Evictions in Cook County are never fun and are never fast - just ask any landlord. Until this year, the Sheriff typically enforced a court order for possession in about three weeks. Currently, the timeframe for removing a tenant in Cook County is more like six to ten weeks. Within the last few months, I have had the unfortunate opportunity to witness some serious delays in the enforcement of orders for possession by the Sheriff of Cook County.
In at least two cases, my clients have reported that despite thier presence to meet and "greet" the Sheriff (Having a "greeter" on behalf of the landlord is a requirement of the Sheriff in the enforcement of the order for possession obtained in an eviction order), the Sheriff did not appear to enforce the order. Upon checking into the situation, in both cases, the Sheriff indicated that he was present to enforce the orders and no one was at the property to meet him, so the evictions were called off. That means we need to pay an additional fee and get back at the end of the line. To add insult to injury, the landlords took time from work and were present at the property all day! It is possible that the Sheriff is telling the truth (ie. the landlord was present and the sheriff was present and they were unable to recognize each other). Unfortunately, there is no way to coordinate this process with the Sheriff. The Sheriff's eviction desk is of no help (they can tell you what happened the day after it happens, but they do not coordinate "just in time evictions"), so the system is, at best, handicapped.
In another recent case, the Sheriff called to indicated he would be out to evict the tenant "tomorrow". On the morning of that expected eviction, the Sheriff called my office to tell me that the eviction was cancelled and that the Sheriff would handle the eviction "tomorrow". After spending half a day at the building on the prior date, my client sat at the property on the new eviction date from 8am to 2pm (the time period provided by the Sheriff). The Sheriff never appeared. As one would expect, the landlord was fairly upset. When I followed up with the Sheriff's office the next day, they indicated that they were unable to make all of the evictions scheduled that day and that they would reschedule it "some time in the future". The Sheriff had no further information. Unfortunately, a short time after the two failed dates, the eviction order became "stale" (too much time had elapsed between the entry of the order and enforcement). The expiration was, in large part, due to the fact that the Sheriff failed to enforce the order in a timely fashion. I must admit that the tenant added some time with some fairly frivilous motions to extend their stay. As a result, the landlord had to motion the court to extend the court order, give notice to the tenant (adding to the landlord's expense in attorney fees and costs and providing yet another opportunity for the tenant to delay or stall the process) and the order could then be re-placed with the Sheriff (and we would get back in line at the beginning to wait again).
Luckily for us, the tenant got tired of waiting for her things to be thrown on the street and decided to leave on her own.
The current delays for the enforcement of an eviction are akin to those that occur in the winter months as a result of inclement weather and the Holiday moratoreum (extremely long). I don't fault the Sheriff for this as I suspect that the volume of evictions is overwealming considering the state of the economy.
As of July 19, 2007, the Sheriff has implemented a new procedure, I suspect, to increase the number of evictions that can be performed in a day and to reduce the current backlog of evictions. Prior to the new procedure, the Sheriff actually moved the tenant's property from an apartment as part of the eviction.
Effective August 06, 2007 the Cook County Sheriff’s Office will no longer arrange moving services for evictions. Landlords are now responsible for making arrangements to have the tenant's personal property removed from the real property after the Sheriff has enforced the Order for Possession and tendered possession of the real property to the plaintiff. In conjunction with the change, the cost of an eviction has decreased from a deposite of $225 to $60.
Despite my hope that the new rule will reduce the long wait for Sheriff enforcement, I suspect that landlords will now face a slew of new problems relating to the actual eviction of their tenants.
Two problems come to mind immediately.
First, the landord will have to deal with the problem of actualling moving the property. Likely, this will require the landlord to employ a professional moving company or some form of paid movers. I assume that the professionals will charge a greater amount than the Sheriff had charged, thereby increasing the landlord's eviction costs. The landlord will also have to determine when and where to actually remove the property. Should the landlord wait 24 hours? Should the landlord do it immediately? Should the landlord store the property and give the tenant an opportunity to retrieve the property? Should the landlord move the property to the curb or ally? A spokesman for the Sheriff recently indicated that once the eviction is processed by a Sheriff's officer, the landlord is free to move the property to the curb or ally regardless of weather conditions or other circumstances.
Second, landlords may have to deal with the recently dispossessed tenant's claims of property damage or theft by the landlords. It is easy for a tenant to claim that he or she had an expensive television and lots of cash among the tenant's possessions and can claim that the landlord stole those items or broke them while transporting them to the curb. Because the Sheriff will not be present, tenants and landlords could be prone to physical confrontation over the tenant's personal property.
I don't know how these issues will shake out, but I am certain that until some procedure is formalized, landlords and tenants will get into further disputes.
6 comments:
It is amazing that tenants are alowed to cheat one landlord after another. There really should be a rap sheet for previous offenses when these individuals get to court. Some of these people continually play the system. They are habitual They get away with it and the hard working individuals suffer.
My husband & I are first time landlords, only because we could not sell our first home and make money before we moved. We currently have a deadbeat tenant, who has now not paid for 4 months! We went to court & the judge gave her 2 weeks; she asked for 30 days & he said no. The day she was supposed to leave, she filed a motion for an extention, with the court date being a month from the one in which the eviction was granted! She is NOT looking for places, has repeatedly told us & a neighbor that she "likes" it there & wants to stay.
All this after we hooked her up with a charity to furnish the entire house because she moved in with 3 air mattresses (she has 2 school age kids). However, she proceeded to leave the donated bedding in the bags & go buy more, along with a host of things, like a Wii game station! We don't even have one! I wanted to get US one for Christmas, by my husband & I couldn't even exchange gifts this year because of this deadbeat.
In addition, the lease clearly states she is to put utilities in her name; naturally, she didn't for the first couple months, 'til we told her we had them scheduled to be turned off. Her first rent check bounced & she got later every month until she stopped paying all together (conveniently in November)! The judge is refusing to grant us the late fees that are (a) LEGAL & (b) in the lease!
Lastly, when I filed for forcible entry, I WISH it were only 6 weeks! They told me 10-12 weeks! She can stay another 3 months rent free while we default on the loan!
To a previous poster: the laws are not skewed toward the renters because all landlords are "big, bad, rich landlords," they're skewed because there is a plethora of groups & lawyers who will support & defend these deadbeats, while small landlords, such as we are, cannot find a pro bono lawyer to save our souls! It's a matter of the renters' supporters being the squeakier wheel, that's all!
Maureen's experiences are mine...ditto. First time landlord, deadbeat tenants, Cindy Mckay and family of 5 rented my beautiful property and pre-paid three months on 6 mo lease. It was a scam. Never paid more. Got a $9,000 judgment from Cook County in May 23, 2010 because she is 4 months late. Fortunately tenant moved out most stuff but still staying in house. I want to re-posess property and live there. Nobody seems to say what my rights are since I've been allowed in and can partially occupy propery. Can I take over and lock her out if I live there? She missed filing an extension but I've waited 3 weeks for sheriff...now I learn it will be more like 4-6 weeks. Can I be 6 months late on my tax? HMMM. I want my teabag.
Landlords are not entitled to self help under the law. To lock a tenant out is illegal. The process is flawed, no doubt. Landlords need to lobby their state representatives to make changes to the system.
This is not legal advice for any specific case.
I'm a landlord of a small 2 flat in Englewood. It's very hard to get a good tenant in Englewood. Chicago has there own lease and the landlord tenant pamplet and lead base paint pamplet you have to give to your tenant. It's a small 2 flat I cannot sell because of the area and it has the same restrictions on the chicago lease as if it's 6 units or more. It's not fair.They have attorneys that make money from Landlords that do not know you have to use the correct lease for chicago.
I don't understand why tenants are upset with the Landlord most of the time they get what they want they don't have to pay any rent for most of time 3 months and then they are to stupid to save the money to move somewhere else. However, if I go to Dorothy brown website and discover a person name close to the potential tenant I am interviewing and see they have a civil case where they is a defendant I will not rent to them.
My question is what website can I go to to complain to the state representative or someone to help the system at least have a quicker turn around with eviction in illinois. I think i was reading in Colorado where they do not make landlords go through so much trouble to get non paying tenants out.
Its not a website you need to go to.
If you are unhappy with the CRLTO, you should talk to your alderman.
If you are unhappy with the State of Illinois laws, you should talk to your State Representative.
The Landlord Tenant laws have been shaped over the course of many years. Admittedly, they favor tenants. Unfortunately, this favoritism is in many ways in response to the practices of bad landlords long ago.
The laws need reform to make them more fair to landlords and to tenants.
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