Peoria, IL Rental Property Rules: Rent Control (2026)

Illinois has preempted rent control statewide since 1997 through the Rent Control Preemption Act, codified at 50 ILCS 825/. Section 5 of the Act provides that 'a unit of local government shall not enact, maintain, or enforce an ordinance or resolution that would have the effect of controlling the amount of rent charged for leasing private residential or commercial property.' Section 10 specifically extends that prohibition to home rule units, which under the Illinois Constitution would otherwise have broad regulatory authority. The City of Peoria is a home rule unit, but the Rent Control Preemption Act expressly removes rent control from its toolkit. The single carve-out in the statute is that local governments may continue to manage and control residential property in which the unit of local government itself has a property interest (such as public housing). The Illinois General Assembly has periodically considered bills to repeal or carve back the preemption (including HB 116 in 2025 and earlier sessions), but as of May 2026 the Act remains in force and there is no statewide or Peoria-specific rent cap. Tenants in Peoria are therefore not protected from market-rate rent increases by any local cap. Other tenant protections do apply, including the Illinois Security Deposit Return Act (765 ILCS 710/), the eviction notice rules in 735 ILCS 5/9-201 through 5/9-321, the Illinois Human Rights Act's housing discrimination protections (775 ILCS 5/3-101 et seq.), and federal Fair Housing Act protections under 42 U.S.C. Section 3601 et seq. Source-of-income (Section 8 voucher) discrimination is prohibited statewide under the Illinois Human Rights Act since 2023. Within those general limits, Peoria landlords may raise rent without justification on month-to-month tenancies subject to the 30-day notice rule, and on fixed-term leases at renewal.