The five years begins to run when the lease expires. A safety deposit box will be presumed abandoned after five years have passed from the “date on which the lease or rental period expired.” Your safety deposit box lease will determine whether the lease expires when the rent payment becomes past due or on another date (for example, after the expiration of a grace period).

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act, 765 ILCS 1025/2(d) [Repealed effective 1/1/18] (“Any funds or other personal property, tangible or intangible, removed from a safe deposit box or any other safekeeping repository or agency or collateral deposit box on which the lease or rental period has expired due to nonpayment of rental charges or other reason, or any surplus amounts arising from the sale thereof pursuant to law, that have been unclaimed by the owner for more than 5 years from the date on which the lease or rental period expired, subject to lien of the holder for reimbursement of costs incurred in the opening of a safe deposit box as determined by the holder's regular schedule of charges.”)