August 24, 2026 — There is a sweeping regulatory movement underway, pushed by Mayor Brandon Johnson—an avowed Democratic Socialist—to take private property rights away from landlords, and give excessive protection to renters.
An estimated 54 percent of Chicago’s residents—some 600,000 people—are apartment renters, according to the City of Chicago, so Mayor Johnson, who is up for reelection next spring against at least a half-dozen opponents, obviously needs votes.
Chicago currently has two so-called renters protections ordinances floating around like circus balloons. One being pushed by Mayor Johnson is the Protecting Renters Ordinance (PRO). The other, the Fair and Accountable Illinois Rental Ordinance (FAIR) is being promoted by a group of aldermen.
Mayor Johnson’s ordinance seeks to update the city’s 40-year-old Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RLTO), which oversees the legal rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords.
The Chicago Association of Realtors’ standard apartment lease already is so loaded with renter protections it weighs in at a hefty 37 pages—including four pages added this year to protect tenants from domestic violence and abuse. Currently, Chicago has one of the most anti-landlord ordinances in the nation.
Taxes and spending are the real problem
For both big corporate rental apartment operators and small ma-and-pa owners, experts are not mentioning the real problem. The Tyrannosaurus Rex in the room is soaring property taxes caused by exorbitant governmental overspending in Chicago and Cook County. However, the Mayor doesn’t mention that issue.
In 2025, one Old Town four-flat owner was hit with a 21 percent property tax hike, and a 59 percent increase in fire insurance premiums. Another landlord in North Lincoln Square was slapped with a 30 percent tax hike. And a three-flat owner in Logan Square is reeling from a 32 percent tax hike.
Of course, the high cost of apartment rents is not totally the fault of landlords. In Chicago, rental property owners must deal with the second-highest property taxes in the nation, along with soaring insurance costs.
According to Mayor Johnson’s PRO, which already is receiving heavy opposition from apartment managers, owners, and investors, the following new restrictions would be added to the already weighty RLTO:
• Junk-fee bans: Prohibits hidden charges, including upfront application and processing fees.
• Tenant Bill of Rights & pricing disclosures: Mandates clear tenant protections and requires landlords to disclose if they use hotel-style algorithmic pricing.
• New regulatory bureaucracy: Establishes a citywide rental registry and creates a dedicated administrative board to resolve disputes between tenants and property owners.
While the PRO has not yet been officially released, critics say it contains many troubling provisions that could significantly harm the multifamily housing industry.
It would make progress more difficult to provide quality affordable apartments, according to the Neighborhood Building Owner’s Alliance (NBOA), a non-profit landlord group.
Some landlords say the rental registry essentially would be a “hit list” that would create another layer of taxes on top of city and Cook County property taxes, which is the wildfire driving rent increases.
Other landlords say the proposed restrictions are so heinous that they wonder: “Why bother owning and managing apartments in Chicago at all? We probably could make more worry-free profits investing in the stock market.”
The amount of the annual registry fee would be determined by building size and owner occupancy. Owner-occupied, ma-and-pa two-to-six-unit buildings and nonprofit affordable housing would be exempt from the fee. Larger building owners would be charged anywhere from $20 to a whopping $60 per unit.
Obviously, veteran apartment managers concerned with the bottom line would simply pass on the inflationary registry fees to renters in the form of higher rents.
Experts say higher rents could lead to vacancies in larger buildings, adding to the pressure of paying hefty property taxes, and eventually leading to deferred maintenance.
When all the potential legal and administrative costs are considered, major landlords will be forced to spend tens of thousands of dollars to fight the ordinance. Rental experts say the proposed measure is guaranteed to increase average monthly rents on each unit in Chicago by at least $100.
Rental experts say the proposed measure is guaranteed to increase average monthly rents on each unit in Chicago by at least $100.
The annual fees, which the city expects to total around $20 million, would help fund the initiatives laid out in the bill, according to Jung Yoon, the mayor’s Chief of Policy. The funds would go toward improving inspections and enforcement.
The fees would also establish the Bureau of Rental Housing Services, designed to be the city’s first coordinated hub for rental housing. The bureau would administer the rental registry, provide emergency rental and eviction help, provide compliance guidance for landlords, and enforce tenant protections.
City officials say the renter protection ordinance is designed to crack down on slumlords and profit-hungry rental landlords.
The alternative FAIR plan
Meanwhile, the counterproposal known as the Fair and Accountable Illinois Rental Ordinance (FAIR)—championed by 36th Ward Alderman Gilbert Villegas, one of its primary architects—offers the following less-restrictive measures:
• Tenant safeguards: Includes protections against ill-intentioned landlords, illegal lockouts, retaliation for rule enforcement, unsafe living conditions, and security deposit abuse.
• Fee transparency: Relies on pre-existing state law with added disclosure requirements, stopping short of outlawing or heavily restricting standard fees.
• Tiered rental registry: Establishes a city registry that distinguishes between large property managers and small mom-and-pop owners.
• Adaptive reuse incentives: Encourages building owners to convert vacant commercial spaces, such as storefronts, into new residential apartments.
42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly said the aldermanic measure strikes a balance between promoting growth and adding regulation without “costly mandates.”
Most landlords and real estate groups are skeptical of the ordinance Mayor Johnson proposed, arguing the measures are burdensome and will drive up the cost of housing.
A review of the PRO plan by Marcus & Millichap, a major apartment manager, said the ordinance could “alter investment behavior” by placing pressure on the apartment industry because of “compliance obligations and restrictions.”
As the City Council prepares to take up both proposals, the outcome could reshape Chicago’s rental market for years to come. But if City Hall stacks another layer of bureaucratic fees on top of crushing property tax bills, lawmakers shouldn’t be surprised if fewer housing providers stick around to pick up the tab.
