By Matthew A. Quick Terminating the lease of a tenant can be tricky, mainly because of the rules involved. The situations where particular attention needs to be paid concern tenancies from year to year, month to month, and week to week (these tenancies are also known as a periodic tenancies).
If a periodic tenancy is year to year and does not involve farmland, 735 ILCS 9-205 states that:
60 days' notice, in writing, shall be sufficient to terminate the tenancy at the end of the year. The notice may be given at any time within 4 months preceding the last 60 days of the year.
If a periodic tenancy is year to year and involves farmland, 735 ILCS 9-206 states that:
The notice to quit shall be given in writing not less than 4 months prior to the end of the year of letting. Such notice may not be waived in a verbal lease.
The statute then prescribes the following notice:
You are hereby notified that I have elected to terminate your lease of the farm premises now occupied by you, being (here describe the premises) and you are hereby further notified to quit and deliver up possession of the same to me at the end of the lease year, the last day of such year being (here insert the last day of the lease year).
Alternative rules exist if the real estate involved is farmland and the lessor is a life tenant.
For a periodic tenancy from week to week, where the tenant holds over without special agreement, 735 ILCS 9-207 provides, "The landlord may terminate the tenancy by 7 days' notice, in writing, and may maintain an action for forcible entry and detainer or ejectment." Further, involving periodic tenancies other than week to week that are less than one year, the statute provides, where the tenant holds over without special agreement, the "The landlord may terminate the tenancy by 30 days' notice, in writing, and may maintain an action for forcible entry and detainer or ejectment."
735 ILCS 9-208 further states:
Where a tenancy is terminated by notice, [under the sections detailed in this article], no further demand is necessary before bringing an action under the statute in relation to forcible detainer or ejectment.