- Planned repairs need seven days' written notice; an emergency such as a gas leak or fire needs none.
- Chicago's RLTO adds fines of $200 to $500 a day and two months' rent or twice your damages.
Understanding the Utilities Clause
This page is for Chicago renters reading the utilities paragraph of a lease, or sitting without heat, gas, power or water right now. The clause settles who pays each bill.
It does not decide whether service can be cut, because Illinois law and Chicago's ordinance both answer that. If you are signing, the checklist below covers what the paragraph should say.
If service is already off, start by asking the utility who requested the disconnect, then follow the steps further down.
What renters assume
If the gas account is in the landlord's name, he can shut it off whenever he likes.
What is actually true
No. Illinois bars a landlord from causing or even requesting a shutoff of utility service in an occupied building. The only exceptions are a genuine emergency or planned repairs with written notice.
Illinois' $300 per-tenant figure looks thin next to Denver's $5,000 or Seattle's uncapped $100 a day, but that's the wrong number to fixate on. The real money here is the 100% rent abatement - and in Chicago, the RLTO's $200 to $500 daily fine and two-months'-rent recovery stacked on top.
Utilities 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.
Under any allocation method, [the tenant] may be paying for part of the utility usage in common areas or in other residential units as well as administrative fees.
Quoted from the published opinion in Northland Investment Corp. v. Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, 349 Conn. 35 (2024). 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
“any allocation method”
The method is the product. Ratio utility billing divides one master-metered bill among units by a formula - headcount, square footage, occupancy - and the Illinois statute assumes the same structure this clause does: the landlord holds the account and the tenants receive a share of it. That is why the state rule is written about interrupting service to tenants rather than about your own meter. Illinois writes about the interruption; it does not name a formula.
“[the tenant]”
The brackets are the court's own alteration, not the lease's wording. Worth pausing on in Chicago, because the state remedy is counted per tenant. For a deliberate, reckless or bad-faith shutoff a court may add statutory damages of up to $300 per tenant, capped at $5,000 in total - so who is named on the lease changes the arithmetic before anyone argues about the bill.
“part of the utility usage”
A part - not the part you used. That distinction is what the Connecticut court refused to look past in Northland, where the state statute made the owner liable for everything furnished to the building unless it was individually metered. 765 ILCS 735 answers a different question, and answers it plainly: it says nothing about how the share is worked out, and everything about what happens if the service goes off over it. A violation entitles the tenant to a 100% abatement of rent for the period without service, plus consequential damages.
See the example
“or in other residential units”
Your neighbours' showers, on your bill. In a single-metered building there is no way to separate them, which is the practical reason the formula exists at all - and the reason the Connecticut court held the tenant was being charged for usage that was not exclusively theirs. Illinois answers a narrower question, and answers it hard: however the split works, the service cannot be turned off over it, and the only temporary exceptions are an emergency such as a gas leak or fire, or repairs on seven days' written notice.
Ratio utility billing lost. The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority's ruling that billing residential tenants a formula-derived share of a master-metered bill is unlawful. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 16-262e (c) makes the owner of a multiunit residential dwelling liable for the costs of all utility services furnished to the building, except service that is individually metered or billed for one unit's exclusive use - and an allocated share is neither. Because the clause charged the tenant for usage the tenant did not exclusively consume, and backed the charge with late fees and eviction, it could not be enforced. The court left the landlord one lawful route: forecast the year's utility costs and build them into fixed rent at signing, where a renter can see the number before agreeing to it. Three justices dissented. The court also observed that the administrative fees this lease allowed were not defined or limited anywhere in it.
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 Utilities Clause
- No landlord may cause or request utility service to tenants to be interrupted, discontinued, or terminated in an occupied building.
- Temporary shutoffs are allowed only for emergencies such as a gas leak or fire, or for repairs with seven days' written notice.
- A violation entitles the tenant to a 100% abatement of rent for the period without service, plus consequential damages.
- For deliberate, reckless, or bad-faith shutoffs a court may add statutory damages of up to $300 per tenant, capped at $5,000 in total.
Sources include 765 ILCS 735/1.4; 765 ILCS 735/2.1 - statutes change; verify the current text for your situation.
Count it for your dates
7 days before: the last day to act
What it means: Your landlord's written notice of the repair shutoff was due by this date. Applies to an Illinois landlord planning a repair shutoff in an occupied building; a genuine emergency, such as a gas leak or fire, needs no notice (765 ILCS 735/1.4; 765 ILCS 735/2.1). Calendar arithmetic only; check how the section counts days before you rely on a date.
Copy and send: When heat, gas, electricity or water stops, the utility tells you your landlord caused or requested it, and there was no emergency or seven days' written repair notice
Written request to restore service
Fill in the brackets and keep a copy of what you send.
Illinois's shutoff rules for renters sit in 765 ILCS 735/1.4 and 735/2.1:
- Shutoff ban. No landlord may cause or request that utility service to tenants be interrupted, discontinued or terminated in an occupied building.
- Two exceptions. A genuine emergency, such as a gas leak or fire, needs no notice. Planned repairs need seven days' written notice first.
- Rent abatement. A violation entitles you to a 100% abatement of rent for the period without service, so you owe no rent for those days. Consequential damages come on top, such as hotel nights, spoiled groceries or space heaters you had to buy.
- Bad-faith damages. For a deliberate, reckless or bad-faith shutoff, a court may add statutory damages of up to $300 per tenant, capped at $5,000 in total.
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 is stronger. RLTO § 5-12-160 makes it unlawful to cut electricity, gas, water, heat or phone service to push a tenant out.
The landlord faces a fine of $200 to $500 for each day it continues, and you can recover two months' rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees. The section reaches even owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer that are otherwise exempt from the RLTO, which matters in a city of two-flats where one boiler often heats every unit.
Heat, gas, electric, water, sewer and trash should each be listed. Vague wording like 'tenant pays utilities' is where surprise bills come from.
Heat is the biggest swing in a Chicago winter budget. Get it in writing. If you pay Peoples Gas, ask for last winter's bills.
Red flag. Illinois bars shutoffs in an occupied building, and no lease clause changes that.
Then you may be paying for a neighbor's use. Ask which meter serves your unit and get the answer in the lease.
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 735/1.4; 765 ILCS 735/2.1, 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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Waiver of shutoff remedies
A clause saying you accept service interruptions or give up damages buys the landlord nothing. You are still owed the 100% rent abatement.
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'Tenant pays all utilities'
No list, no numbers. Ask for each utility named separately. In a vintage three-flat, 'all' can quietly include hallway lights and the basement boiler.
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Landlord-billed utilities, no meter
If your bill comes from the landlord instead of ComEd or Peoples Gas, ask how it is worked out and ask to see the master bill and your share.
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Shutoff threat for late rent
A clause reserving the right to cut service over unpaid rent describes an illegal act. In Chicago it can bring fines of $200 to $500 a day.
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No notice promised for repairs
Illinois requires seven days' written notice before a planned repair shutoff. A clause letting the landlord cut water 'as needed' tries to erase that.
Your Rights as a Chicago Tenant
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No rent for the lost days
The 100% abatement covers the whole period you were without service. It is the remedy the statute sets, not a discount you negotiate.
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Consequential damages on top
Hotel nights, a fridge of ruined groceries, space heaters you had to buy. Claim these consequential damages alongside the abatement.
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Bad-faith statutory damages
If the shutoff was deliberate, reckless or in bad faith, a court may add up to $300 per tenant, capped at $5,000.
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Chicago's separate RLTO recovery
Under RLTO § 5-12-160 you can recover two months' rent or twice your actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees.
What To Do - Step by Step
Document the outage
Photograph the dark meter, the cold thermostat or the dry tap. Note the exact date and time service stopped.
Call the utility first
Ask ComEd, Peoples Gas or the Department of Water Management who requested the disconnect and why. A landlord-requested shutoff is the key fact.
Write your landlord
Send a dated email or letter asking for service back and stating you claim the rent abatement for every day without it. Keep proof you sent it.
Open a 311 complaint
Chicago's 311 routes utility and heat complaints to Buildings and the Department of Housing. Your service request number becomes timeline evidence.
Track every dollar
Save hotel receipts, restaurant tabs, spoiled-grocery photos and space-heater receipts. These are the consequential damages you will claim.
File in Circuit Court
Cook County's small claims division handles these. Ask for the abatement, your damages, the RLTO's two months' rent and attorney's fees.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Utilities rules near Illinois
The same clause in the nearest states we cover.
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