Landlord Atlas

Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws

Verified August 18, 2026 All Illinois topics →

Illinois governs lot tenancies through the Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act, 765 ILCS 745, which applies to any park containing five or more mobile homes and is unusual in two ways: the park owner must offer every tenant a written lease of at least 24 months, and every rent increase takes 90 days' written notice and cannot take effect any sooner.

Cited to 765 ILCS 745 and 7 more sources · Verified August 18, 2026

There is no cap on how much lot rent may rise. A park owner may terminate a lease and evict only for non-payment of rent, failure to comply with the park rules, or failure to comply with local ordinances and state laws on mobile homes, but may decline to renew at the end of a term on 30 days' notice with written reasons. Non-payment takes a notice of at least five days; any other violation of the lease or rules takes only 24 hours, the shortest cure period in the country. Closing all or part of a park requires 12 months' notice to tenants, and no relocation money is payable by anyone. Since January 1, 2025 residents have had a right of first refusal on a sale, but it runs only through a homeowners' association that at least two-thirds of the home owners have joined in writing, gives 60 days to match the price and terms, and does not apply where the park is sold as part of a package with any other property.

Governing actMobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act — 765 ILCS 745
Federal lender protections already required by state law3 of 8 (see the table)

Each row below is a state rule (with its citation) or an honest "no state rule" with what governs instead — lease terms and the general landlord-tenant law still apply where the park act is silent. This page covers a resident who owns the home and rents the lot; a home rented from the park is an ordinary Illinois tenancy.

On this page: Scope · Lot rent, fees and utilities · Lease, rules and disclosure · Termination and eviction · Closure and change of use · Sale of the park · The resident's home · Federal lender protections · Common questions · Citations

A. Scope — who and what the act covers

Rule Illinois law Source
State agency with a role in park tenancies Illinois Department of Public Health, which licenses mobile home parks and issues inspection reports; disputes between a park owner and a resident are settled in court The Illinois Department of Public Health licenses every mobile home park and enforces park standards, but no state agency decides lot-tenancy disputes. The act names the department, or a unit of local government authorized to enforce the act, as the authority having jurisdiction: that authority issues the inspection report a park owner must post, collects the $250 penalty for failing to post it, and the department may adopt rules to enforce that section. The department must also produce and distribute the pamphlet setting out the rights and obligations of tenants and park operators. Licensing itself sits in a separate statute, the Mobile Home Park Act, under which no park may be operated without a license from the department. 765 ILCS 745/3 (h); 765 ILCS 745/6.7 (b), (d), (e); 765 ILCS 745/14-1; 210 ILCS 115/3
Resident may sue under the act Yes A tenant may sue to enforce every section of the act, and the court may award damages or grant injunctive or other relief. Two provisions add their own remedies: a park owner who willfully refuses to pay the interest owed on a security deposit is liable for an amount equal to the deposit plus court costs and a reasonable attorney's fee, and a person who paid a donation, gratuity, bonus or gift demanded as the price of a lease may recover twice its value together with the costs of the action. 765 ILCS 745/21; 765 ILCS 745/18 (b); 765 ILCS 745/20 (b)
Minimum park size for the act to apply (lots) 5 lots The act reaches any lease of a mobile home or a mobile home lot in a mobile home park containing five or more mobile homes. A mobile home park is defined as a tract of land, or two contiguous tracts, that contain sites with the necessary utilities for five or more mobile or manufactured homes, whether operated free of charge or for revenue. A park with four or fewer homes falls outside the act entirely. 765 ILCS 745/1; 765 ILCS 745/3 (c)
Other size thresholds that switch rules on
  • 25 lots — a park regularly containing 25 or more mobile homes must pay interest on every security deposit it holds for more than six months.
One lot-count threshold above the act's five-home floor switches a rule on: the duty to pay interest on security deposits applies only to a park that regularly contains 25 or more mobile homes. Every other rule in the act applies to all covered parks alike. The act's other proportional threshold is a share of residents rather than a count of lots, since a homeowners' association must have the written consent of at least two-thirds of the home owners in the park. 		765 ILCS 745/18 (b); 765 ILCS 745/6.27
Park-owned rental homes Covered by this act Renting a home the park owns is covered by the same act as renting a lot. The act regulates any lease of a mobile home or a mobile home lot in a covered park, a tenant is defined as a person who occupies a mobile home rental unit for dwelling purposes or a lot on which the person parks a mobile home, and rent is defined as consideration for the use of a lot, a mobile home, or both. Individual rules distinguish the two where it matters: a pet fee may not be charged to a resident who owns the home but may be agreed in the lease of a home the park owner owns, and the park owner may enter its own home after due notice while it may not enter a resident-owned home without permission. 765 ILCS 745/1; 765 ILCS 745/3 (e), (f); 765 ILCS 745/9; 765 ILCS 745/11 (e)
RVs and park-model homes Excluded Recreational vehicles and campers are outside the act. The definition of a manufactured or mobile home expressly excludes campers and recreational vehicles, and the exemptions section removes any trailer park operated for the use of recreational campers or travel trailers from the act altogether. The act sets no qualifying period after which a recreational vehicle becomes covered. 765 ILCS 745/3 (b); 765 ILCS 745/5
Local rent regulation of park lots Preempted — local governments may not regulate lot rents Illinois bars local governments from controlling rents, and that bar reaches lot rent in a mobile home park. The Rent Control Preemption Act provides that a unit of local government may 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, and separately denies home rule units the power to regulate or control that rent. It carries one exception, for property a unit of local government itself owns. The Mobile Home Landlord and Tenant Rights Act contains no preemption section of its own and does not mention local regulation, so the general statute is the operative rule; it does not name mobile home lots, but a rented lot in a park is private residential property leased for rent. 50 ILCS 825/5 (a), (b); 50 ILCS 825/10

B. Lot rent, fees and utilities

Rule Illinois law Source
Notice before a lot-rent increase 90 days A park owner must give 90 days' notice of any rent increase, and no increase may take effect until 90 days after the notice. The same 90-day minimum applies to a month-to-month tenancy agreement, and the fees section states the notice as running 90 days before the lease expires. Once the notice arrives the resident has 30 days to accept or reject the increase. 765 ILCS 745/6 (d), (f); 765 ILCS 745/9
How often rent may be raised Rent may be raised only at the renewal of a lease, and a lease may set out one specified increase between its first and second years. Rent may be raised only at the renewal of a lease. The fees section states that rents charged to a tenant may be increased upon the renewal of a lease and that the park owner may not otherwise change the rental terms or increase the cost of fees. Because the lease a park owner must offer runs for at least 24 months, the one increase the act allows inside a term is the specified increase between the first and second years that the lease may provide for. 765 ILCS 745/9; 765 ILCS 745/6 (a), (e)
Statewide limit on lot-rent increases No state rule Illinois sets no ceiling on how much lot rent may rise. The section that governs rents and fees controls when an increase may be made and how it must be itemized and notified, but states no percentage, formula or dollar limit, and no other section of the act does either. What limits an increase is the lease itself, including the three-year rent-increase projection the park owner must disclose with every lease and renewal, which may state a fixed amount, a not-to-exceed amount, a formula, an index or a combination of those. A bill in the 104th General Assembly would add a 3 percent annual cap; it has not been enacted. 765 ILCS 745/9; 765 ILCS 745/6.5 (7)
How a resident can challenge an increase A resident may reject the increase and give the park owner a move-out date before it takes effect, or apply to defer the increased portion for up to a year under the act's rent deferral program. A resident who receives a rent-increase notice has 30 days to accept or reject it, and a resident who rejects it must tell the park owner the date they will leave, which must fall before the increase takes effect. The act adds a rent deferral program in place of any challenge on the amount. Within 30 days of a new lease or increase notice a resident may defer the increased portion for up to a year by swearing that they will list the home with a licensed sales entity and market it for sale, swearing that the proposed new rent will exceed 45 percent of their income from any source, and providing a tax return and other documents supporting that income. The resident must stay current at the pre-increase rent and pays the deferred difference on the sale of the home, without interest or penalty. There is no rent board, mediation route or reasonableness test. 765 ILCS 745/6 (d); 765 ILCS 745/6.4
Entrance fee prohibited No state rule The act does not prohibit an entrance fee. The lease prohibitions section bars a lease from requiring a tenant to pay any fee not specified in the lease, and a separate section makes it a violation for a park owner to demand or accept a donation, gratuity, bonus or gift as the price of entering into a lease, with double damages for the person who paid. Neither reaches a fee that is written into the lease and itemized, so what governs an entrance fee is the lease and the itemization duty in the fees section. 765 ILCS 745/12 (c); 765 ILCS 745/20 (a), (b); 765 ILCS 745/9
Exit or removal fee prohibited No state rule The act does not prohibit a fee for moving a home out of the park. It does bar the closest equivalent on a sale: a park owner may not charge a transfer or selling fee as a condition of the sale of a home that is going to remain in the park unless a service is rendered, and may not impose any fee, charge or commission for the sale of a home except a disclosed commission when the home owner asks for help finding a buyer. Nothing addresses a charge for removal or for ending the tenancy, so those are left to the lease, subject to the rule that a lease may not require a fee it does not specify. 765 ILCS 745/9; 765 ILCS 745/24; 765 ILCS 745/12 (c)
Undisclosed fees uncollectible Yes A lease may not require a tenant to pay any fee that the lease does not specify. The fees section reinforces this by requiring the terms for payment of rent to be clearly set out and all charges for services, ground or lot rent, unit rent or any other charge to be itemized both in the lease and in every bill the park owner sends. A park owner may not change the rental terms or increase the cost of fees except as the act allows, and any lease provision waiving a provision of the act is void. The act stops there: it does not add a separate refund or penalty for a charge that was never disclosed, so a resident's route is the general right to sue under the act. 765 ILCS 745/12 (c); 765 ILCS 745/9; 765 ILCS 745/10
Utility billing rules A park owner may not make tenants pay for common-area water, sewer and trash that a public utility charges for, and where common-area use is not separately measured it may not bill tenants more than 80 percent of what it was billed. Since January 1, 2026 a park owner may not require a tenant to pay for utility services such as water, sewer and trash used in common areas where a public utility company is charging for those services, and where common-area use is not separately measured by equipment such as a water meter the park owner may not charge tenants for more than 80 percent of the public utility services it was billed for. Once a year the park owner must give tenants a written explanation of how each tenant's share was calculated, and must hand over copies of the park's monthly utility bills to any tenant who asks. Separately, the lease must bind the park owner to keep all electrical, plumbing, gas and other utilities it provides in good working condition, apart from emergencies, with repairs completed within a reasonable time, and to maintain subsurface water and sewage lines and connections. Every utility charge must also be itemized in the lease and in each bill. 765 ILCS 745/6.2 (a), (b); 765 ILCS 745/11 (c), (d); 765 ILCS 745/9
Submetering required or regulated No state rule No provision requires a park to meter lots individually. The utility services section assumes separate measurement may or may not exist and answers only the billing question: where common-area use is not separately measured by equipment such as a water meter, the park owner may not charge tenants more than 80 percent of the bill. Nothing sets standards for a submetering system or requires one to be installed, so metering is left to the lease and to the utility company's own arrangements. 765 ILCS 745/6.2 (a)
Lot security deposit rules A security deposit may not exceed one month's rent, must be returned in full where the rent is paid and no damage was caused, and in a park of 25 or more homes it earns interest. A lease may not permit the park owner to charge more than one month's rent as a security deposit. The deposit must be returned in full where the tenant has paid all rent due for the term and caused no actual damage. Within 15 days after the lease ends the park owner must give the tenant an itemized list of damages and the estimated repair cost for each item; failing to do so is treated as an agreement that no damage occurred and the whole deposit falls due at once, while a tenant who does not object within 15 days is treated as agreeing to the amounts listed. A tenant who gives no forwarding address excuses the park owner from the list. A park regularly containing 25 or more homes must pay interest on a deposit held more than six months, at the rate paid on minimum-deposit passbook savings accounts by the largest commercial bank by total assets with its main premises in Illinois as of December 31 of the preceding year, paid in cash within 30 days after each 12-month period or applied to rent if both agree; a willful refusal costs the park owner an amount equal to the deposit plus costs and a reasonable attorney's fee. Deposits must be held in trust in a federally insured bank, savings bank or credit union, may not be mixed with the park owner's own assets and are not reachable by its creditors, a foreclosing mortgagee or a trustee in bankruptcy. 765 ILCS 745/12 (b); 765 ILCS 745/18 (a), (b), (c)

C. Lease, rules and disclosure

Rule Illinois law Source
Written lease Required A park owner must offer every present and future tenant a written lease before the lease is signed. It must also show a prospective tenant or purchaser a copy of the park's lease before offering a home or lot, unless that person waives the right in writing, and every lease must carry a notice whose wording the act sets out. The duty is to offer: a tenant may waive the 24-month term and agree to different terms, or take a month-to-month tenancy agreement, in which case the tenant signs a statement acknowledging that a longer lease was offered, and if the tenant will sign neither the lease nor that statement the park owner must sign and deliver a statement to that effect. A tenant who does not sign but stays and pays rent without reservation is treated as having accepted the lease. 765 ILCS 745/6 opening paragraph, (a), (f); 765 ILCS 745/7; 765 ILCS 745/17
Minimum lease term that must be offered 24 months The written lease a park owner must offer has to run for at least 24 months. This is the longest minimum term any state requires. The tenant may waive it and agree to a different term, and a park owner may offer a month-to-month tenancy agreement to a tenant who does not want a long commitment, provided the tenant signs a statement acknowledging that a longer lease was offered. A tenant who signs the lease may cancel it in writing within three business days, unless that right is waived in writing or by taking possession, and any security deposit or rent paid comes back within 10 days. 765 ILCS 745/6 (a), (f), (g)
Notice to end a tenancy without cause 30 days A park owner that does not want to renew a lease must say so 30 days before it expires and must put the reasons in writing. Every lease has to contain an option that renews it automatically, and the act lists four things that displace that option: the tenant giving 30 days' notice of non-renewal, the park owner giving 30 days' notice of non-renewal with written reasons, the park owner ceasing to operate all or part of the park, or the park owner seeking to change the terms. The act illustrates the reasons rather than limiting them, naming violations of park rules, health and safety codes, and irregular or non-payment of rent. Notices under this section go by first-class mail or personal service. 765 ILCS 745/8 (a)(1)-(4), (c)
Notice before park rules change 30 days A rule adopted during the term of a lease binds a tenant only after 30 days' written notice, and only if it does not conflict with the lease. Park rules generally are enforceable only where a copy was given to the tenant before the lease was signed, their purpose is to promote the convenience, safety and welfare of tenants, preserve park property from damage or fairly distribute park services, they are reasonably related to that purpose, they apply to all tenants fairly, they are explicit enough to tell a tenant what to do or not do, and they are not a way of evading the park owner's own obligations. 765 ILCS 745/14 (a)-(f) and final paragraph
Disclosure document A disclosure document with state-prescribed contents Illinois prescribes both a written disclosure with fixed contents and a notice whose wording the statute sets out. The disclosure must be given with every lease or sale and on every renewal, updated at least once a year, and must cover ten items: the rent charged for the home or lot in the past five years, the park owner's responsibilities, any fees on top of base rent, late-payment information, any applicable privilege tax, security deposits and the right to their return with interest, a three-year rent-increase projection covering the two lease years and the year after, the contact details of the legal entity that owns the community or of its property manager or agent, the contents of any posted inspection notice, and a statement that the tenant's right to a jury trial may not be waived. Separately, every lease must print, clearly and conspicuously and word for word, the notice the act sets out, which tells the tenant that park rules must be fair and reasonable, that the park must hold a license, that eviction is limited to non-payment of rent and violations of law or of the rules and lease, that exclusive-dealing arrangements may not exceed the prevailing local price, and that reporting violations to a government body is not a ground for eviction. The Department of Public Health must also produce a pamphlet on the rights and obligations of both sides, which the park owner must make available to current tenants within 60 days of receiving it and offer to every new tenant. 765 ILCS 745/6.5 (1)-(10); 765 ILCS 745/17; 765 ILCS 745/14-1
Residents' right to meet and organize Yes A park owner may not prohibit meetings by tenants about mobile home living, provided they are held at reasonable hours and when facilities are available and not otherwise in use. Organizing is protected from the other direction as well: being an organizer or member of a homeowners' association, or taking part in its activities, is not a ground for eviction or termination. The act goes further and builds the association into the statute, giving home owners who incorporate one the standing to act for all home owners in the park in matters under the act and the right to buy the park if it is offered for sale. 765 ILCS 745/25; 765 ILCS 745/16 (c); 765 ILCS 745/6.27
Owner entry onto the lot or into the home Where only the lot is rented, the park owner may not enter the home without the home owner's permission; where the park owner owns the home, it may enter only after due notice, and either way it may enter without notice in an emergency. Every lease must bind the park owner to respect the privacy of tenants and, where only the lot is rented, not to enter the mobile home without the home owner's permission. Where the home belongs to the park owner, entry is allowed after due notice to the tenant. In an emergency the park owner or its representative may enter without notice. The act sets no rule for entry onto the lot itself, and it fixes no minimum notice period or hours for the entries it does regulate. 765 ILCS 745/11 (e)
Retaliation prohibited Yes Five kinds of conduct may not be treated as grounds for eviction or termination, and no eviction order may be entered on them. They are a reprisal for the tenant's effort to secure or enforce rights under the lease or under Illinois or federal law; a reprisal for a good-faith complaint to a government authority about a claimed violation of a health or safety law, regulation, code or ordinance, or of a state law regulating dwellings; a reprisal for being an organizer or member of a homeowners' association or taking part in its activities; a reprisal for or on the basis of the tenant's immigration or citizenship status; and a reprisal for non-payment of rent where the park has failed to apply for its license or renewal and to pay the fees due under the Mobile Home Park Act. The act sets no presumption period and places no burden of proof on the park owner. 765 ILCS 745/16 (a)-(e)

D. Termination and eviction

Rule Illinois law Source
Just cause required to end a tenancy Yes A park owner may terminate a lease and evict a tenant only for one of the three grounds the act lists. Those grounds are non-payment of rent, failure to comply with the park rules, and failure to comply with local ordinances and state laws regulating mobile homes, and a separate section names five reprisals that may never be grounds. The protection is weaker at the end of a term than during one: a park owner may decline to renew a lease on 30 days' notice provided it specifies the reasons in writing, and the act gives examples of reasons rather than a closed list. 765 ILCS 745/15 (a); 765 ILCS 745/16; 765 ILCS 745/8 (a)(2)
Grounds for termination
  • Non-payment of rent due.
  • Failure to comply with the park rules.
  • Failure to comply with local ordinances and State laws regulating mobile homes.
The list is short compared with most states, and one carve-out sits inside it: 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 a ground for eviction. Notice periods differ by ground. Non-payment takes a written notice giving at least five days from receipt to pay, and any other breach of the lease or the park rules takes a written notice specifying the violation and stating that the lease may be terminated if the violation continues for more than 24 hours after the notice is received. 		765 ILCS 745/15 (a)(1)-(3), (b); 765 ILCS 745/22
Notice for nonpayment of lot rent 5 days Once rent is overdue the park owner may serve a written notice, and the notice must give the tenant at least five days from receipt to pay before the lease is terminated. If the tenant is still in default after that the park owner may go to court for possession, the rent due and any damages. A separate rule keeps late fees off the first five days: a lease may not let the park owner charge a late-payment penalty fee without giving the tenant at least five days beyond the due date to pay. 765 ILCS 745/22 first paragraph; 765 ILCS 745/12 (a)
Notice for a rule or lease violation 1 day For any breach of the lease or the park rules other than rent, the notice period is 24 hours, recorded here as one day. The park owner must notify the tenant in writing of the breach, and the notice must specify the violation and tell the tenant that if it continues for more than 24 hours after the notice is received the park owner may terminate the lease. This is the shortest cure period in any state's manufactured-home act. It runs from receipt of the notice, not from the violation. 765 ILCS 745/22 second paragraph
Repeat-violation rule No state rule The act attaches no extra consequence to a repeated violation. The remedies section sets one notice period for non-payment and one for any other breach, without counting notices or shortening the period for a second or third offense, and the grounds for eviction are stated without reference to repetition. The only counting rule in the section runs the other way and protects the tenant: for 45 days after written notice of a fine, non-payment of that fine is not a ground for refusing a rent payment and the fine may not be deducted from one, and accepting rent does not waive an unpaid fine. 765 ILCS 745/22; 765 ILCS 745/15 (a)
Time to sell or remove the home after termination No state rule The act gives a resident no period after an eviction in which to sell the home or move it out. The one 30-day period it sets runs the other way, against a buyer: a purchaser who chooses to take the home out of the park rather than sign a lease must remove it within 30 days of the purchase, and a purchaser who misses that deadline must complete the park's application and sign its standard lease, or sign an approved storage agreement if they do not qualify as a resident. What governs a home left behind after an eviction is the abandoned-property section, which sends the park owner to the Abandoned Mobile Home Act. 765 ILCS 745/24 (a); 765 ILCS 745/9.5
Abandoned-home procedure Yes A park owner dealing with an abandoned home after an eviction must follow the Abandoned Mobile Home Act, and for a repossessed home must follow that act's rules on household goods and personal property left inside. Where an abandoned or repossessed home is sold, the act sets the order of payment: outstanding rent, fees, costs and expenses owed to the community first, then lienholders in priority order including utility providers, then any remaining balance to the title holder. If the tenant cannot be found by diligent inquiry after 90 days the funds are forfeited, and diligent inquiry means sending a notice by certified mail to the last known address. 765 ILCS 745/9.5
Mediation or dispute-resolution requirement No state rule Illinois requires no mediation and offers no state dispute-resolution program for park tenancies. The tenant remedies section sends disputes straight to court, allowing a tenant to sue to enforce every section of the act with damages or injunctive relief available, and the park owner remedies section sends the park owner to court for possession, rent and damages once a notice period has run. Neither the act nor the licensing statute creates an ombudsman, a hearing officer or a mediation step. 765 ILCS 745/21; 765 ILCS 745/22

E. Closure and change of use

Rule Illinois law Source
Notice before closure or change of use 12 months A park owner that decides to stop operating all or part of the park must give tenants at least 12 months' notice. The section is written around the lease: where 12 months or more remain on the lease when the notice is given, the tenant keeps the balance of the term up to the closing date; where less than 12 months remain, the tenant keeps the balance of the lease plus a written month-to-month tenancy at the expiring lease rate, so that a full 12 months' notice is achieved. Ceasing operation of all or part of the park is also one of the four things that displace a lease's automatic renewal option. 765 ILCS 745/8.5; 765 ILCS 745/8 (a)(3)
Variants (by trigger or park size)
  • Twelve months or more remain on the tenant's lease when the closure notice is given: 12 months (The tenant is entitled to the balance of the lease term up to the date of the closing).
  • Less than twelve months remain on the tenant's lease when the closure notice is given: 12 months (The tenant is entitled to the balance of the lease plus a written month-to-month tenancy at the expiring lease rate, so that a full twelve months' notice is given).
The 12-month period is the same in both cases; what changes is how it is made up. Neither variant turns on the size of the park, the reason for the closure or the use the land is being turned to, and the act sets no shorter period for condemnation, a sale to a preservation buyer or any other trigger. Closing part of a park is treated the same as closing all of it. 		765 ILCS 745/8.5
Relocation payment required No state rule No one has to pay a resident to move when an Illinois park closes. The park closure section requires 12 months' notice and the continuation of the lease at the expiring rate, and stops there. The act's relocation-plan section is a study provision: it directed the Department of Public Health, working with legislators, home owners, park owners and their statewide organizations, and with the Illinois Housing Development Authority, to develop a plan covering counseling, the relocation or shelter needs of displaced home owners and the creation of a manufactured housing relocation fund, and to submit it with any proposed legislation to the legislative leaders no later than October 1, 2011. The fund it contemplated was never written into this act, so what governs the cost of moving a home is the resident's own arrangements. 765 ILCS 745/8.5; 765 ILCS 745/14.2
Relocation amounts No state rule The act names no relocation amount, index or maximum. Neither the park closure section nor the relocation-plan section sets a dollar figure, and no state fund pays one. A resident who has to move a home when a park closes bears the cost, subject to whatever the lease provides. 765 ILCS 745/8.5; 765 ILCS 745/14.2
Who pays relocation None required No one pays relocation costs under Illinois law. The park closure section requires notice and the continuation of the lease at the expiring rate but imposes no payment on the park owner, and the relocation-plan section only asked a state agency to design a plan and consider a relocation fund by October 1, 2011. Illinois is one of the states where a 12-month notice period is the whole of the closure protection. 765 ILCS 745/8.5; 765 ILCS 745/14.2
Notice to a government body on closure No state rule A park owner closing a park need not tell any government body. The park closure section directs the 12-month notice to tenants alone, and the licensing statute, which is where a duty to notify the state would naturally sit, requires a license application before operating and a new application within 10 days after a deed transferring the park is recorded, but no notice of closure. The state learns of closures after the fact: the licensing statute requires the Department of Public Health to report each year on the number of parks licensed, the number that closed in the preceding year, the number newly permitted and the number that failed to renew. 765 ILCS 745/8.5; 210 ILCS 115/3; 210 ILCS 115/21.5

F. Sale of the park

Rule Illinois law Source
Residents must be told the park is for sale Yes A park owner that offers a park for sale must give written notice stating the price and the terms and conditions of the sale. The notice goes to one recipient only: the officers of the homeowners' association formed under the act. Individual residents are not on the list, and no notice is due to a local government, a housing agency or the state. Because the association is the only recipient, the duty bites only where home owners have already incorporated one, told the park owner its officers' names and addresses, and recorded a notice of the right to purchase with the county clerk. Notice must be in writing and is given when it is deposited in the United States mail addressed to those officers. 765 ILCS 745/6.25 (a), (e); 765 ILCS 745/6.28 (a), (c)
What triggers the notice The park owner offering the park for sale, meaning any solicitation the park owner makes to the general public; a second notice is due if the park owner later offers the park at a materially lower price. The notice is triggered by an offer, and the act defines an offer as any solicitation made by the park owner to the general public. A private approach to a single buyer is therefore not covered on the face of the definition. A second trigger follows a failed purchase window: if the association does not sign a contract within the 60 days and the park owner then elects to offer the park at a materially lower price, the price must be brought back to the association, and the act fixes materially lower at 20 percent or more below the price in the first notice. 765 ILCS 745/6.25 (a), (b), (c), (f)
Residents' purchase right Right of first refusal (match the offer) Home owners may buy the park by matching the price and the terms and conditions the park owner has stated. Acting through a homeowners' association, they must sign a contract with the park owner within 60 days of the notice being mailed, unless the parties agree otherwise, and must have complied with the association sections of the act. If no contract is signed in that window the park owner has no further obligation, unless it later offers the park at a price 20 percent or more below the one in the notice, in which case the association gets a further 10 days to match. Once 60 days, plus any additional 10-day period, have passed without a signed contract the right is void. The right arrived with a 2024 law and took effect on January 1, 2025. 765 ILCS 745/6.25 (a)-(d); P.A. 103-766
Time for residents to respond 60 days The association has 60 days from the mailing of the notice to sign a contract on the park owner's price and terms, unless the parties agree otherwise. A further 10 days is added if the park owner later offers the park at a price 20 percent or more below the price in the notice. The clock runs from the date the notice is deposited in the mail, not from the date it arrives, and the 60 days cover organizing the finance and signing, not merely registering interest. 765 ILCS 745/6.25 (b), (c), (d), (e)
Resident-association threshold 66.7% The statute states the threshold as two-thirds rather than a percentage: at least two-thirds of all the mobile home owners in the park must have consented in writing to become members or shareholders. The association must be a corporation or a not-for-profit corporation, and no member or shareholder may be anyone other than a bona fide owner of a home in the park. Once it is incorporated and has served notice on the park owner, it represents every home owner in the park in matters under the act, whether or not they joined. 765 ILCS 745/6.27
Transfers exempt from the sale rules
  • Sale or transfer to a person who would be included in the table of descent and distribution if the park owner died without a will.
  • Transfer by gift, devise or operation of law.
  • Transfer by a corporation or entity to an affiliate.
  • Transfer by a partnership to any of its partners, or by an individual or group of individuals to a partnership.
  • Conveyance of an interest in all or part of a park incidental to financing the park.
  • Conveyance resulting from foreclosure of a mortgage, deed of trust or other encumbrance, or a deed given in lieu of foreclosure.
  • Sale or transfer between or among joint tenants or tenants in common who own the park.
  • Exchange of a park for other real property, whether or not cash or other boot is also paid.
  • Purchase of a park by a governmental entity under its powers of eminent domain.
  • Sale of a park as part of a portfolio transaction.
The last exception is the widest and is unusual among states with a purchase right. A portfolio transaction is defined as a sale of two or more mobile home parks, other multifamily buildings, units or properties of any type, or recreational-vehicle parks, in one transaction to one buyer or to multiple related buyers, so a park sold alongside any second property of any kind falls outside the purchase right. 		765 ILCS 745/6.25 (g)(1)-(10)
Residents may assign the right to a nonprofit or municipality No state rule Home owners may not hand their purchase right to an outside buyer. The right runs only to a homeowners' association incorporated under the act, and the act closes the door on outside participation from the other side by providing that the association may not have a member or shareholder who is not a bona fide owner of a home in the park. Nothing authorizes assigning the right to a nonprofit housing organization, a community land trust, a municipality or a housing authority, and the act names no registry of preservation buyers. What the association may do is decided after it owns the park: its articles must address converting the park to a condominium, a cooperative, a subdivision form of ownership or another type of ownership. 765 ILCS 745/6.27; 765 ILCS 745/6.25 (b); 765 ILCS 745/6.29
Penalty for violating the sale rules No state rule The act sets no penalty for breaking the sale rules. Neither the purchase-right section nor the association sections names a fine, damages measure or injunction, and the act gives the state no enforcement role over a sale. Working the other way, a park owner may record an affidavit in the county land records certifying that it complied with the purchase-right section, that no contract was signed with the association despite compliance, or that the section did not apply, and anyone acquiring an interest in the park, together with any title insurance company or attorney examining title, has an absolute right to rely on that affidavit and no duty to inquire further. A resident's route is the act's general right to sue. 765 ILCS 745/6.25; 765 ILCS 745/6.26 (a), (b); 765 ILCS 745/21

G. The resident's home

Rule Illinois law Source
Right to sell the home in place Yes A park owner is restrained from prohibiting, limiting, restricting, obstructing or in any way interfering with a home owner's freedom to sell the home to a purchaser of their choice. It may not require the home to be taken out of the park on a sale to a qualified purchaser unless the home is less than 12 feet wide or is significantly deteriorated and in substantial disrepair, and on that it carries the burden of proof and must have given the tenant written notice before the sale that removal will be required unless the condition is first corrected. The home owner may also employ an independent salesperson, provided that person collects and remits all government taxes. 765 ILCS 745/24 (a), (b) and final paragraph
Park may not take a commission on the sale Yes A park owner may not impose any fee, charge or commission for the sale of a home. The single exception is where the home owner asks the park owner or its agent to help find a buyer, and even then two conditions apply: the exact amount must be a percentage of the actual sale price, and the maximum percentage must be set out in writing before the sale. The fees section adds that a transfer or selling fee may not be charged as a condition of the sale of a home that is going to remain in the park unless a service is rendered. 765 ILCS 745/24 (1), (2) of the commission paragraph; 765 ILCS 745/9
Park may screen the buyer Yes A park owner may screen the buyer. The section that protects the freedom to sell says so in the same breath, allowing the park owner to set any general qualifications or lawful restrictions on park residents that limit or define the admission of entrants to the park. A buyer who intends to stay must obtain a written and signed lease before closing; a buyer who does not qualify and does not remove the home must sign a storage agreement approved by the park owner and comply with the park's rules. 765 ILCS 745/24 (a)
Buyer-approval standard and deadline The park owner may apply its general qualifications and lawful restrictions on park residents, and the buyer must obtain a written signed lease before closing unless the home is being removed; the act sets no deadline for a decision and no reasonableness test. The buyer applies as a new resident rather than taking over the seller's lease. The act allows the park owner to promulgate general qualifications or lawful restrictions on park residents which limit or define the admission of entrants to the park, and requires the purchaser to obtain a written and signed lease before closing unless the purchaser is removing the home. Nothing requires the park owner to answer within a set time, to give reasons in writing, or to withhold consent only where it is reasonable to do so, and the act creates no right to assign the existing lease to the buyer. A buyer who takes the home out must use an installer licensed under the Manufactured Home Installers Act, give the park owner proof of insurance naming it as an additional insured, agree a date and time for removal, remove the home within 30 days of the purchase, satisfy any lien the park owner holds against it, indemnify the park owner against injury or damage caused by the removal, and clear the lot of debris. 765 ILCS 745/24 (a)
Home may not be rejected for age, size or style alone Yes A home may not be made to leave the park on a sale because of its age or style, but a home less than 12 feet wide may be. The act bars a park owner from requiring removal on a sale to a qualified purchaser unless the home is less than 12 feet wide or is significantly deteriorated and in substantial disrepair. Width and condition are therefore the only permitted grounds; the age of the home and its style cannot on their own support a removal demand. Where the park owner does rely on width or disrepair it carries the burden of proving it and must have given the tenant written notice, before the sale, that removal will be required unless the condition is first corrected. 765 ILCS 745/24 final paragraph
Park may require repairs before sale Yes A park owner may in effect require repairs before a sale, by warning that a home in disrepair will have to be removed. Where a home is significantly deteriorated and in substantial disrepair the park owner may require its removal on a sale, but only if it bears the burden of demonstrating that condition and has given the tenant written notice before the sale that unless the condition is first corrected removal will be required. The act does not otherwise let a park owner set repair or upgrade conditions on a sale, and it fixes no standard for what counts as substantial disrepair. 765 ILCS 745/24 final paragraph
Right to post a For Sale sign No state rule No section of the act mentions a for-sale sign. The section that protects the sale of a home restrains the park owner from interfering with the freedom to sell to a purchaser of the home owner's choice and to employ an independent salesperson, but says nothing about advertising the home on the lot. What governs a sign is the park's own rules, which are enforceable only if they were given to the tenant before the lease was signed, serve the convenience, safety and welfare of tenants or the preservation of park property or the fair distribution of park services, are reasonably related to that purpose, apply to all tenants fairly, are explicit, and are not a way of evading the park owner's obligations. 765 ILCS 745/24 (a), (b); 765 ILCS 745/14

H. The eight federal lender protections — which ones Illinois law already requires

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require eight tenant site lease protections in every manufactured housing community loan they buy. Where state law already requires a protection of every park, a resident has it whether or not the park has agency financing. Illinois law requires 3 of 8. All 50 states are compared in our research study, including the 2018 federal survey baseline.

ProtectionIllinois lawBasis
One-year renewable lease term unless there is good cause for non-renewal Partly The term limb is met and then some: a park owner must offer every present and future tenant a written lease of not less than 24 months. The cause limb is only partly met. Termination during a term is confined to three listed grounds, but a park owner may decline to renew at the end of the term on 30 days' notice provided it specifies the reasons in writing, and the act illustrates those reasons rather than limiting them to a closed list. (765 ILCS 745/6; 765 ILCS 745/15; 765 ILCS 745/8)
30-day written notice of rent increases Required A park owner must give 90 days' notice of any rent increase, and no increase may take effect until 90 days after the notice; a month-to-month tenancy agreement carries the same 90-day minimum. That is three times the 30 days the protection calls for. (765 ILCS 745/6)
5-day grace period for rent payments and the right to cure defaults on rent payments Required Both limbs are met. A lease may not permit a late-payment penalty fee without giving the tenant at least five days beyond the due date to pay, and a nonpayment termination requires a written notice giving at least five days from receipt in which paying the rent stops the termination, so the tenancy cannot be ended inside the five days either. (765 ILCS 745/12; 765 ILCS 745/22)
Right to sell the manufactured home without having to first relocate it out of the community Required A park owner may not require a home to be removed from the park on a sale to a qualified purchaser, and may not otherwise interfere with the home owner's freedom to sell. Two narrow exceptions remain, for a home less than 12 feet wide and for one significantly deteriorated and in substantial disrepair, and the park owner carries the burden of proving them and must have given prior written notice. (765 ILCS 745/24)
Right to sell the manufactured home in place within 30 days after eviction by the community owner Not required The act gives an evicted resident no period in which to sell the home in place. Nothing in the eviction, remedies or sale sections creates such a window, and a home left behind after an eviction is dealt with under the abandoned-property section, which sends the park owner to the Abandoned Mobile Home Act. (765 ILCS 745/22; 765 ILCS 745/9.5)
Right to sublease or assign the pad site lease for the unexpired term to the new buyer of the home without unreasonable restraint Partly The buyer must apply as a new tenant on the park's own criteria: the park owner may set general qualifications and lawful restrictions on the admission of entrants to the park, and the purchaser must obtain a written and signed lease before closing. There is no right to take over or assign the seller's unexpired lease and no standard barring an unreasonable refusal, which is the missing limb. (765 ILCS 745/24)
Right to post "For Sale" signs that comply with the community's rules Not required No section of the act mentions a for-sale sign, so signs are left to the park's rules, which need only meet the act's general fairness and reasonableness tests. (765 ILCS 745/24; 765 ILCS 745/14)
Right to receive at least 60 days' notice of a planned sale or closure of the community Partly The closure limb is met with room to spare: a park owner ceasing operation of all or part of a park must give tenants at least 12 months' notice. The sale limb is not met for residents generally. The sale notice and the 60-day purchase window run only to the officers of an incorporated homeowners' association, so where two-thirds of the home owners have not formed and recorded one, no resident receives notice of a planned sale at all. (765 ILCS 745/8.5; 765 ILCS 745/6.25; 765 ILCS 745/6.27)

Notes and caveats

Common questions: Illinois mobile home park law

Each answer is the verified value from the tables above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

How much notice must an Illinois park give before raising lot rent?
90 days. A park owner must give 90 days' notice of any rent increase, and no increase may take effect until 90 days after the notice.
Is there a limit on how much lot rent can go up in Illinois?
Illinois sets no state rule on this. Illinois sets no ceiling on how much lot rent may rise.
Can an Illinois park owner end a lot tenancy without cause?
No — an Illinois park may end a lot tenancy only for a listed cause. A park owner may terminate a lease and evict a tenant only for one of the three grounds the act lists.
How much notice must an Illinois park give before closing or changing use?
12 months. A park owner that decides to stop operating all or part of the park must give tenants at least 12 months' notice.
Does an Illinois park have to pay residents' relocation costs when it closes?
Illinois sets no state rule on this. No one has to pay a resident to move when an Illinois park closes.
Do Illinois residents get a chance to buy the park when it is sold?
Yes — a right of first refusal (match the offer). Home owners may buy the park by matching the price and the terms and conditions the park owner has stated.
Can an Illinois resident sell the home in place without moving it out of the park?
Yes — an Illinois resident may sell the home in place. A park owner is restrained from prohibiting, limiting, restricting, obstructing or in any way interfering with a home owner's freedom to sell the home to a purchaser of their choice.

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Illinois Mobile Home Park Laws (verified August 18, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/mobile-home-parks/illinois/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified).

Citations

Every row above links the section it rests on. This topic covers all 50 states; the topic hub compares them side by side.