Renting out your house in Naperville: what's actually required

What Naperville does NOT require

• No rental license. There is no licensing program for long-term residential rentals.
• No mandatory registration or inspections. Unlike Aurora's annual-inspection program, city inspectors come only when someone requests it (more below). One footnote: the Finance Department asks landlords to register rental properties — but that's for utility billing, not a rental-license program.
• Crime-Free Multi-Housing is voluntary. Naperville runs the program through its police department, but participation is optional. Worth noting: the city has publicly discussed proposals for mandatory registration or licensing in the past — the rules can change, so this page carries its date.

What IS required: the short list

1. The short-term rental ban. Since September 1, 2020, operating or even advertising a short-term rental anywhere in Naperville city limits is unlawful (Ordinance No. 20-087). The fine is $1,000 per day, rising to $2,500 per day for repeat violations within 12 months. If your plan was Airbnb, Naperville is not your town; standard leases are unaffected.

2. The property maintenance code. Rentals must meet the city's habitability standards, and tenants can request a city inspection directly (Code Enforcement, 630-420-6693). The specifics landlords most often trip on:

• Heat capable of 68°F in all habitable rooms from October 1 to May 1; hot water at 110°F minimum.
• Occupancy limits based on habitable square footage (closets, halls, and most basement areas don't count).
• Exterior upkeep: no peeling paint on wood, structurally sound porches and stairs, foundations free of cracks and holes.
• The everyday rules tenants get cited for become your problem at turnover: grass under 8 inches, sidewalks cleared of snow within 48 hours, trash cans off the curb by 7 p.m. on collection day.

3. Fair housing, including source of income. Naperville's Human Rights and Fair Housing Ordinance bars discrimination on more grounds than federal law — including legal source of income, which covers housing vouchers. Screen on the numbers, applied the same way for every applicant.

4. Boarding rooms are restricted. Renting individual rooms is allowed only in owner-occupied homes — up to two rooms in a single-family house, one in other dwelling types. You can't run a non-owner-occupied house as a room-by-room rental.

5. The utility-deposit catch. Naperville runs its own utilities, and if your tenant skips out on the utility bill, the city holds the property owner liable and can file a lien against the property. Make the utility account transfer part of your move-in checklist, and confirm final bills at move-out.

State law fills in the rest — and it changed in 2024

With no city landlord-tenant ordinance, Illinois law governs deposits and fees in Naperville. The one many landlords haven't caught up with: since January 1, 2024, the Illinois Security Deposit Return Act covers every residential rental — the old five-unit threshold is gone, so single-family rentals are now fully covered. Itemized statement within 30 days, refund within 45, and bad-faith withholding costs double the deposit plus fees. The details are in our Illinois deposit guide and the Illinois deadline page; late-fee rules are on the Illinois late-fee page.

And a boundary note that confuses everyone: Chicago's RLTO and Cook County's RTLO do not reach Naperville — the city sits in DuPage and Will Counties. State law is your rulebook here.

The one-page version

Long-term rental in Naperville: no license, no registration, no city inspection unless requested. Your real obligations are the maintenance code, fair housing (including vouchers), the STR ban, the utility-lien catch, and state deposit/fee law. The paperwork that protects you — the lease dates, the rent record, the deposit clock — is on you to keep. A free RentChime account tracks the lease dates and keeps the rent ledger; the city, refreshingly, mostly leaves you alone.