Does Illinois Cap Security Deposits?

Is there a limit on how much an Illinois landlord can charge for a deposit?

Not in state law. We read every section of the Security Deposit Return Act and the Security Deposit Interest Act, and searched the Landlord and Tenant Act and every other act in the property chapter for the word “deposit”; none sets a maximum for a residential tenancy. That is a negative established by reading, not a sentence we can quote, because the statutes simply never set a number. The Hemlane-style claims of a one-and-a-half-month or two-thirds-month state cap are wrong: the one-and-a-half-month figure is the Cook County, Evanston, Northlake and Oak Park ordinances, and it is law only there.

The General Assembly has been asked to add one and has not. SB3530, introduced in the 104th General Assembly, would have capped deposits at the first full month’s rent; it was re-referred to the Senate Assignments Committee on June 1, 2026 and dies when the next General Assembly convenes in January 2027 unless a lame-duck session moves it. The fee law that passed in 2026 had a one-month cap in a Senate committee amendment and lost it before passage (below).

Which Illinois towns cap security deposits?

We read the deposit ordinances of nine Illinois municipalities and of Cook County, and searched the codes of 31 more: 41 local records in all. Four cap the deposit, all at one and a half months’ rent, and the difference between them is what the month and a half counts:

A landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit in an amount in excess of one and one-half months’ rent. A landlord may not avoid the coverage of this subsection by labeling the fee or charge as anything other than a security deposit. Cook County Code 42-111(a)

Where the County cap applies. In every suburb and unincorporated area of Cook County without a qualifying landlord-tenant ordinance of its own, so in Skokie, Cicero, Arlington Heights, Palatine, Des Plaines, Berwyn, Orland Park and Tinley Park among others. Chicago, Evanston and Mount Prospect have their own ordinances and are outside it; Northlake’s and Oak Park’s ordinances mirror the County’s and on our reading take those towns outside too. It does not apply to an owner-occupied building of six units or fewer, or to a single house or condo the owner personally manages, that the owner or an immediate family member lived in for a month in the prior year, that is owned other than through a corporation and rents as their only unit.

A housing provider may not demand or receive security or prepaid rent or any combination thereof in an amount in excess of one and one-half (1½) months’ rent; provided, however, that rent paid on the first day of the month or upon any other day mutually agreed upon by the parties, due and payable in advance for that month, shall not be construed herein as either security or prepaid rent and therefore shall not be included in the computation of the aforesaid one and one-half (1½) months’ rent. Evanston City Code 5-3-5-1(A) (extract)

Evanston is the one to read twice. Its cap counts the deposit and prepaid rent together, so a one-month deposit plus a last month’s rent taken up front is over it. Oak Park’s sentence reads “no less than one month’s rent or in an amount no greater than one and one-half months’ rent”; we publish only the ceiling, and read the “no less than one month’s rent” words as not fixing a minimum, our reading. Chicago has no cap and Mount Prospect, Urbana and DeKalb have none. Three small towns, East St. Louis, University Park and Calumet Park, have deposit rules in codes not updated online for six to eleven years, so we cannot confirm they are in force and do not list them.

Can an Illinois tenant pay the deposit in installments?

State law says nothing about it. In suburban Cook County, Evanston, Northlake and Oak Park the tenant has the election: any part of the deposit above one month’s rent may be paid either with the initial deposit or in no more than six equal installments, finished no later than six months after the effective date of the lease. A landlord there who insists on the full month and a half up front has broken the ordinance; in Cook County that is one of the three failures the two-times penalty names.

Is there a limit on pet deposits in Illinois?

Not for an ordinary pet, under state law or in any town we have read. Where a cap exists, a refundable pet deposit counts toward it on our reading, because each ordinance defines a security deposit as money securing the tenant’s obligations, including for pets, “however denominated”. The Illinois Supreme Court, applying Chicago’s ordinance, treated a $100 pet deposit written into the lease’s deposit clause as part of the security deposit. For a guide, hearing or support dog the answer is different: a landlord may not require an extra charge beyond actual damage the dog does, and may not increase a tenant’s deposit because of a disability (below).

Move-in fees

Illinois did not ban move-in fees, though many landlords and tenants believe it did. The fee law that takes effect January 1, 2027 bans eleven kinds of tenant fees, including fees for routine maintenance and for a move-in or move-out walk-through, requires every non-optional fee to appear on the first page of the lease, and bars renaming a fee to escape it, for leases entered into after that date; owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer are excepted. The words “security deposit” do not appear in it. The bill as introduced banned move-in fees outright; a Senate committee amendment replaced the ban with a one-month deposit cap and a rule against charging both a deposit and a fee; a floor amendment removed those too. So the General Assembly considered and removed both a move-in fee ban and a deposit cap in the same bill.

Locally: suburban Cook County requires an itemized estimate for any move-in fee and bars a fee for routine maintenance, with no dollar cap; Northlake counts a move-in fee toward its one-and-a-half-month cap; Oak Park allows a deposit or a one-time non-refundable move-in fee of up to $500, never both; Evanston bars any fee above the reasonable cost of the expense and requires an itemized estimate for move-in and administrative fees. Chicago’s ordinance is silent, an appellate court held a $350 fee on $715 rent was neither a deposit nor prepaid rent, and the pending Protecting Renters Ordinance would ban move-in fees from 2027. Whether a particular fee is really a deposit is a question of fact: the label and the amount decide it. See the law changes guide for the 2027 law in full.

What about a mobile home, or a lot in a park?

This is the one-month cap that is real state law, and it is often mistaken for a cap on apartments and houses. If the lease is between a park owner and a tenant, of a mobile or manufactured home or of the lot it stands on, in a park of five or more homes, a different act governs, and it bars any lease term permitting a deposit over one month’s rent:

No lease hereafter executed or currently existing between a park owner and tenant in a mobile home park or manufactured home community in this State shall contain any provision: (a) Permitting the park owner to charge a penalty fee for late payment of rent without allowing a tenant a minimum of 5 days beyond the date the rent is due in which to remit such payment; (b) Permitting the park owner to charge an amount in excess of one month's rent as a security deposit; 765 ILCS 745/12(b) (Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act)

The park owner shall furnish the tenant, within 15 days after termination or expiration of the lease, an itemized list of the damages incurred upon the premises and the estimated cost for the repair of each item. The tenant's failure to object to the itemized list within 15 days shall constitute an agreement upon the amount of damages specified therein. The park owner's failure to furnish such itemized list of damages shall constitute an agreement that no damages have been incurred upon the premises and the entire security deposit shall become immediately due and owing to the tenant. 765 ILCS 745/18(a)

The same act gives the park owner 15 days after the lease ends to furnish an itemized damage list or owe the whole deposit, requires interest in parks of 25 or more homes, and, unlike the general Return Act, excuses the list where the tenant gave no forwarding address. The tool does not run the mobile-home path; the Illinois hub states its rules.

Electric vehicle chargers

One more deposit the statutes allow. Where a tenant installs an electric vehicle charging system, the landlord may charge a security deposit to cover the cost of restoring the property to its original condition if the tenant removes it. The act sets no cap on that deposit and, on our reading, it is a security deposit the Return Act governs at move-out. (765 ILCS 1085/35(a)(2)(A)(iii))

Disability and assistance animals

The landlord may not increase for persons with a disability any customarily required security deposit. 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(1)

Two rules in the Illinois Human Rights Act limit what may be charged. A landlord may not increase a customarily required security deposit for a person with a disability, with one narrow exception: where a tenant with a disability makes modifications at their own expense, and where that is necessary to ensure with reasonable certainty that funds will be available for the restoration, the landlord may negotiate, as part of a restoration agreement, payments into an interest-bearing escrow account, over a reasonable period, of a reasonable amount not exceeding the cost of restoring the unit, with the interest going to the tenant. And a landlord may not require an extra charge because a blind or hearing impaired person or a person with a physical disability has a guide, hearing or support dog, other than for actual damage the dog does. Federal fair-housing rules on assistance animals are outside what this page covers.

Bills that did not pass

• SB3530 (104th General Assembly). A statewide cap at the first full month’s rent, with a rent-increase limit. Re-referred to the Senate Assignments Committee on June 1, 2026; it dies when the 105th General Assembly convenes on January 13, 2027 unless a lame-duck session moves it.
• HB5765 and SB4200, the “REAL Housing Act”. Would cap a tenant’s total upfront costs, deposits and move-in fees included, at one month’s rent from January 1, 2028, with damages of not less than three times. Referred in May 2026, no action since.
• HB3564, now Public Act 104-479. The 2027 fee law. A one-month deposit cap and a move-in fee ban were in it at different stages and both were removed before it passed. What survived is a fee law, not a deposit law.
• HB5183. A pet deposit cap of 15% of a month’s rent or $350. Parked.

Return an Illinois deposit correctly

How much you may collect is the start of the tenancy. At the end, the free Illinois deposit tool works out the 30-day statement and 45-day refund clocks, applies the Cook County, Evanston, Northlake and Oak Park caps where they reach, and generates a statute-cited return letter, all in your browser with nothing stored.

Illinois security deposit limits: common questions

Is there a maximum security deposit in Illinois?

Not under state law for an ordinary apartment or house. The Security Deposit Return Act, the Security Deposit Interest Act and the Landlord and Tenant Act set no ceiling, and we read every section of the first two and searched the third for "deposit" to establish that. A 2026 bill to cap deposits at one month’s rent (SB3530) stalled in the Senate. The ceilings that exist are local: suburban Cook County, Evanston, Northlake and Oak Park each cap at one and a half months’ rent, counting different things. A mobile home, or a lot, leased from the owner of a park of five or more homes is capped at one month’s rent under a separate act. (765 ILCS 710, 715, 705; 765 ILCS 745/12(b))

How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in Chicago?

There is no limit today. Neither Chicago’s ordinance nor state law caps the amount. Two pending ordinances would change that: the Mayor’s "Protecting Renters Ordinance" would cap deposits at one month’s rent from January 1, 2027, and a rival ordinance at one and a half months’ rent from July 1, 2027. Neither has passed, and the City Council next meets on December 8 and 9, 2026. (Chicago Mun. Code 5-12-080; SO2026-0026554; SO2026-0027202)

How much can a landlord charge for a security deposit in suburban Cook County?

No more than one and a half months’ rent, and the landlord may not avoid the cap by labelling the charge as anything other than a security deposit. The part above one month may, at the tenant’s election, be paid in up to six equal installments finished within six months of the lease’s effective date. The cap applies in every suburb and unincorporated area without a qualifying ordinance of its own, and not to an owner-occupied building of six units or fewer. The penalty clause reaches a failure under 42-111(a), (b) and (c): two times the deposit plus attorney fees, with no cure period. The codified text says "and", the ordinance as enacted has no conjunction, the County reads it as any one failure, and no court has decided it. (Cook County Code 42-111(a), (b), (m))

Does Evanston cap security deposits?

Yes, and its cap counts more than the others. A housing provider may not demand security or prepaid rent, or any combination of the two, above one and a half months’ rent. Rent paid in advance for the current month does not count, but a last month’s rent taken up front does, so a one-month deposit plus last month’s rent is over the cap. The part above one month may be paid in up to six installments within six months at the tenant’s election. The ordinance names no damages amount for an over-cap deposit; its damages clause reaches the return rules. (Evanston City Code 5-3-5-1(A), (D))

Does Illinois limit pet deposits?

No statute does, for an ordinary pet, and no Illinois town we have read sets a separate pet limit. In the towns that cap the deposit, a refundable pet deposit is a security deposit under each ordinance’s definition and counts toward the one and a half months, on our reading. For a guide, hearing or support dog, a landlord may not require an extra charge beyond actual damage the dog does. (Cook County Code 42-103; 775 ILCS 5/3-104.1(C))

Can a landlord require a security deposit in installments in Illinois?

State law is silent on installments. Suburban Cook County and Evanston give the tenant the election: the part of a deposit above one month’s rent may be paid either with the initial deposit or in no more than six equal installments, finished within six months of the lease’s effective date. Northlake and Oak Park have the same rule. Elsewhere it is a matter of agreement. (Cook County Code 42-111(b); Evanston City Code 5-3-5-1(A))

Did Illinois ban move-in fees?

No. The fee law that takes effect January 1, 2027 bans eleven kinds of fees, including charges for routine maintenance and for a move-in or move-out walk-through, and requires every non-optional fee to appear on the first page of the lease, but it does not ban move-in fees: the bill as introduced did, and the Senate removed that before it passed. A move-in fee that really pays for turnover cleaning or painting may run into the routine-maintenance ban. Locally, suburban Cook County requires an itemized estimate for any move-in fee and bars charging for routine maintenance, Northlake counts a move-in fee toward its cap, Oak Park allows a deposit or a fee of up to $500 but not both, and Chicago has a pending ordinance that would ban them. (765 ILCS 705/35; Cook County Code 42-105(b)(4); Oak Park Village Code 12-6-11)

Is there a limit on security deposits for a mobile home lot in Illinois?

Yes. In a mobile home park of five or more homes, no lease between the park owner and a tenant, of a home or of a lot, may permit the park owner to charge more than one month’s rent as a security deposit. That is a different act from the one governing apartments and houses, with its own 15-day damage list and its own interest rule for parks of 25 or more homes. (765 ILCS 745/12(b), 745/18)

Sources

• 765 ILCS 710 (Security Deposit Return Act) and 765 ILCS 715 (Security Deposit Interest Act): no deposit maximum
• 765 ILCS 745/12(b) (Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act): the mobile home park cap
• SB3530, 104th General Assembly: the stalled one-month cap
• Public Act 104-479 (765 ILCS 705/35): the 2027 fee law
• 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(1); 775 ILCS 5/3-104.1(C): disability and assistance dogs
• Suburban Cook County: Cook County Code 42-101, 42-102, 42-103, 42-111, 42-114
• Evanston: Evanston City Code 5-3-1, 5-3-2, 5-3-5-1
• Oak Park: Oak Park Village Code 12-6-11; 12-4-1 to 12-4-5
• Northlake: Northlake City Code ch. 8-18 (Ord. O-20-2020), 8-18-2(A), 8-18-6(C)(7)
• Lawrence v. Regent Realty Group, Inc., 197 Ill. 2d 1 (2001): a pet deposit inside the deposit clause
• Steenes v. MAC Property Management, LLC, 2014 IL App (1st) 120719: a move-in fee outside the Chicago deposit rules
• The Illinois security deposit tool and full cited rules

About this page

Every quoted passage above comes from the same rules the Illinois tool runs on or from the codified text of each ordinance as its publisher serves it, and the local table summarises each town’s verified row in those rules. The state statutes are on an automated weekly watch; the municipal codes are re-read by hand. Where a sentence gives our reading rather than the text, it says so. How we verify the law explains the process. This is general information that cites the law, not legal advice, and Orygn LLC is not a law firm. For advice about your situation, talk to a licensed Illinois attorney.