Security Deposit Return Act timing.
Required before demanding the tenant’s proportionate utility share.
Building-wide payments under the formula may not exceed the utility’s demand for the billing period.
765 ILCS 705/35 takes effect January 1, 2027.
Illinois charge guides
Security Deposit
Illinois security deposit return, damage itemization, receipt and documentation rules.
Open guide →30 / 45-Day Rule
How Illinois uses a 30-day damage statement deadline and a 45-day full-return rule when required documentation is missing.
Open guide →Itemization & Receipts
What Illinois requires when a landlord withholds a security deposit for property damage.
Open guide →Move-Out Charges
Review Illinois cleaning, repair and replacement deductions after move-out.
Open guide →Electronic Delivery
Illinois allows certain deposit damage statements by email to a verified email address provided by the tenant.
Open guide →Bad-Faith Withholding
Illinois statutory remedy for certain bad-faith failures involving the required damage statement and deposit return.
Open guide →Utility Billing & Meter Disclosure
Illinois landlord utility billing rules for master-meter allocation formulas, underlying utility bills and tenant-paid meters that also serve common or other areas.
Open guide →Utility records can answer different questions
For a master-meter allocation, request the underlying public utility bill and compare it with the written allocation formula. If the tenant pays the utility company directly, ask whether that tenant meter also serves common space or another unit and compare the pre-lease disclosures and prior bills required by the statewide utility-service law.
Official sources
Current primary statute for damage itemization, receipts, 30-day damage statement and 45-day full-return rule when required documentation is not supplied.
Illinois General Assembly765 ILCS 740/5 — Tenant Utility Payment Disclosure Act ↗Current Illinois law requiring a written allocation formula before a landlord demands a tenant share of master-metered utility service, limiting total tenant payments to the public-utility bill and requiring the underlying bill to be available on request.
Illinois General Assembly765 ILCS 735/1.2 — Rental Property Utility Service Act ↗Current Illinois law addressing tenant-paid direct utility accounts when the tenant meter also serves common areas or other units, including written disclosure and prior-bill requirements before leasing.
Illinois General Assembly765 ILCS 705/35 — Rental fee transparency and limitations ↗Enacted Illinois rental-fee transparency section with a delayed January 1, 2027 effective date. It is future-effective as of this September 1, 2026 review.