In an Illinois “joint action” forcible entry and detainer case (ie. an eviction lawsuit asking for both rent due and possession), plaintiffs can plead for and judges routinely award plaintiffs a judgment against defendants for pro rata rent through the day of the eviction trial. Governor Quinn just signed into law HB 1209. The bill, effective as of January 1, 2012, allows a landlord plaintiff to include in an eviction complaint a request for the pro rata amount of rent due for any period that a judgment for possession is stayed. So, what does this mean?
Eviction
Cook County Illinois best case scenario Chicago eviction timeline
When I talk to landlords about the Illinois eviction process, one of their first questions is “how long”? The easy answer is as follows: long. I wish that were not the case, but it is the truth. The process is not as fast, convenient, or easy as any landlord would like it to be. I thought it might be instructive to demonstrate the timeline for a Cook County Illinois eviction using the example of a nonpaying Chicago tenant.
Cook County Sheriff changes eviction procedure
NOTE: The form below is NOT the current form. Please see here. Landlords placing an eviction with the Cook County Sheriff have a new form to fill out when they place their eviction for execution by the Sheriff. The form is informational in nature and must be presented to the Sheriff’s office at the same time the eviction fee is paid and the order is placed. In my opinion, this form (which can be found after the jump) is much improved from previous versions.
Roommate, guest, and family member evictions in Illinois
What happens when good roommates go bad? What happens when boyfriend and girlfriend break up? What happens when a guest overstays its welcome? What happens when children grow up to be jobless adults? What happens when the people who live with these people or have control over the property they occupy want them to move out? I regularly receive calls related to family, guest, and roommate evictions. The people who call me are regularly surprised to find out that they do not have a right to just change the locks on the child or to call the police and have the roommate arrested for trespass. (Here’s a refresher on this article)
“But the roommate is my ex-girlfriend and she never signed a lease” a caller protests.
Do you need an attorney to file an eviction?
In Illinois, can a “non-attorney” get involved in the eviction process? Is the assistance of a lawyer necessary to file a forcible entry and detainer suit? In most cases, a non-attorney landlord may represent himself or herself without an attorney. There are a few exceptions. In most instances, Corporations and LLCs must be represented in court by an attorney.
Cash for keys: the Illinois landlord’s dirty secret
Not every Illinois landlord or tenant has heard of “cash for keys” but, chances are, if they hang around the rental markets long enough, they will… or should. Cash for keys is an alternative to the eviction process. It works like this: a landlord offers some amount of cash to a tenant the landlord would otherwise want to evict in exchange for the tenant’s return to the landlord of an empty rental unit and the keys to that unit. It’s that easy.
Cook County Sheriff eviction information letter
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the procedures at the Cook County Sheriff for enforcing court entered residential eviction orders. In that article, I indicated that a few weeks after paying the Sheriff the eviction service fee, his office would send a letter in the mail with the district number and sheriff’s number on it. (UPDATE: you can also learn the Sheriff’s district by taking the last three digits of the zip code of the property address to be evicted). From there, a lessor must check the Sheriff’s website daily to match up the numbers to find out when the eviction will take place. I wanted to show what that letter currently looks like (after the jump).
Length of time for the Cook County Illinois eviction process
How long does it take to remove a tenant in a Cook County forcible entry and detainer case?
Landlord tenant disputes and evictions come in all shapes and sizes. In the end, there are only two legal ways for a landlord to get possession of rental property back from a tenant: (1) turnover of actual possession by the tenant or (2) an eviction order from a judge (known as an order for possession) executed (aka enforced) by the county Sheriff. If the tenant cannot be persuaded to turn over possession and the landlord has grounds for eviction, the landlord’s only remedy is to take the tenant to court. So how long does the court process take?
Brrr…. cold weather gives tenants a reprieve
The Cook County Sheriff is indicating today that because of the cold weather, evictions for today are canceled and will be rescheduled. There is no word on tomorrow’s schedule yet, but chances are, until this cold front is gone, expect that the Sheriff will be unable to get out to remove tenants.
Cook County Sheriff’s Eviction Procedure
See this post for an UPDATE (September 2018). After the stay on an eviction order expires, what happens next? In Cook County, a prevailing plaintiff landlord with an eviction order is allowed to “place” the eviction order for possession with the Eviction Office of the Cook County Sheriff for civil processing. Basically, this means that two certified copies and two additional copies of the court order (obtained from the Clerk of the Circuit Court) are brought to the Sheriff’s office, a fee is paid, an “eviction disclosure form” is filled out and filed, and the eviction gets in line with the rest of the evictions waiting to be processed by the Sheriff. As of January, 2011, the Sheriff’s fee is $60.50.