Chicago Heat Ordinance: Dates, Temperatures, and Tenant Options

The Chicago Heat Ordinance requires landlords to keep rental units at a minimum of 68°F during the day and 66°F overnight from September 15 through June 1 each year.¹ Landlords who violate the rule face fines of $500 to $1,000 per day per violation, and tenants have separate rights under the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance to withhold rent, pay for their own heat, or break the lease when heat fails.

Heat Season Dates and Required Temperatures

Heat season runs from September 15 through June 1 of the following year. In buildings with central or shared heating, the required indoor temperature depends on the time of day:

From 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., at least 68°F in all living spaces, bathrooms, and toilet rooms.
From 10:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m., at least 66°F in those same spaces.

Those readings assume windows and exterior doors are closed. A narrower 64°F standard applies during the first weeks of the season and the last weeks in buildings that use one system for both heating and cooling, but it drops away as soon as outdoor temperatures cross set thresholds.²

Which Buildings Are Covered

The ordinance covers houses, apartments, hotel rooms, and indoor workspaces across the city.¹ Building size makes no difference. A single-family rental is held to the same temperature floor as a large apartment building, and heat must reach every habitable room, bathroom, and toilet room.

When each apartment has its own furnace or HVAC unit rather than a shared system, the tenant may pay the utility bill, but the landlord still has to keep the equipment in good working order and capable of hitting 68°F under normal Chicago winter conditions.¹ A broken or undersized furnace violates the ordinance even when the tenant controls the thermostat.

What Landlords Cannot Do

Cooking appliances, water heaters, and portable space heaters do not count toward the required temperature. Inspectors take readings with those devices off, so telling a tenant to run the oven is not a fix; it is a guaranteed violation, and it creates carbon monoxide and fire risk on top of the code problem.¹

Where the lease puts gas or electric service in the landlord’s name, the landlord has to keep those accounts current. A shutoff caused by the landlord’s nonpayment counts the same as a broken boiler, and daily fines start running.¹

City Fines for Heat Violations

Landlords who fail to provide adequate heat face fines from $500 to $1,000 per day, per violation.¹ Fines stack across units, so a ten-unit building without heat can generate ten separate daily violations. In severe cases the city can go to court to force emergency repairs.

Tenant Rights When Heat Fails

City fines punish the landlord but do not directly help a tenant in a cold apartment. The Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance fills that gap. Section 5-12-110(f) treats a heat failure as a loss of an essential service and gives tenants five remedies after sending written notice to the landlord.³

Options Available Immediately After Written Notice

Buy space heaters or arrange temporary heat, then deduct the cost from rent after showing the landlord paid receipts.
Sue the landlord for the difference between the apartment’s value with heat and without it.
Move to a hotel or other substitute housing. Rent is not owed during the landlord’s failure, and the reasonable cost of substitute housing can be recovered up to one month’s rent for each month or partial month of noncompliance.

Options That Open Up if the Landlord Does Not Act

After 24 hours without correction, the tenant can reduce the monthly rent by an amount reflecting the apartment’s reduced value without heat.
After 72 hours without correction, the tenant can end the lease by giving written termination notice. The landlord must return all prepaid rent and the security deposit with interest, and the tenant has 30 days after the 72-hour deadline to vacate.

Two limits apply. Withholding rent and terminating the lease are not available when the heat failure was caused by the utility company’s inability to provide service, rather than the landlord’s nonpayment or neglect, and neither remedy applies if the tenant or someone in the tenant’s household caused the problem.³

Written notice is the anchor for every one of these rights. Email, text, or a letter all work. Keep a copy. Without proof the landlord was notified, defending any of these actions later becomes much harder.

How to File a Heat Complaint With the City

Notify the landlord in writing first. If heat is not restored in a reasonable time, file a complaint through Chicago 311. You can call 311 or submit a request through the city’s 311 portal.⁴ Online, choose “Home and Buildings,” then “Safety” to reach the correct form.

Save the tracking number that comes back with your submission; you will need it to follow up. The Department of Buildings sends an inspector to measure the temperature with calibrated equipment, and a confirmed violation triggers a citation against the landlord.¹

Filing with 311 and using your RLTO remedies are not mutually exclusive. Do both. The 311 complaint drives city enforcement; the RLTO remedies protect your money and housing while the enforcement process runs.

Emergency Warming and Utility Protections

When outdoor temperatures reach 32°F or below, the city opens warming areas at six community service centers from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Libraries and park facilities may open additional warming areas during evenings and weekends when conditions are severe.⁵ Calling 311 after hours connects residents to shelter placement and other services.

From December 1 through March 31, a winter moratorium prevents Peoples Gas from disconnecting residential natural gas service, regardless of whether a customer is behind on payments.⁵

Help Paying Heating Bills

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps Illinois households cover heating costs. For the 2026 program year, eligibility runs off the household’s total gross income over the 30 days before applying. A single person qualifies at or below $3,332 per month; a household of four qualifies at or below $6,407 per month.⁶

Applications are open from October 1, 2025 through August 15, 2026, or until funding runs out. Start at helpillinoisfamilies.com, which routes you to the local agency for your area. For help completing the application, call the state’s LIHEAP call center at 1-833-711-0374. Benefits can go toward gas, electric, and other heating fuel costs, with priority for households whose energy costs make up the largest share of income.⁶

1
City of Chicago. Chicago Heat Ordinance
2
Municipal Code of Chicago. Chicago Municipal Code Title 14X-8-802.2.2 – Heat to Be Provided
3
Municipal Code of Chicago. Chicago Municipal Code 5-12-110 – Tenant Remedies
4
City of Chicago. Chicago Heat Ordinance
5
City of Chicago. Warming Areas
6
Illinois DCEO. LIHEAP Flyer 2025-26