Key Takeaways
This guide reflects close monitoring of Illinois Public Act 103-0840 since its passage, with attention to how the rules play out in practice for landlords and renters.
Renters searching in Illinois have had legal protection against repeat application fees since January 1, 2025. Under Public Act 103-0840, if a renter provides a qualifying reusable tenant screening report, a landlord cannot charge an application screening fee or a fee to access the report. The law is modeled on frameworks already in place in Colorado and other states — but with one notable difference: Illinois does not specify a damages amount for violations. That distinction matters, and it shapes how both renters and landlords should think about enforcement.
This guide covers what the law requires, where it aligns with and diverges from other state frameworks, and what landlords and renters each need to know heading into 2026.
Illinois added Section 25 to its Landlord and Tenant Act under Public Act 103-0840, codified at 765 ILCS 705/25. The operative rule is that when a renter provides a reusable tenant screening report that meets the statutory criteria, the landlord cannot charge an application screening fee or a fee to access the report.
For the report to qualify, it must meet four conditions simultaneously. It must be prepared within the previous 30 days. It must be prepared by a consumer credit reporting agency — not a landlord, not a free online tool, not a PDF screenshot. It must be prepared at the applicant's expense, not the landlord's. And it must be made directly available to the landlord at no cost. All four conditions have to hold at once. If any one of them fails, the landlord is not obligated to waive the fee.
The law also includes a content requirement that has real teeth in practice: the report must be comprehensive enough to include all of the criteria the landlord consistently uses to screen applicants. A landlord who screens for eviction history, income verification, and criminal background cannot reject a report that covers only credit — and cannot add undisclosed criteria after the fact to create a reason to charge. What the landlord uses must be covered by the PTSR. Renters who want to understand exactly how a reusable screening report compares to other document types will find the differences between a PTSR, a credit report, and a standard background check more significant than most people expect.
Illinois is the second state to build a mandatory fee waiver framework — and it borrowed heavily from Colorado's structure. Both laws require a 30-day window. Both require the report to come from a consumer credit reporting agency. Both prohibit charging the applicant when a qualifying report is provided. The core mechanic is nearly identical.
The meaningful difference is enforcement. Colorado's law specifies $2,500 in damages per violation, plus court costs and attorney fees, with a $50 cure if remedied within 7 days — and the Colorado Attorney General has independent enforcement authority. Illinois has none of that. The statute does not name a damages figure, meaning violations are pursued through general civil remedies. A renter files a claim, and a court determines what the landlord owes.
That does not make Illinois toothless. Civil claims are real, and landlords who develop a pattern of non-compliance face meaningful exposure. But the absence of a statutory damages floor means the practical enforcement burden sits more squarely on the renter. Renters who want to understand which states have the strongest protections — and which have the weakest — can find the tier-by-tier breakdown in the portable tenant screening report state-by-state guide.
Illinois law gives landlords one formal tool that Colorado places less emphasis on: the right to require written certification. Before accepting a PTSR, a landlord can ask the applicant to certify in writing that nothing material in the report has changed since it was generated. That certification is a legitimate intake step — it shifts the documentation burden to the applicant and provides the landlord with a paper trail if a dispute arises later.
What landlords cannot do is use the certification requirement as a soft rejection mechanism. Asking for certification is permitted. Demanding it in a format the applicant cannot provide, or using a minor technicality in the certification to justify a fee, is the kind of behavior courts will look at skeptically.
The other practical consideration for Illinois landlords is the layer of local ordinances. The state law explicitly provides that local ordinances offering greater protections take precedence. Chicago, Evanston, and other municipalities have tenant protection frameworks that interact with the state PTSR rules. A landlord operating in Chicago cannot default to state law minimums if local ordinances require more. Checking local rules before setting application policies is part of compliance, not optional.
If an applicant provides a report that meets all four statutory criteria — prepared within 30 days, by a consumer credit reporting agency, at the applicant's expense, made available to the landlord at no cost — the landlord cannot charge a screening or application fee. The law does not require landlords to accept PTSRs from all applicants proactively, but it prohibits charging a fee when a qualifying report is provided. The obligation is triggered by the renter, not imposed on the landlord up front.
The most common mistake Illinois renters make when using a reusable report is ordering the wrong type of document. A credit report alone does not qualify. A background check alone does not qualify. A comprehensive report from a consumer credit reporting agency — one that covers whatever the landlord uses in their screening process — is what triggers the protection.
The second most common mistake is timing. A report generated 31 days ago is outside the 30-day window and does not obligate the landlord to waive the fee. Renters in an active search should order the report at the start of the search, not before. In a competitive Chicago or suburban Cook County market, where applications move fast, having a report that is already three weeks old when it gets submitted is a real risk.
Renters who are not sure what a consumer credit reporting agency is — or which ones produce reports that qualify under 765 ILCS 705/25 — should confirm the agency is compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act before placing an order. FCRA compliance is a baseline signal that the agency meets the statutory standard. For plain-English definitions of the terminology used across Illinois and other states with PTSR laws, the PTSR glossary is a useful reference.
Illinois law does not specify a statutory damages amount, so there is no automatic, fixed claim, as there is in Colorado. A renter who is charged a prohibited fee has grounds for a civil claim — but the amount recoverable depends on what a court determines. Document the submission of the report, the landlord's response, and any fee charged. That paper trail is what a civil claim rests on. The absence of a statutory floor makes documentation more important in Illinois than in states where the damages figure is locked in by statute.
Illinois joined a small but growing group of states that have passed mandatory fee waiver laws. As of 2026, the full list of states with PTSR-related laws runs from Colorado and Illinois at the top of the mandatory tier, through New York and Rhode Island, down to Maryland and Washington in the notification-conditional tier, and California as the only fully voluntary state. Every tier has different rules, different disclosure requirements, and different consequences for non-compliance. The national PTSR guide covers all seven states in concrete terms.
Illinois landlords who want to stay ahead of further amendments — the law passed in 2023, took effect in 2025, and the legislative trend in states with mandatory frameworks has consistently moved toward stronger protections over time — should track the Illinois General Assembly's activity on PA 103-0840 directly. Secondary sources lag. The primary text is the reliable reference.
If you want a screening workflow that handles Illinois's requirements cleanly alongside those of other states, Clara's approach to tenant screening is built around the realities of state-by-state PTSR compliance — not a one-size-fits-all approach.
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