Real Estate by Julia Hart

Are you a landlord? Finding a qualified tenant while complying with all federal, state and local laws and ordinances can be complicated.

Starting January 1, 2025, Illinois enacted Portable Tenant Screening Report legislation. This means that if a tenant applicant is rejected by one landlord, and they have a compliant tenant screening report dated within the last 30 days they will share, you MAY NOT charge the tenant any screening or application fees to run a new report.

If you do not wish to accept the tenant’s supplied report, you MAY at your own expense, run a compliant screening report of your choice to make a decision.

In order to qualify under the law, the report must:

• Be compiled (run) by a consumer credit reporting agency (CRA)
• Be dated within the last 30 days
• Contain applicant credit history, credit score and payment record
• Clearly indicate Applicant’s name, SSN and DOB identifiers
• Include criminal background check, including any convictions or charges where allowed by law
• Contain Employment Verification, including current employment status and income Contains rental history including previous rental properties

If the report a tenant presents does NOT satisfy these guidelines, then you MAY charge your normal application screening fee.

This law joins various Fair Housing, local Landlord Licensing ordinances, Cook County and City of Chicago Tenant-Landlord ordinances, Service Animal and Emotional Support Animal regulations, immigration status protections and Source of Income legislation as possible landmines for landlords which could result in a lawsuit against you. Be sure you are aware of these laws. Contact me or another real estate professional in navigating these very tricky regulations the next time you rent your investment property. Don’t get caught up in a lawsuit or expensive fines and penalties!