A Landlord's Guide to Eviction in Illinois

Transcript

Hello, happy New Year. Welcome back to Pink Mic Legal Confessions. I hope you all had a great holiday. Hopefully, you got to see your loved ones and got to enjoy the last part of 2022, but we are now in a new year, so hopefully, we have some good things to tell you that are a little bit different than some of our past materials. So today we're gonna be covering a topic that I think a lot of people are afraid to seek help on. A lot of people like to diy their own evictions, which is what I'm covering today. So, I was hoping that this would be a good topic for people to of feel they can come and trust us and talk with us openly about these types of things. Now, when we talk about evictions, evictions are so complicated. they're just not as easy as it used to be, and I think all my fellow attorneys will agree with that. it used to be so much easier, like you could just, hey, I'm gonna evict this person and you just do it. But now it's very different because now you have to actually go through the motions and it's very technical. There's a lot of stuff that a lot of people don't know. And that's one of the things I wanna talk to you guys about today just to make sure that you are aware. Now, one of the things that I wanted to mention is, in Illinois when we talk about evictions, a landlord filing their own eviction is not all it's cracked up to be. And I'll tell you why. usually, it's never pleasant, right? It's never really glamorous is what I say, because you have to basically come to terms with the fact that you have someone that potentially has violated their lease. they're not really listening to you, not paying you on time, or haven't paid you. They're giving you the runaround. If that sounds like you, that's probably what you're dealing with at the moment, but One of the things I thought would be important to cover about this is that when we talk about landlords and tenants, the best strategy for eviction is knowing the rules and knowing how to deal with everything. The biggest thing is that you have to have some sort of plan. And so I think a lot of times when we think about, strict guidelines for evictions and whatnot, in Illinois, they're a lot more stringent when it comes to wintertime. And so winter just has this funny way of, doing things to the rules. And actually, I would tell you, the judges usually act very differently when it comes to this time. And so I'm having an attorney that you can trust, that can really help you is what we're gonna cover today on Pink Mic legal Confessions. And I'm just experienced in this, I've known this area for many years, but you never see the same kind of tenant or landlord twice. They're very different in nature. And hopefully, you can share this with me today and we can talk through some of the things that you may wanna be running into this year. Keep in mind that, those of you, excuse me, those of you that have said, hey, this is a year to invest in real estate. I wanna be, landlord. I wanna basically live off rents for other people who are giving me passive income. Hey, kudos to you. You could definitely do it. You just have to have a good attorney in your back pocket when it comes to this sort of thing because every so often you have people that just don't comply with what you're saying. So today, like I said, I'm attorney Stephanie Garces Donat, founding partner of Garces Law Firm here in Palatine. And we help individuals, couples, landlords and investors protect their financial future, especially today's topic is evictions. So, we'll talk about that. but let's talk about what's going on here in the winter. So right now, wintertime in Chicago, it's actually mildly warm, which is strange. But those that know Chicago and the weather know that this is a very challenging time when it comes to landlord-tenant law. And so evictions are not actually something that can be done by the sheriff in Cook County if it's under a certain amount of degrees. some of the most challenging times right now is for landlords. So, this is can be a very trying time for them because tenants are behind in rent or they have damaged some property and others having some challenges. tenant protections provide relief and safeguards as well, which can be essential for them as well. So, there's a lot of protections for tenants as well as landlords, but it really depends on the city that you're in and the county. And so, we're gonna cover that today because I always say it really depends where you're at and what you have going for you. So just something to keep in mind. Now, for landlords, evictions may have been a long time coming and I know ironically, everyone now knows the pandemic happened. Now since the pandemic, there's been a lot of changes in the law. There's been a lot of different assistances available to tenants that weren't available before. and landlords are really having a challenging time because they're gonna have to basically figure out what needs to happen quickly to make sure they can address some of the issues that come up. And due to some of these changing laws, basically, landlords and tenants are having a lot of friction in court. I think a lot of attorneys are looking at evictions that they're a little bit more complex than they used to be. And so either case, it's really critical to have, someone in your back pocket to guide you, but also so that you understand how the process works in Illinois. And so, in today's, Pink Mic Legal Confessions episode, my goal is to provide you really an overview, a lay of the land of the eviction process, but also some of the seasonal rules that landlords must legally follow. And no, you cannot kick your tenant to the streets without legally doing it, right? And same with tenants. Tenants, your landlord can't just kick you out because they're mad at you. there has to be a legal process, so it's very important. So today the topic is a landlord's guide to evictions in Illinois. So, let's talk about that a little bit. When we think about rental properties, owners come to me with many questions about evictions. and sometimes they're not always as, dark and upsetting as some of the other tenants and landlords are. A lot of times people have longstanding relationships with their tenants and unfortunately, sometimes people feel as though they don't have any other options, right? Sometimes the tenants has lost their job. there's been times where there were some other issues going on. For example, particularly there was people that just weren't able to make payments on their rents in full because they weren't working the normal hours that people usually work, pre-pandemic. So that's a big thing that came up a lot. Now, today I'm gonna explain evictions in two parts, really. So, the first one is the legal requirements for evicting attendant, known as, for possession or for cause. usually, there has to be a reason why you're bringing in eviction against a tenant. Landlords can't just decide, hey, you know what, I'm upset about this person today, I'm going to make sure that they, get what they deserve. there actually has to be a legal basis for it. And so that's one of the things that's really important. the other thing that's really important is the legal process for evictions. There's so many specific rules and ones that not necessarily are a one size fits all. it really depends on what kind of property you have as to if some certain rules apply to you, what kind of property it is. Sometimes there's like a condo or a single-family home or something like multi-unit buildings. There's different requirements for evicting someone. And also, some other requirements, not just evictions, which we'll probably touch on another topic another day. But security deposits also comes into play, but these are things that are important. In the end, we're gonna have time for some q and a. So, if anyone has any comments, any concerns, questions that go along with our theme today, I'll answer them to the best of my ability. let's dive in right away. So, the first thing I wanna discuss is legal requirements for evicting a tenant. this is actually known as the cause of the lawsuit. So, every time you hear cause of action, as attorneys or in the court of law, they want you to have a cause of action against the tenant. This is the reason why you're bringing what actually allows you to have a claim against the tenant. And usually, in Illinois, this really amounts to a couple of items. So, with evictions, keep in mind that they're very technical, so the law really is gonna cover what you can and cannot do in evictions. one of the rules that always pops up in my mind when we're taking eviction cases if we have a tenant or a landlord, someone that is complaining about certain other things outside of non-payment or violating the lease terms. We usually have to dissect them differently because evictions, at least in Illinois, are very specific to, you either want possession of the property, meaning you wanna be able to take back the property and have the tenant leave or you might want possession and rent. So, any back-owed rent you may also put into your eviction. So, it really depends on what your goal is and what the circumstances are. But usually, that is some of the terms that people use when bringing an eviction. Violating the lease terms. So, if there's an actual lease in place and the tenant has violated the terms and perhaps they haven't really complied with fixing the violation of those terms or perhaps repeatedly doing it, that is something that is grounds for bringing an eviction, particularly when it comes to nonpayment is really the way you see it the most times. So, it could be an X number of days, actually, I would say more often than not people are past due rent by a month or two before people actually go and seek an eviction. Now, one of my biggest pieces of advice when it comes to evictions is do not wait. That is the number one rule that I tell all my clients because time is money. And with evictions, that exactly is the case every single time. So, there's people that come to us that have been, not getting the rent in full for several months. That's also grounds for not full payment. So, there's certain things that you may consider as you're thinking about evictions because there's really no way for you to recuperate that money unless you actually reach an agreement with the tenant. Maybe they're willing to pay you or if they're not willing to pay you or for some reason just aren't able to make rent, then you may have to legally have to be before a judge and actually bring a case before the court of law to make sure that you can get paid, but also that you can, get possession from that tenant. Many times, people will ask me, is there a way to keep the tenant from, staying there forever. yes, you'd have to act. So that is the number one rule there. Like I said, don't wait. You don't wanna wait. Also, there's some other things that come up sometimes with regards to evictions. For example, if there's any illegal activity going on, something has been violated, whether they've damaged something and you're having them leave, or if there's some criminal activity that's happened. There's other grounds for doing an eviction not as common, but certainly, still, one of the rights that is needed to go and pursue a cause of action. so, it's just one of those terms and things like that that come into play. Another thing that comes up a lot is the second part of the eviction is the legal process, specifically in Illinois when it comes to the season. So, I always say depending on the season, we might have a reason to wait or not wait. and so sometimes when in Illinois, specifically Chicago, when it's under a certain degree, in temperature, Usually, the sheriff will not be able to actually evict someone out of the property. And why is that? It's the humane reason, right? They can't actually kick people to the curb and ask them to vacate if there is chilling temperatures below freezing many times in Chicago. So that is not necessarily something that comes up every time, but it's definitely something to consider. which is why I always tell clients you don't wanna wait till the winter months because you really have. really little, options to make it move quickly. now depending on the county, that is very specific to the county. There's other counties outside of Cook County in our surrounding suburbs for Chicagoland that have a lot more of a different approach when it comes to that. And they may or may not be flexible when it comes to that. But just something to keep in mind because I think a lot of times, it really depends on where you're at and where your building is at. So just something to keep in mind when it comes to those items. the other thing too is there's obviously a formal process for evicting someone. It's not just having to say, Hey, here's the lawsuit. See you in court. You would think it's that easy, but like I told you before, evictions are so incredibly technical. You actually have to give a notice of termination. basically, it's a five-day notice. Many times, you hear that word a lot. Five-day notice to pay rent, to vacate. there's a 10-day notice sometimes depending on what the contract says, or the lease says, or many times too it depends on the amount of time they've been there. it's not always a five-day notice every single time. It really depends on how much time the person has been with you. whether or not they are an actual tenant, or maybe they're a squatter. We've seen those before. Needless to say, the notice of having to get someone out and notifying them to pay you or to leave is actually a formality that needs to take place. So that is something that is highly recommended if you are doing an eviction, and like I said, everything is technical when it comes to that, so I wouldn't never recommend that you DIY, which is do it yourself, took the lawsuit because every time that we get ones that are, they always end up in a place where it's really hard to undo what's been done, especially if it was done incorrectly. So that's why I mentioned that because a lot of people can try to do it themselves, but if you get it wrong or you left something out, then that could be really detrimental to the outcome of your case. Another thing is there could be a notice of termination without cause, which basically is like saying this person has a month-to-month rental agreement, now I'm asking them to leave by a certain date. And so there's a different timeline for that. It could be 30 days, 90 days, 60 days, depending on the lease, depending on a couple of other terms. There's also fixed-term leases where you've only been there for X amount, for example, sometimes people will say, okay, I'm gonna rent for six months and six months only. So, you do have to be careful with how you're actually asking the tenant to vacate formally because we don't actually know what the law would be that applies unless we actually examine what's been placed, what are the terms of the agreement over the rental and also a number of things as to why you're seeking to evict them. So, all of those provisions really come into play when we're evicting somebody or we're having to advise a landlord how to evict, how they should do it, how should they go about doing it legally without getting in trouble. That is something to always be concerned about because then again, we're just the counselors, we don't have to actually say, the tenant in court. We're actually just representing you, so we're always going to advise you to the best of our abilities. But just FYI, for the landlords out there, if you hire us, it's because we're gonna be speaking for you and guiding you. But ultimately, it is best to have the attorney do most of the work. So, like I mentioned before, there's also some tenants’ rights. Obviously, tenants have rights, especially in Cook County. Chicago specifically more so than some other areas. But tenant defenses do exist. Tenants do have rights. They are people that you cannot just say, Hey, I'm mad at you. You need to leave tomorrow and here're your bags. I'm gonna change the locks. That's completely not okay. And you will actually be in bad shape if you do something like that to a tenant. So just keep that in mind. Tenants do have defenses. Tenants are not just people that, oh, they pay your rent every time. Yes. But your tenants, treat them nicely is what I always say, because tenants do have rights when it comes to fighting an eviction. So, if for some reason there's a technical aspect to your lawsuit that was done incorrectly, I see this a lot with individuals that like try to do their own evictions in court. If the paperwork or something wasn't technically done correctly and the steps were missed along the way, the tenant can essentially have a defense to knock the case out of court. And now you have no case at all. So, there's very very specific rules when it comes to that sort of thing. That's why it's important to understand that tenants do have defenses and a lot of times we also see Service. If the service was done incorrectly, then you have to serve someone a certain way when it comes to evictions. So that's something else that comes up a lot. And these are just little defenses that come up along the way that we really try to advise our tenants and landlords to make sure that they are up to date in what's going on, what they're supposed to do, what they're not supposed to do. There's so many rules, and I swear every year there's more and more. so that's just something to keep in mind. Now, like I mentioned before, there has to be a formal removal of a tenant. You can't just say, hey, you know what? I've changed the locks and I've rented it out down the street to someone else. Can't do that. You're not allowed to evict someone on your own terms no matter how upset they make you or anything like that. We always call this, oh, I think it's taking it into your own hands, this is not something I would recommend. Cuz again, tenants have rights and there is plenty of attorneys that do take those cases and organizations that do help tenants in that realm. So, you definitely don't wanna do that. It's not beneficial, but still, just the eviction is a formal legal process that tenants and landlords have to go through to make everything legal when it comes to trying to get control over a property again and getting paid. Also, when it comes to that topic, there are overturned evictions they call 'em, so evictions that basically are overturned by the court. Why? Because the eviction process was not followed. Formally, the judge has to rule and say, you know what? Your eviction was done improperly. And for that reason, you know, you're out. If anyone watches Shark Tank, that's a reference, but like I was telling you, essentially one of those things is the eviction is a formal process, legal process. If you do it incorrectly, it's considered an illegal eviction, which really does hurt someone's case, and it actually is very counterproductive. I feel like if you're a landlord and you're watching this and you're thinking, I could do it myself, I've done it in the past, blah, blah, blah, blah, you might, just takes one person, just one person to actually figure out that you did it incorrectly and then your really whole case gets dismantled. So not something I would recommend. I also don't think it's wise, but hey, I'm just here to tell you about that. it's really up to you, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. Now if you're just joining us, I wanna do a quick recap on what we're talking about today. Like I mentioned to you, my name is attorney Stephanie Garces Donat. I'm the owner of Garces Law Firm here in Palatine, where we actually help individuals protect their financial futures and really try to give people options in real estate and estate planning and eviction matters. And today's topic is for my property rental owners that are renting other properties to tenants and are actually landlords or investors or even potential investors, when you feel like you're out of options or you're contemplating eviction because specifically someone hasn't paid or isn't following some of the protocol that you've put in place, that is something that you wanna come and see us for because it's not wise to just sit back and wait around hoping things change. That's just not a good plan. But like I said, we're covering today a landlord's guide to evictions in Illinois. And we always welcome you to join us here on Tuesdays at one o'clock Central time is we share some tips, knowledgeable pieces of information, guidance to parents, investors, guardians. We really change the topics up. Whatever makes sense to you, you can always check back at our YouTube channel and subscribe there, which we have different videos to cover some of these topics. But now I know many of you have questions about some of the stuff that I've covered, and I just wanna make sure that we tackle some of those today because it's important for us to take the time to really address your concerns or perhaps even something that you specifically are going through or know somebody who does have those issues. It's something that we can assist with. so, one of the questions that we've gotten, as we're sitting here is, when is the best time to engage a lawyer to evict a tenant? That is such a great question. Thank you for asking that. Because when you think about the timing, eviction really is one of the areas of the law that I know you probably have heard this a thousand times throughout my podcast, but just in general, there's no better time than the present because in eviction, literally time is money. As I mentioned before, we are in the winter months right now. So, the longer you wait, the longer it will take. And keep in mind that the pandemic just took place. And arguably there's still a lot of results or consequences that have come from that for landlords and tenants. But there's a lot of people in the eviction and the housing courts, and so waiting is never a good plan. You should always engage someone as soon as a tenant hasn't really been able to come to terms with you, whether that's making payments to you in full, not half the month now and half the month in six months. That's not in full. I have to say that because many people will accept less. If your tenant hasn't been paying you in full, if they violated the terms of your lease, if they haven't come to terms with some of the things you've asked them to do, that's a good time to engage a lawyer, and keep in mind that we're never going to guide you the wrong way. It's probably always good to move quickly. So that's the answer to that one. Another question that we got is, do I have to go to court to evict someone? That is a great question because the answer is, it depends. Now, if you hire an attorney, you don't have to come to court, at least initially. Many times, we can step up to court for you. We have all conversations with the tenant directly so that you don't have to deal with that awkward exchange of messages or conversations. I know,a lot of clients that we've represented in the past actually live in the building with their tenant that hasn't paid them. So, I can imagine how awkward and uncomfortable that could be. So just keep in mind that you don't have to deal with that. We actually do most of that. The only time that really we ask the landlord and the tenant to be present in court is when the judge orders a trial. Sometimes there's a formal trial that needs to take place. Which we take the trial in front of the judge, and we do the trial to make sure that we can actually get a favorable result for you at that point. That's where we usually need you as a tenant or the landlord because the landlords typically are the person that are bringing the cause of action, so we definitely need them then. But typically, for the majority, no, they don't have to actually go to court every time. We go for you, which is nice. Another question that I get is, how can I prove that there's property damage inside of a home if they won't let me in. That is such a good question. Property damage is very tricky. Did you know, actually, just as an FYI, many times in Illinois the law says that if you wanna seek a property damage case, for example, someone really damaged your property because they're mad at you or whatever the case may be, that you actually have to seek a separate cause of action many times. So, there's some judges that will say, you know what, this is not for property damage. It's actually another type of case. But the point being is, having to prove what's there most times the best thing to do is when you do sometimes, you have to give notice to your tenant that you're coming in to see the property. That's typically what I would recommend because there is no way to really know if there's damage without you taking pictures of it and seeing it for yourself. we always recommend that you give your tenant sufficient time and notice that you're coming to see them. I wouldn't just show up unannounced. But I also think having video or pictures and having someone with you to join you during that inspection if you will, is really important. And I also think keeping receipts, any work that you do, because of damage is really key. So that's the way you can prove that there's been damage, to the unit or the property because, without that, any pictures and videos, it's hard to say when the damage occurred, who was the tenant when it occurred? So, there's things like that you could do to protect yourselves. That's a great question. Another question that we get a lot is, family members of the tenant are living in the residence. They're not a leasee, they're not part of the contract. And what are their rights? I like this question a lot because, in evictions like I mentioned before, it's very technical. luckily, they do have rights. I mean, people have rights. Now it depends on the circumstances because if we're saying generally this person lives there and there's other family members that permanently live there, then yes, they have rights. You also can't just evict them and say, hey, you know what, I'm evicting you today cuz you're not on the lease. Everything is technical like I mentioned, so you wouldn't think that they have rights, but they certainly do. And the good news though is that if you work with an attorney that knows what they're doing with evictions, there is a way to actually put the paperwork together so that when and if you have to actually evict them, that they're included in that. That's why I was mentioning it's really good to have everything in order to make sure that there is no gaps in the lawsuit because that's really where you run into problems with people that are not in the lease if they were never included to begin with. So that is a great question. Another question that's really popular in the eviction world, specifically when it comes to like costs and stuff like that. I'm starting to remember that a lot of times people will think, you know what, how do I go about court cause and how are they associated with an eviction case? That's a great question because when we think about evictions, it's so important to think about what is in the actual lease. So, a lot of times people don't have leases. So, court costs associated with this is a range, but I'll talk about that in one second. I just wanna make sure people understand that court costs are something you can sometimes ask the tenants to pay, depending on what's in the lease. That is something that is really important for people to know. There is a way to do that. Now, when it comes to what court costs are associated, well, there's usually a couple of costs. First, obviously the attorneys. Our work is usually one of the obvious costs. But the other costs that come up a lot are in regards to having to serve the tenant. You have to serve them with the lawsuit to make sure that they're actually served and properly notified that there's a lawsuit taking place. So, when that happens, there's a cost to that whether you have to pay the sheriff for their services, or sometimes you have to hire what's called a special process server. And so many people see that in like movies where you go and you get off an airplane and they hand you the lawsuit or they pretend to be a FedEx person, they hand you the lawsuit. So just an example, but that's typically also a cost. So, depending on the realm of what avenue you take, what service, there's a cost there. And also, to file the case there's also fees associated with that. So, there are fees associated with it, but like I said, depending on the lease that you have in place, which hopefully you have one in place, but if you don't, not the end of the world. It's just better if you do. But there is a way to incorporate the court costs if you actually have a favorable outcome with your eviction. So that's just something to keep in mind. Now, another question that we get every so often is, will the police come and help me evict the tenant? That is a great question because I think it's really easy to think that the police are just gonna come and evict them immediately. So, the answer, the immediate answer is, will the police help you initially? No. They're gonna tell you to go and do a civil action against them, which is what this whole podcast topic is about today. But let's pretend you actually went through with that, and you actually end up winning your case and we get what's called an order for eviction or something like that. Depending on the case, usually the order will say, okay, tenant has to be out by February 1st, and if they're not, then you know, we could have the sheriff get involved. So typically, at that point, that is when the police gets involved. It's the sheriff typically, they would go and help and evict the tenant, assuming the tenant hasn't left after the court order told them to leave on the first, for example. Usually, the police get involved when you have to enforce an eviction, which is, you'll hear the word enforcement a lot, which is basically saying that the police has to basically follow through with what the judge ordered. So that is typically when the police do get involved and they're very helpful when it comes to removing the tenant because it's a formal process. You don't have to feel like, oh my gosh, I'm all by myself after this eviction. So, there is some sort of ramifications to that extent. So that is a great question when it comes to that. So, another question that we get is how much do we charge for consultations when it comes to evictions? They're actually free. We do free consultations when it comes to evictions, there is no cost at all. We just want you to leave feeling empowered and hopefully with a decision to hire us to help you do your eviction. Because like I said, it's not something you wanna do on your own. It's not recommended. There's just too much nuances and changes in the law at all times with this area that would really be detrimental if you were to try to do it on your own. And it does help sometimes for us to really understand how to avoid these things. So, we usually not just consult you through the eviction, but we also help you guide how do we make this better for next time. A lot of people that come to see me don't have leases. A lot of people that come to see us don't even have so much as a way to should say control how the rent's coming in, how it's collected, who's paying for it, who's in the lease, who should it be included. There's a lot of gaps missing and a lot of people. And so, if this is you, do not feel bad. I think a lot of consumers are actually great landlords, have the potential to do great and invest in a lot of properties. But hey, you always have to know the rules and you have to make sure that you're willing to abide by them, but also make sure you have everything in place to be able to avoid having to be dealing with a lot of evictions. So just keep that in mind as we're cruising through some of these podcasts because you never wanna feel like you can't reach out to someone. It's always worth working with someone, especially when it comes to your investment properties for many reasons, especially evictions more than anything. Let's see, what else? The only other thing, I don't know if anyone else has any questions, but I appreciate everybody who's watching. I do appreciate you guys watching because a lot of times I think we're afraid to like, go down a rabbit hole and Google and try to figure out the answers to these things, but I can't stress enough that evictions is something that you definitely need help with. And we're here for all our investor clients, landlords, anyone that's interested in doing this sort of work. It's not just about collecting the rent, it's also knowing the rules and having a guide to the eviction process, especially in Illinois. So, if you wanna contact me, you can contact me at the information you see below at the screen where you can always contact us via text or email. We do speak Spanish fluently, so we do offer both languages in case anyone is needing services in Español. We do speak Spanish, which we're very excited to always provide to clients so that people feel like they can actually communicate with some of the things that they need. As I always say, I always thank you guys so much for watching. It's really a pleasure to be back in the new year. We're gonna have really good topics, new stuff that perhaps you may have to go down YouTube to find, but luckily if you're friends with me on Facebook or you follow us, I'll be here and I'll just provide it to you for free. So, like I always mention, evictions are never easy and you never wanna feel like you're alone when you're doing them. So, I hope in today's session you took away something that you didn't know, and hopefully it's provided some property owners some sort of guidance and tips and information that they really need to know, especially how to proceed with some of these difficult situations in Chicago, in Illinois, especially in the winter months, but also with the ever-changing areas of the law that keep growing, and especially in light of the pandemic. Things have been a lot harder than they used to be. So, you're welcome to contact my office for any rental needs, investment property questions with regards to tenants, or putting some stuff in place for you so there is any issues. But like I said, I always invite you guys here to watch us on Pink Mic Legal Confessions, same place, same time. So, thank you very much. Stay well and take care.