Security Deposit Return in Illinois: The 30/45 Day Rule

Illinois runs two deadlines, and they work the opposite way round to what you would guess. The landlord has 45 days to send your money back — but only 30 days to send you an itemized list of anything they are keeping. Miss the 30, and they lose the right to keep anything; the full deposit is due inside the 45.

So the shorter deadline is the one that protects you, and the one most tenants never count.

Estimates are not enough

This is the part of the Illinois rule that gets landlords into trouble. The itemized statement has to describe each charge, and where the figure is an estimate rather than a bill already paid, the landlord must then furnish paid receipts, or copies of them, within 30 days of that estimate.

A letter saying “carpet replacement, $900” with nothing behind it is not a completed accounting. If the receipts never follow, say so in writing and name the requirement — it is a specific duty, not a courtesy.

If you rented in Chicago, read the city ordinance too

Chicago has its own Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, and on deposits it is stricter than state law — it caps the deposit at one and a half months’ rent and sets its own interest and receipt duties. State law caps nothing. If your unit was in Chicago, the ordinance is the document to check first, because it can give you more than 765 ILCS 710 does on its own.

The deadlines have passed

1. Count 30 days from your move-out. If no itemized statement arrived in that window, the deduction right is gone and the whole deposit is due by day 45.
2. Send one written demand naming 765 ILCS 710/1, the date the 30 days expired, and the full amount. Send it so you can prove delivery.
3. If a statement did arrive but the receipts never did, treat that as the same failure and say which part is missing.
4. Illinois allows twice the deposit plus court costs and attorney fees where a court finds refusal or bad faith. Small claims is the usual venue and no lawyer is required.

What can legitimately be deducted

Unpaid rent and damage beyond normal wear and tear. Not wear: light scuffs, worn carpet, faded paint, the ordinary state of somewhere that was lived in. Illinois also requires interest on deposits held six months or longer in buildings of 25 units or more, so in a larger building the figure you are owed is more than the amount you paid in.

What your lease controls

Not the deadlines, and not the receipts duty. State law sets no cap on the deposit, so the amount is whatever you agreed unless a local ordinance says otherwise. A clause making the deposit non-refundable, or recasting it as a fee, does not change what 765 ILCS 710 requires of the landlord.

When this needs a lawyer

Usually it does not. The dates and the statute are the case, and the cost award means a landlord who ignores you is taking a risk. Get advice if the damage claim is far larger than the deposit, if there is a disputed counterclaim for unpaid rent, or if you are in Chicago and the ordinance interacts with your lease in a way you cannot read. Illinois legal aid handles deposit questions as routine work.

Sources

765 ILCS 710, Security Deposit Return Act — ilga.gov. Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance, Municipal Code ch. 5-12. Checked October 2026. Statutes change; open the section before relying on a date.

Moving out of Illinois to somewhere else? The deposit return deadline for all 50 states and DC is in one table, each row citing its own statute.