Illinois Rental Junk Fee Ban Law 2027
by Platuni | 30 Sep, 2026 | 5 mins read
Platuni
30 September, 2026
5 mins read
1. What this law actually does
Public Act 104-0479, originating as House Bill 3564, creates the Rental Affordability and Fee Transparency Act. It works on two fronts at once: it prohibits a specific list of fee types landlords have commonly charged Illinois renters, and separately, it requires that whatever non-optional fees remain permitted be explicitly disclosed on the first page of the lease itself.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479, Rental Affordability and Fee Transparency Act]
2. Why the effective date moved, and to when
This is worth getting precisely right, since it's easy to find outdated information suggesting the law already took effect. The Act as originally enacted was set to become effective July 1, 2026. A separate, companion act, Public Act 104-0514, delayed that date to January 1, 2027.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0514]
For a landlord tracking compliance, that means the countdown to actual enforcement runs to the start of 2027, not mid-2026, even though the underlying Act itself was already signed into law earlier.
3. The application fee cap, and its one exception
Landlords can charge up to $50 for a rental application or background check. Reported guidance describes a narrow exception: a higher fee is permitted only when the landlord can document that actual third-party costs, the real expense of running the background check itself, exceed that $50 figure.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
That structure means the $50 figure functions as a default ceiling rather than an absolute one, but the exception is tied specifically to documented, real costs, not simply a landlord's preference to charge more.
4. The fees this law actually bans
Across the sources available for this article, the fee categories reported as prohibited include: additional or ancillary application processing fees layered on top of the standard application charge; fees for modifying or renewing a lease; fees tied to after-hours maintenance requests; charges for a maintenance hotline or after-hours answering service; fees for what amounts to routine, standard maintenance and upkeep of the unit; travel fees charged when a maintenance technician has to come out; fees for an in-person walkthrough at move-in or move-out; fees for simply contacting the building owner or property manager; fees connected to an eviction notice or the filing of an eviction action before a court has actually entered an order; and pest abatement or removal fees where the tenant didn't contribute to causing the infestation.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
That's a substantial list, and it targets fees that have historically functioned as ordinary costs of operating a rental property, not just unusual or punitive charges. A landlord reviewing an existing fee schedule against this list is likely to find at least a few charges that no longer have a place in an Illinois lease once the Act takes effect.
5. Why the exact count of banned categories isn't the point
Different summaries of this Act report slightly different counts of exactly how many fee types are banned, depending on how closely related items get grouped together. Rather than anchor to a specific number, the more useful approach for compliance purposes is working from the actual list of categories above and confirming each one against a lease's current fee schedule, since the enrolled statutory text is the final word on the precise, authoritative enumeration.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
6. The page-one disclosure requirement
Separately from the outright bans, the Act requires that non-optional fees, whether one-time or recurring, be explicitly contained on the first page of the lease agreement.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
That requirement changes where this information has to live in a lease document. A non-optional fee disclosed only in an attached addendum or a later section wouldn't satisfy this requirement once the Act is in effect; the disclosure has to be visible to a tenant from the very first page they read.
7. Landlords can't just rename a banned fee
The Act includes a specific anti-evasion provision: a landlord may not rename a fee or charge simply to avoid the Act's application.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
That closes the most obvious workaround. A "lease renewal fee" relabeled as an "administrative processing charge" for the same underlying service would still fall within the Act's intent, and presumably its enforcement, even with a different name attached to it.
8. What isn't fully settled yet
Reported summaries of this Act consistently describe it as applying to lease agreements entered into on or after the effective date. What isn't uniformly clear across available secondary sources is whether a lease renewal, as opposed to a brand-new lease, also triggers the Act's fee restrictions once January 1, 2027 arrives. Given that lease renewal fees are themselves one of the banned categories, this distinction matters for how landlords should treat existing tenants renewing into 2027 and beyond. Confirming this specific point against the Act's enrolled text, once accessible, is worth doing before finalizing internal compliance procedures.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
9. The home-rule limitation
Illinois has a number of home-rule municipalities with their own local ordinances, and this Act specifically limits the concurrent exercise of home-rule powers where a local ordinance would be inconsistent with the Act's provisions.
[Cite: Illinois Public Act 104-0479]
For a landlord operating across multiple Illinois municipalities, that limitation is meaningful: a local ordinance permitting a fee this state law bans wouldn't survive that conflict once the Act takes effect, meaning statewide compliance with this Act should generally take priority over a more permissive local rule.
10. What property managers should do now
The practical starting point, well ahead of the January 1, 2027 effective date, is auditing the current fee schedule against the reported list of banned categories and flagging every fee that would need to be eliminated. Building the page-one disclosure requirement into whatever lease template is used for agreements signed on or after the effective date is a separate, parallel task, since it applies to whatever non-optional fees remain legitimate even after the banned categories are removed.
Given the open question around lease renewals, a landlord with tenants renewing around the January 2027 transition should plan to treat those renewals conservatively, as though the Act's restrictions apply, until the enrolled statutory text or subsequent guidance clarifies the point definitively.
Frequently asked questions
When does this law actually take effect?
January 1, 2027. It was originally set for July 1, 2026, but a companion act delayed the effective date.
What's the cap on application or background-check fees?
$50, with an exception allowing a higher fee only when the landlord can document actual third-party costs exceeding that amount.
Can a landlord get around the fee bans by calling a charge something else?
No. The Act specifically prohibits renaming a fee or charge to avoid its application.
Does this law override local municipal fee ordinances?
It limits home-rule municipalities from maintaining local fee ordinances that conflict with the Act's provisions.
Does this apply to lease renewals or only new leases?
Available guidance consistently covers leases entered into on or after the effective date; whether renewals are also swept in isn't fully settled in secondary sources and is worth confirming against the enrolled statutory text.
Where does the non-optional fee disclosure have to appear?
On the first page of the lease agreement, not in a later section or a separate addendum.
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