Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws

Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws — Lot Rent and Evictions (2026)

By Oleg Kachko · Updated August 22, 2026

✓ Law Verified August 2026

Illinois mobile home park laws are their own world: you own the home, you rent the ground, and a separate set of rules, different from ordinary landlord-tenant law, decides what the park can charge, when it can evict, and what happens if the land is sold out from under the whole community. This guide covers those rules in plain English, verified against official Illinois sources as of August 2026.

Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws at a Glance

The law that governs parks Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act, 765 ILCS 745 (companion health/licensing law: Mobile Home Park Act, 210 ILCS 115, administered by the Illinois Department of Public Health)
Notice before a lot rent increase 90 days written notice before a rent increase takes effect (delivered 90 days prior to lease expiration; month-to-month agreements must also provide a minimum 90 days notice). After receiving the notice you have 30 days to accept or reject the increase; if you reject it, you must tell the park the date you will vacate, which must be before the increase takes effect.
Cap on lot rent increases NO CAP — Illinois law does not currently limit the size or percentage of a lot rent increase. HB3526 (104th General Assembly, “Mobile Home Tenant Protection Act”), which would cap increases at 3 percent per year with a CPI-U adjustment beginning in 2027 not to exceed 5 percent, was still moving through the House as of April 2026 and has not been verified as enacted. Verify current status on the Illinois General Assembly bill status page before relying on any cap.
Eviction notice periods Non-payment of rent — written notice giving not less than 5 days after receipt to pay before the lease is terminated. Breach of a lease provision or park rule — written notice specifying the violation, and the lease may be terminated only if the violation continues more than 24 hours after receipt of the notice. A park rule adopted during the lease term is enforceable against you only if you were given 30 days written notice of its adoption. The park must let the notice period fully expire before filing an eviction case in court, and only a court — not the park — can order you removed.

Why Park Living Has Its Own Rulebook in Illinois

Illinois treats the lot lease as its own regulated tenancy — the Act covers any lease of a mobile home or mobile home lot in a park with 5 or more mobile homes (government-owned and purely recreational parks excluded).

Because you own the home and rent only the ground under it, you cannot simply move out cheaply the way an apartment renter can, so the Act layers on protections ordinary renters do not get: the park must offer a written lease with an initial term of 24 months, must give 90 days written notice before a rent increase, must give 12 months notice before closing the park,

and must offer the homeowners’ association a chance to buy the park if it is put up for sale. If a park tries to evict, it is evicting you from the lot — your home is your own property, and many residents can sell the home in place rather than move it.

Owning the home while renting the ground under it creates a kind of leverage no apartment landlord has: moving a manufactured home typically costs thousands of dollars, and many older homes cannot be moved at all without falling apart.

Lawmakers know that “just move” is not a real option for park residents, which is exactly why Illinois mobile home park laws give lot renters protections apartment tenants never get, limited eviction grounds, longer notice periods, and rules about what happens when the park itself changes hands.

Lot Rent Increases: Your Rights Before You Pay More

Required notice: 90 days written notice before a rent increase takes effect (delivered 90 days prior to lease expiration; month-to-month agreements must also provide a minimum 90 days notice). After receiving the notice you have 30 days to accept or reject the increase; if you reject it, you must tell the park the date you will vacate, which must be before the increase takes effect.

Is there a cap? NO CAP — Illinois law does not currently limit the size or percentage of a lot rent increase. HB3526 (104th General Assembly, “Mobile Home Tenant Protection Act”), which would cap increases at 3 percent per year with a CPI-U adjustment beginning in 2027 not to exceed 5 percent, was still moving through the House as of April 2026 and has not been verified as enacted.

Verify current status on the Illinois General Assembly bill status page before relying on any cap.

Whatever the number on the notice, read it against the rules above before paying. An increase served with short notice, or one that violates a cap where Illinois has one, is challengeable, and park residents who organize respond far more effectively than neighbors acting alone. Many states saw lot-rent fights turn into new legislation in the last two years for exactly this reason.

The Park Cannot Evict You for Just Any Reason

765 ILCS 745/15 limits the park to three grounds: (1) non-payment of rent due; (2) failure to comply with the park rules; (3) failure to comply with local ordinances and State laws regulating mobile homes. Non-payment of rent to a park that has not applied for its license or license renewal and has not paid all fees due under the Mobile Home Park Act is NOT grounds for eviction.

Section 16 bars eviction as retaliation — you may not be evicted for reporting violations of law, health codes, or building codes to a board of health, building commissioner, the Attorney General’s office, or another government agency, or for good-faith efforts to enforce your rights under the lease or Illinois law.

This list matters enormously: it means a park in Illinois cannot simply non-renew you to free up the lot the way an apartment landlord might. If an eviction notice arrives, check it against the legal grounds first, park evictions fail in court most often because the stated reason is not on the list, or the notice skipped a required warning step.

If the Park Sells or Closes

When the park is sold: If the park owner offers the park for sale, the owner must give the officers of the homeowners’ association written notice of the offer stating the price and the terms and conditions of sale.

The homeowners, acting through the homeowners’ association, have the right to purchase the park by meeting that price and those terms and executing a contract with the owner within 60 days from the date the notice was mailed, unless the parties agree otherwise.

Within 20 days after the closing of a sale that changes ownership, the purchaser must give each homeowner written notice of the new owner plus either the name, address and telephone number of the property manager or designated agent, or the address and telephone number of the legal entity that owns the park.

When the park closes: 12 months written notice to tenants if the owner ceases operation of all or part of the park. If 12 months or more remain on your existing lease when the notice is given, you are entitled to the balance of your lease term up to the closing date.

Illinois has NO statutory relocation payment or state relocation assistance fund that could be verified — dollar amount UNVERIFIED; check with your local legal aid office and county about any local assistance.

Fees the Park Can and Cannot Charge in Illinois

765 ILCS 745/12 makes several lease terms unenforceable: a late fee cannot be charged unless you get at least 5 days beyond the rent due date to pay; the security deposit cannot exceed one month’s rent; you cannot be required to pay any fee that is not specified in the lease (so undisclosed entry, exit, guest, or administrative charges are not collectible);

the park cannot move your home to a different lot during the lease term;

and you cannot be made to waive your right to a jury trial. The lease must list all services and facilities the park provides. Illinois does not appear to set a specific statutory cap on utility markups under this Act — UNVERIFIED; if your park submeters water or electricity, ask for the underlying utility bill and check with your court or legal aid.

The park’s side of the bargain: The park must keep all electrical, plumbing, gas and water lines and all roads within the park in good condition and make repairs within a reasonable time. In an emergency, the park owner is responsible for providing a water supply to each household after a 5-day period without water.

📨 Get Free Tenant Rights Guides Alerts

Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime

No mobile home or lot may be rented if it does not conform to State or local sanitation, housing and health codes, and lots must conform to applicable subdivision ordinances.

Separately, the Mobile Home Park Act (210 ILCS 115) requires the park to hold a current IDPH license and meet the Manufactured Home Community Code for water supply, sewage disposal, and common areas — you may be able to report unsafe conditions to IDPH.

The Trapped-Equity Problem and How to Protect Yourself

The economics of a mobile home park in Illinois are unlike any apartment: you own the home, but moving it typically costs thousands of dollars, often more than an older home is worth, and many parks will not accept a home past a certain age. That is why lot-rent disputes feel so different here: walking away is rarely a real option, and park owners know it.

The law is what balances that power gap, which makes knowing the exact notice rules, fee limits, and eviction grounds in Illinois worth more to a park resident than to almost any other kind of tenant.

Protect yourself the way the long-time residents do: keep every rent notice and rule change in writing, photograph the condition of your lot and the park’s common areas a couple of times a year, and read the community rules before signing anything, in most states the written rules you were given are what a court will hold both sides to.

Selling Your Home Without Losing Its Value

When it is time to leave, most residents sell the home in place rather than move it, and this is where park rules matter most.

Many states limit a park’s power to block an in-place sale: the park can usually screen the buyer the way it screens any new resident, but it generally cannot force you to remove a home just because you are selling, and it cannot demand a cut of your sale price unless it actually acted as your sales agent.

Get the park’s buyer-approval requirements in writing early, keep the lot rent current through the sale, and never sign a rule change mid-sale without reading it, a home that can stay on its lot is worth far more than one that has to be moved.

The Strongest Protection Is the Lot Next Door

Everything about park life is shared, the roads, the water lines, the rent schedule, the fate of the land itself. That is why the single most effective move a park resident in Illinois can make is joining or forming a residents association. A park owner can ignore one complaint about a rent increase; ignoring a letter signed by sixty households is a different decision.

Associations are also how residents use park-sale rights in the states that grant them, organized communities have bought their own parks across the country, usually with help from nonprofit lenders who specialize in exactly this.

Keep your own records the same way any tenant should: the lease for your lot, every rent notice, every rule change, photos of anything the park fails to maintain. Illinois mobile home park laws reward the resident who can show a judge dates and documents, and most disputes never reach a judge once the park realizes you have them.

Recent changes in Illinois: HB3526, the proposed Mobile Home Tenant Protection Act, would cap lot rent increases at 3 percent per year with a CPI-U adjustment starting in 2027 not exceeding 5 percent, and it was still on the House calendar as of spring 2026 rather than signed into law.

Until it passes, Illinois has no lot rent cap and the 90-day notice is your main protection against a large increase.

Illinois already has stronger park-sale and closure rules than many states — the homeowners’ association’s 60-day right to purchase and the 12-month closure notice — so if you hear the park is for sale, organizing an association early may be your best move.

Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws: Quick Answers

Can the park raise lot rent whenever it wants? The Illinois mobile home park laws above set the notice rules, and any cap, that apply before an increase is valid.

Can the park make me remove my home? Only for the legal grounds listed in the Illinois mobile home park laws, and only through the court process, never by padlock or tow truck.

Do apartment tenant rights apply to me? Partly. The Illinois mobile home park laws are their own chapter, and this page plus the state guides linked below cover both layers.

Your landlord’s insurance won’t cover your stuff

Renters insurance protects your belongings for a few dollars a month.

Compare Renters Insurance

You May Also Like

Official Illinois Sources & Resources

Making Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws Work for You

The Illinois mobile home park laws only protect residents who use them, and parks count on most residents never reading the act. Read your lot lease against this page, calendar every notice deadline the moment a letter arrives, and talk to your neighbors, nearly every protection in the Illinois mobile home park laws gets stronger when residents act together.

If the park ignores the rules, the state agency and local legal aid both handle park disputes, and a written complaint citing the act gets a very different response than a phone call. Under the Illinois mobile home park laws, the resident with documents and neighbors is never as trapped as the park hopes.

This guide to illinois mobile home park laws was last verified against official sources in August 2026. Lot-rent caps and park-sale laws are moving fast in many states, re-check before acting on a deadline.

More Illinois Tenant Rights Guides

Disclaimer: This guide is informational only and is not legal advice. Landlord-tenant laws change and vary by city and county within a state. Verify current rules with your state, your local court, or a free legal-aid office before acting. If you are facing eviction, contact a local tenant attorney or legal-aid organization right away.

Renting? Protect your belongings — compare renters insurance at Home Insure Guide. Divorce involving a lease? See Divorce Help Guide. Unsafe housing / toxic mold injury? Some cases qualify — see Mass Tort Info.