25 thoughts on “Quick note: Cook County Sheriff speed”

    • Yes – from the time the order is placed with the Sheriff, it is taking about 4 weeks right now (remember, your mileage may vary and this is dependent on a number of factors: volume of cases, weather conditions, tenant issues such as being elderly, disabled, or having children, etc.)

        • As I understand it, in those cases, the Sheriff uses the information to try to bring in social service agencies who can assist the occupants in their move.

  1. Is the eviction process and time the same for a forclosed home that was sold to the bank at auction? Thank you for any help you can give me!

    • I do not practice in the area of foreclosure law. Within a foreclosure, the process for obtaining an order for possession is different than in the forcible entry courts. There are many laws that make a foreclosure different from a “standard” tenant eviction and procedural differences will be very fact specific. I don’t know all of your facts and (obviously) we are not engaged to represent you at this time. You should consult an attorney in short order to learn your rights.

  2. If the tenants failed to move out on the court assigned date and I have an order of possession starting the day after, can I just go ahead and change the locks when the tenants step out to keep them out until the sheriff finally gets around to formally evicting them?

    • I don’t know all of the facts of your case and we are not engaged to represent you, so I will speak in generalities. I want to be very clear on this though – an Illinois residential landlord can ABSOLUTELY NOT lock out a tenant.

      There are two ways a landlord can get possession back from a tenant. 1) If the tenant voluntarily turns over possession or 2) through the enforcement by the County Sheriff of an Order for Possession from the circuit court.

      Only after the Sheriff comes out and enforces the eviction order may a landlord change locks.

  3. Thanks Richard for your quick response and clearing that up for me. Do you have any idea as to the current amount of time it is taking the sheriffs to enforce evictions?

    • He seems to be running about four weeks, but that is only a rough estimate. Your experience may vary.

  4. My boyfriend and I have lived in a house purchased under only my name for 9 years. No lease or other written agreement re his residency there. The relationship has ended, and he is refusing to move out. He has no bank accounts and no income, and I pay all expenses. Do I have to treat this as a month-to-month tenant eviction (30-day notice), or could I site him for non-payment of rent and go with a non-payment of rent (5-day notice)?

    • You have a situation that may require a few more facts. Has the boyfriend ever paid rent? Contributed to the purchase of the house? Paid for expenses? Facts like those could have a bearing on the situation. Can an oral lease be proven? If a landlord cannot prove that the occupant has a lease, then the occupant likely only has a tenancy. The proper way to terminate a tenancy is usually with a 30 day notice.

      I don’t know enough about your situation to provide legal advice. If you are interested in discussing this matter, please feel free to give us a call. Always engage and consult an attorney before acting.

  5. Also I went to the curent schedule for evictions and for like two or three days it’s been showing “Mortgage Foreclosure Postings Only”, how do they schedule those in?
    Do they do “Mortgage Foreclosure Postings Only” for a week and then back to non foreclosure evictions?

    • I don’t know what the timing is, but they do mortgage postings every now and then. During that time, they don’t do “regular” tenant evictions.

  6. after a order of eviction is enter does the landlord have to go and file and pay a fee for the sheriff to come out and if so does it take 4-6 weeks from that time to come out or what time frame are they on at this time. to evict a tenent from there home and are there anytimes that they do not do eviction base on weather or time of year in chicago,il

  7. I just (12/15/2012) received a letter in the mail from the mail. from the sheriff’s stating “Finial Notice” and the letter was dated for the 7th of Dec 2012. The cane after the landlord and I talked and made a verbal agreement that if I get him the money or of part of it with a payment plan that this action would not be taken. This has been about two weeks ago. We have been communicating but I still received this notice. Will I get one on my door before they come out or is there something more I can do.
    How much time will I have before they come out?

    • Kim, as you probably know from our blog, we don’t usually represent tenants. We do take the eviction of a tenant very seriously though. You should contact a tenant’s rights attorney to assist you. Generally, the Sheriff sends a note to the tenant and then might come out at any time thereafter. If you have some other deal with the landlord, the Sheriff will most certainly not know about it. Act quickly so you don’t lose your rights.

  8. From a landlord that too cant wait to get out of Chicago landlording
    If there are so many eviction s and so few sheriffs, the sheriffs office should be hiring hundreds to accommodate the already violated system that is against ( we the landlords) Once we get possession we should have our apartment back with in a reasonable time and 4 to 12 weeks does not seem reasonable to ANY LANDLORD , I as a landlord would not feel as abused by the system if the city of Chicago would at least reduce the taxes we owners must continue to pay on the apartment s that r in the eviction courts . we still have to pay on the units
    that are not bring in income. In the bible they would cut down the trees that were not producing any fruit so they would not have to pay taxes on that tree.
    Same here the landlord always losses and the evicted tenant has hit the lotto by not paying any rent for 4 to 6 months Steal a candy bar and you can b arrested for the thief of 1.50 but steal thousands by not paying the rent monies and you don’t even have to go to court as a thief , I AM TOTALLY SHOCKED THAT ANYONE IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO PAYS ANY RENT EVER!
    I understand the eviction system is to keep the attorneys and judges working but really do the landlords have the deepest pockets < (Really!!! ) my mother in-law has a 3 bedroom and has never rented it out due to my telling her about the eviction laws in Chicago , In Wisconsin 30 days and the tenant is out .
    Most owners or landlords are small apartment building owners , work and maintain their building after they work just to pay their taxes water insurance repairs so on.
    Also, if you rent to a tenant and they bring in a drug dealer or another tenant that not on the lease (not a tenant ) BINGO the court system wins again time to go to court more attorneys fee s and so on, . you as the landlord are the one punished the city will l /can come after you, for the drugs because u cannot get them arrested or evicted any quicker and they the tenant can throw garbage in the hall
    , make noise brake windows of other tenant s and so on but U can just sit there waiting for the system to ensure the rights of the party that has not payed rent in 3 months I NEVER HAVE ANY PITY FOR AN EVICTED PERSON 3 to 5 months is long enough to find a friend or family to move in with and don't forget you the landlord get to move their stuff out of the building and leave in on your lawn for 24 hours TOO. Tenant get free attorney fees but we get to pay for them at 200 to 300 per hour I feel that once we get possession the owner should get a judgement and an agreement that day for the tenant to start making payment s to you for that eviction judgment. That wont happen you need to file another case do all the same over again and of course get an attorney , am i right landlords my email is XXXX@XXXXX.com if you have any good ideas or have a group that will help get the laws changed or at least get on a list of all the tenants that have been evicted the best place i have found is The clerk of the circuit court and its free.

    • I agree that the laws are unfair and the process is too slow. I disagree that the system is “to keep attorneys and judges working”. That is flat out not correct.

      • The comment I made about sheriffs and the process , about how long it takes to get a tenant out of our property is the comment . The city or state should hire 100 s of sheriffs if they cant get the evicted tenants out in a week
        the comment about the lawyers and judges was just part of the problem not the important part .
        How can we landlords get this eviction process going , should take only 1 month not 3 to 6 this is thief and very unfair to landlords , thats the court system
        then we have the sheriffs office another abuse
        to we landlords
        Why not hire 100 new sheriffs to get the job done come on are you one that can help or are you one that can tell us the landlord what is happening in the courts , i already know what happens its theft by tenant , court system city state and so one. thanks for your time and if you know of someone that can change the system thats where i want to be thanks for your time.

  9. Hello was given an order of possession by an honorable circuit court judge for the date of possession to the slum..err,landlord that owns my buildings and countless others in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood…heat wasnt on during the cold cold month of November to which the reply was ‘having the boilers checked’ – so I withheld rent and we went to court-basically i won-order of possesion was in March-the very gracious jusge in the case assured me it would be sometime in May as part of the agreement-btw-brother long line of family civil servants with cook county, brother died as a sherriff in the 80’s…received a letter form Tom Dart today saying ‘Final Notice’
    Any info on how much time i have left if appreciated.

    -Lakeview

    • Not much. You should contact a tenant’s rights attorney to better know your rights in this situation.

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