Public Act 0840 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB4926 Enrolled LRB103 37133 JRC 67252 b

Public Act 103-0840

AN ACT concerning civil law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Landlord and Tenant Act is amended by adding Section 25 as follows:

(765 ILCS 705/25 new)

Sec. 25. Reusable tenant screening report.

(a) Definitions. In this Section:

"Application screening fee" means a request by a landlord for a fee to cover the costs of obtaining information about a prospective tenant.

"Consumer report" has the same meaning as defined in Section 1681a of Title 15 of the United States Code.

"Consumer credit reporting agency" means a person which, for monetary fees, dues, or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages in whole or in part in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit information or other information on consumers for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties and that uses any means or facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing consumer reports.

"Reusable tenant screening report" means a written report, prepared by a consumer credit reporting agency, that prominently states the date through which the information contained in the report is current and includes, but is not limited to, all of the following information regarding a prospective tenant:

(A) the name of the prospective tenant;

(B) the contact information for the prospective tenant;

(C) a verification of source of income of the prospective tenant;

(D) the last known address of the prospective tenant; and

(E) the results of an eviction history check of the prospective tenant in a manner and for a period of time consistent with applicable law related to the consideration of eviction history in housing.

(b) Providing a reusable tenant screening report.

(1) If a prospective tenant provides a reusable tenant screening report that meets the following criteria, the landlord may not charge the prospective tenant a fee to access the report or an application screening fee. Those criteria include the following:

(A) the report was prepared within the previous 30 days by a consumer credit reporting agency at the request and expense of a prospective tenant;

(B) the report is made directly available to a landlord for use in the rental application process or is provided through a third-party website that regularly engages in the business of providing a reusable tenant screening report and complies with all State and federal laws pertaining to use and disclosure of information contained in a consumer report by a consumer credit reporting agency;

(C) the report is available to the landlord at no cost to access or use; and

(D) the report includes all of the criteria consistently being used by the landlord in the screening of prospective tenants.

(2) A landlord may require an applicant to state that there has not been a material change to the information in the reusable tenant screening report.

(c) If an ordinance, resolution, regulation, administrative action, initiative, or other policy adopted by a unit of local government or county conflicts with this Act, the policy that provides greater protections to prospective tenants applies.

(d) Nothing in this Section prohibits a landlord from collecting and processing an application in addition to the report provided, as long as the prospective tenant is not charged an application screening fee for this additional report.