Illinois notice to vacate: notice periods and mailing rules

For a month-to-month tenancy, 30 days' written notice by the landlord to terminate a month-to-month tenancy (735 ILCS 5/9-207); 7 days for week-to-week. The 30 days must expire at the end of a monthly rental period, so serving less than 30 days before the next period begins pushes termination to the following period. (735 ILCS 5/9-207, 735 ILCS 5/9-209, 735 ILCS 5/9-211)

If your lease requires more notice than the statute, the lease controls. Count days from the date notice is properly served, not the date you write it. Statutes change — verify the current text before serving, and treat this as a starting point, not a substitute for the statute.

5-day written demand for rent (735 ILCS 5/9-209); if rent is unpaid when the period expires, the landlord may file eviction without further notice. The notice must contain the statutory full-payment warning language.

Nonpayment notices are the strictest documents in landlord-tenant law: the wording, the cure period, and the service method often come straight from the statute, and a defective notice restarts the whole clock. Where your state publishes required form language, use it verbatim.

735 ILCS 5/9-211 authorizes service by certified or registered mail with a returned receipt from the addressee, personal delivery to the tenant, delivery to a person age 13 or older residing on the premises, or posting only if the premises are unoccupied.

Whichever method you use, keep dated proof. Certified Mail gives you a USPS record of when the notice was mailed and delivered — the fact an eviction case usually turns on.

No rent control statewide (the Rent Control Preemption Act bars local rent regulation), but Chicago's Fair Notice Ordinance overrides the 30-day rule inside city limits: 30 days under 6 months of occupancy, 60 days for 6 months to 3 years, and 120 days over 3 years, with similar rules in suburban Cook County, Evanston, and Oak Park. New for 2026: leases signed or renewed on or after January 1, 2026 must include the state-issued Summary of Rights as page one (a disclosure rule — notice periods unchanged).

Local ordinances can add further requirements on top of state law — check the rules for the property's city and county before serving.

This sample notice works for a Illinois tenancy once you confirm the notice period above and any wording your statute or lease requires. Replace the bracketed fields, count the days carefully, and keep a copy of everything.

[Date]

[Tenant Name(s)]
[Property Address, Unit]
[City, IL ZIP]

Re: Notice to vacate — [Property Address, Unit]

Dear [Tenant Name(s)],

This letter is your written notice that your tenancy at [Property Address, Unit] will end on [Termination Date], in accordance with your rental agreement and Illinois law. Please vacate and return all keys by that date.

[If month-to-month: This notice is given at least [Notice Period] days before the termination date, as required for a month-to-month tenancy in Illinois.]

Please leave the unit in the condition required by your lease, and provide a forwarding address for the return of your security deposit and any required documentation.

If you have questions about this notice, contact me at [Phone / Email].

This notice is delivered by [first-class / certified] mail.

Sincerely,

[Landlord / Property Manager Name]
[Signature]
[Company, if any]
[Mailing Address]
[Phone / Email]

Fill it in, sign it, and PostalForm prints and mails it — you see the exact PDF and the exact price before anything sends, and Certified Mail adds a dated USPS delivery record.

• 735 ILCS 5/9-207 (Illinois General Assembly)
• 735 ILCS 5/9-211 (Illinois General Assembly)
• City of Chicago — Fair Notice Ordinance

Statutes change. Verify the current text of the statute and any local ordinance before serving a notice, and talk to a Illinois landlord-tenant attorney when the stakes are high. This page is general information, not legal advice.