Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HB5550
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Full Text of HB5550  103rd General Assembly

HB5550eng 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

 


 
HB5550 EngrossedLRB103 39514 JRC 69715 b

1    AN ACT concerning civil law.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5Summary of Rights for Safer Homes Act.
 
6    Section 5. Legislative intent. The purpose of this Act is
7to promote the State's interest in enabling more victims of
8domestic or sexual violence and their families to become
9timely aware of the existing housing protections they have
10under 6 Illinois statutes and how to exercise their rights
11under these statutes. By requiring that a summary of these
12rights appear on page 1 of each residential lease, more
13tenants will become timely aware of these rights and how to
14exercise them. This will lead to safer homes and greater
15financial security for more victims of domestic or sexual
16violence and their families.
 
17    Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
18    "Domestic violence" means "abuse" as defined in Section
19103 of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act of 1986 by a "family
20or household member" as defined in Section 103 of the Illinois
21Domestic Violence Act of 1986.
22    "Landlord" means the owner of the building or the owner's

 

 

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1agent for matters concerning the landlord's leasing of a
2dwelling.
3    "Sexual violence" means any act of sexual assault, sexual
4abuse, or stalking of an adult or minor child. This includes,
5but is not limited to, non-consensual sexual conduct or
6non-consensual sexual penetration as defined in the Civil No
7Contact Order Act and the offense of stalking, aggravated
8stalking, criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual
9assault, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child,
10criminal sexual abuse, and aggravated criminal sexual abuse as
11those offenses are described in the Criminal Code of 2012.
12    "Tenant" means a person who has entered into a written
13lease with a landlord in which the person is the lessee under
14the lease.
 
15    Section 15. Summary of Illinois housing protections for
16survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence and
17acknowledgment of receipt of summary form.
18    (a) The Director of the Illinois Department of Human
19Rights shall prepare a summary identifying the key rights and
20remedies of tenants or household members of tenants who are
21survivors of domestic violence or sexual violence under the
22following 6 Illinois statutes: the Safe Homes Act; the
23Eviction Article in the Code of Civil Procedure; the Illinois
24Human Rights Act; and Section 8-201.6 of the Public Utilities
25Act providing for the deferral of deposit for victims of

 

 

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1domestic violence and ordinances that prohibit penalizing
2tenants who contact police or other emergency services in
3Section 1-2-1.5 of the Illinois Municipal Code and Section
45-1005.10 of the Counties Code. The Director shall make this
5summary available for public inspection and copying no later
6than 60 days after this bill becomes law.
7    (b) Space must be provided at the bottom of each page of
8the summary that the tenant may sign as acknowledgment of the
9tenant's receipt of the summary as attached to a paper version
10of the lease or inserted into an electronic version of the
11lease.
12    (c) The summary described in this Act shall be prepared in
13consultation with Illinois domestic and sexual violence
14service providers.
 
15    Section 20. Disclosure of summary to tenants and obtaining
16acknowledgment of receipt. A landlord or a landlord's agent
17shall attach a copy of the summary of this Act as the first
18page of any written residential lease they enter into with a
19tenant, including for a new rental or renewal, and obtain the
20signature of each tenant in the acknowledgment of receipt at
21the bottom of each page of the summary.
 
22    Section 25. Evidence of attachment of summary and delivery
23of summary to tenants under written residential leases.
24    (a) The signature of the tenant at the bottom of each page

 

 

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1of the summary described in this Act may simultaneously act as
2evidence that the landlord fulfilled the obligations described
3in this Act for that tenant.
4    (b) Failure of the landlord to provide the evidence
5described in this Section creates a rebuttable presumption
6that the landlord failed to comply with the landlord's
7disclosure obligations in this Act.
 
8    Section 30. Failure to comply with the Act's requirements.
9    (a) A landlord who is found to have failed to comply with
10the requirements of this Act for any tenant under a written
11residential lease shall be liable to that tenant for the
12greater of: (i) the tenant's actual damages, if any, not to
13exceed $2,000 or (ii) $100.
14    (b) If a tenant brings a private right of action under this
15Act and prevails in such action, the tenant shall also be
16awarded all court costs and reasonable attorney's fees. There
17is no requirement for the tenant to seek relief under this Act
18through the Illinois Department of Human Rights.
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect January
201, 2026.