How Do I Evict a Tenant?

Income properties can be a great investment. Renting out space to reliable tenants would be ideal, but, sometimes tenants fail to pay rent or violate the rental or lease agreement. In these situations, you may wish to evict the tenant immediately. The eviction process, however, can be lengthy and cumbersome. There are many legal formalities that must be observed prior to eviction. M&A Law Firm, P.C. can help guide you through the tenant eviction process to make sure everything is done as it is required and you can get the tenant off of your property as soon as possible.

How Do I Evict a Tenant?

In Illinois, a landlord has the legal right to evict a tenant for something such as non-payment of rent or violating the rental or lease agreement. If a tenant is to be evicted for not paying rent or failing to pay rent on time the landlord is required to give the tenant five days’ notice prior to instituting eviction. If the tenant still does not pay the past due rent within five days, you can proceed in bringing an eviction lawsuit. If you are looking to evict based on a tenant violating the rental or lease agreement, you must give the tenant ten days’ notice to move out of the rental space. If the tenant fails to do so within 10 days’ time, you may initiate the eviction lawsuit.

To begin the eviction lawsuit process, proper notice must be served on the tenant. Five days after notice has been served, the complaint and summons may be filed with the court. You will be given a return date which will likely be the first court date. However, the sheriff must serve the tenant with a copy of the complaint and summons. If the sheriff is unable to do so, this further complicates things as a special process server will need to be appointed and your return date will be postponed.

Eventually, the first court appearance will happen. You may be able to obtain a default judgment if the tenant or a legal representative for the tenant does not show up. If the tenant and/or his or her attorney does show up, they may request a continuance, which would be a postponement of the eviction proceedings, or they may even request a jury trial. There will likely be more than one court appearance. You may be able to reach a settlement with the tenant or a jury trial may be needed. Ideally, an order of possession will be the result of these legal proceedings.

Upon receiving an order of possession, you will give this to the sheriff so they know it is okay to remove the tenant.

Helping You Through the Tenant Eviction Process

It is more difficult than you would think to remove a tenant from your property. The specific requirements prescribed by Illinois law must be observed. M&A Law Firm will help you navigate the red tape that inundates these types of proceedings. Proudly serving Cook County and Schaumburg, Illinois, we help landlords get their property back.