Bill Amendment: IL HB5222 | 2025-2026 | 104th General Assembly

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

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Bill Title: HOTEL PROCEDURE-EVICTION

Status: 2026-04-17 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB5222 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2025-HB5222-House_Amendment_001.html

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Rep. Dave Vella

Filed: 3/19/2026

 

 

 

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AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 5222
AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 5222 by replacing
everything after the enacting clause with the following:
"Section 5. The Code of Civil Procedure is amended by
adding Part 4 to Article IX as follows:
(735 ILCS 5/Art. IX Pt. 4 heading new)
Part 4. Failure to Pay for Lodging
(735 ILCS 5/9-401 new)
Sec. 9-401. Failure to pay for lodging.
(a) As used in this Section:
"Emergency housing program" means any temporary lodging
arrangement paid for directly or indirectly by a federal,
State, or local government agency, including, but not limited
to, emergency shelter, disaster relief, transitional housing,
or prevention programs for the unhoused.

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"Hotel" means any building or buildings maintained,
advertised, and held out to the public to be a place in which
lodging is offered for consideration to travelers and guests.
"Hotel" includes an inn, hotel, motel, tourist home or court,
and lodging house. "Hotel" does not include any facility that
provides emergency shelter or emergency housing to persons who
are unhoused or unsheltered if: (A) a person's admission to
the facility is limited to a single overnight stay or is
renewable on a daily basis and (B) the facility does not
require the payment of any fees by these persons for admission
to the facility. "Hotel" does not include a single-room
occupancy building.
"Lease agreement" means a written or oral agreement
between a hotel and an occupant executed by both parties that
expressly grants a right of residential tenancy under Illinois
law for a fixed or periodic term and specifies rent, term
length, and notice provisions consistent with the Landlord and
Tenant Act.
"Occupant" means any person who, because of the person's
rental, usage, or occupation of a room or unit in a hotel, is
deemed a permanent resident of the hotel.
"Operator" means the owner, manager, or authorized agent
in charge of a hotel.
"Single-room occupancy building" means a residential
building that contains 5 or more single-room occupancy units
in which at least 90% of the units are single-room occupancy

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units.
"Single-room occupancy unit" means a dwelling unit within
a single-room occupancy building that is used or intended to
be used as sleeping quarters or living quarters with or
without cooking facilities, and that contains not more than
one room consisting of not more than 250 square feet of floor
area, excluding from the calculation of floor area any kitchen
having less than 70 square feet of floor area.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in this Section, an
occupant who fails to pay the full amount of lodging charges
for the rental, usage, or occupation of a room or unit in a
hotel when due and who remains on the hotel premises without
the consent of the operator is a trespasser and not a tenant.
Upon written notice to vacate issued by the operator, the
occupant has no lawful right to remain in possession of the
premises and may be removed under subsection (f). Nothing in
this subsection may be construed to affect the rights or
remedies of an occupant who is a tenant under a lease agreement
governed by Illinois landlord-tenant law.
(c) An operator or employee of the operator acting in good
faith and in substantial compliance with this Section is not
civilly or criminally liable for requesting law enforcement
assistance or for the peaceful removal of a nonpaying
occupant.
An operator acts in substantial compliance with this
Section if, before requesting removal, the operator:

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(1) made a reasonable effort to collect payment,
including presenting an itemized invoice or folio;
(2) provided written notice to vacate stating the
reason for termination of occupancy; and
(3) retained written or electronic documentation
showing nonpayment, declined payment authorization, or
unauthorized continued occupancy.
This safe harbor does not extend to acts of willful
misconduct or the unlawful removal of an occupant covered by a
lease agreement or emergency housing program.
(d) This Section does not apply to any occupant placed in a
hotel under a government-funded emergency, disaster relief, or
transitional housing program if:
(1) the cost of lodging is paid for, directly or
indirectly, by a federal, State, or local agency; and
(2) the lodging agreement or agency contract expressly
specifies the occupant's temporary stay and removal
procedures.
These occupants retain only the rights and protections
defined by the applicable government program agreement and are
not tenants unless the agreement expressly creates a
residential tenancy.
(e) Nothing in this Section may be construed to limit,
impair, or abridge the rights of any tenant occupying a hotel
room under a lease agreement. These tenants may be removed
only through judicial proceedings under this Article IX or

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other applicable law and are entitled to all notices,
protections, and legal remedies given to residential tenants.
(f) Upon verification of the operator's documentation
under subsection (c), a peace officer may remove the nonpaying
occupant as a trespasser.
If the occupant refuses to vacate after lawful notice, the
officer may arrest the occupant for criminal trespass to real
property under Section 21-3 of the Criminal Code of 2012.
Nothing in this Section requires law enforcement to
intervene in a lease dispute or a matter in which the
occupant's payment status is genuinely contested.
(g) An operator may pursue civil remedies for unpaid
charges, damages to property, or breach of contract. A tenant
with a lease agreement retains all rights and defenses
available under Illinois law.
(h) The Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board
may adopt model policies and training materials for law
enforcement agencies and operators regarding the application
of this Section.
(i) This Section shall be liberally construed to protect
law-abiding hotel operators from unlawful occupancy and to
preserve the rights of occupants with lease agreements or
government-funded housing placements.
(j) For any occupant who is occupying a room or unit in a
hotel on the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th
General Assembly and who, as of that effective date, has

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failed to pay the full amount of lodging charges when due, the
provisions of subsection (f) authorizing treatment of the
occupant as a trespasser and removal do not apply until 90 days
after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 104th
General Assembly. An operator seeking to remove an occupant
under this Section must provide the occupant with written
notice of the operator's intent to remove the occupant not
less than 30 days before the expiration of that 90-day period.
The notice must state the date on which the 90-day period
expires and that after that date the occupant may be treated as
a trespasser and removed in accordance with this Section if
the full amount due remains unpaid.
(k) A home rule unit may not regulate hotels in a manner
inconsistent with the regulation by the State of hotels under
this Section. This Section is a limitation under subsection
(i) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution on
the concurrent exercise by home rule units of powers and
functions exercised by the State.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect on
January 1, 2027.".