THE CHICAGO RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD
AND TENANT ORDINANCE (RLTO)

SELECTED PROVISIONS AND COMMENTARY

By: Paul Bernstein, Attorney at Law

Section 5-12-010 - Title, Purpose and Scope. This Chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance" and shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its purposes and policies.

It is the purpose of this Chapter and the policy of the City, in order to promote the public health, safety and welfare of its citizens, to establish the rights and obligations of the landlord and the tenant in the rental of dwelling units, and to encourage the landlord and the tenant to maintain the quality of housing.

This Chapter applies to, regulates and determines rights, obligations, and remedies under every rental agreement entered into or to be performed after the effective date of this Chapter, for a dwelling unit located within the City of Chicago, regardless of where the agreement is made, subject only to the limitations contained in Section 5-12-020. This Chapter applies specifically to rental agreements for dwelling units operated under subsidy programs of agencies of the United States and/or the State of Illinois, including specifically, programs operated or subsidized by the Chicago Housing Authority and/or the Illinois Housing Development Authority to the extent that this Chapter is not in direct conflict with statutory or regulatory provisions governing such programs.

Commentary: Note the broad scope of the RLTO and that it is to be liberally construed. With only the exceptions set forth in Section 5-12-020, the RLTO applies even to 2 or 3 unit buildings and in the author's view, also applies to a single condominium apartment. In other words, a condominium unit owner who rents out the unit is subject to the RLTO.