Gov. Pritzker’s Executive Order Squashes Evictions

UPDATE: Order 30 has been extended to June 27, 2020.  In addition to locking all of Illinois down for another month, yesterday, Governor Pritzker signed another executive order (number 2020-30) that affects all Illinois landlords and puts a stop to evictions for the time being. The order basically rips the guts out of any reasonable ability to enforce a lease and paves the way for tenants to stop paying rent.  The original stay at home order issued by the governor had put a state-wide stop to the enforcement of residential evictions for the duration of the order.  This order goes further.

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Cook County Sheriff Suspends Eviction Enforcement

Circuit Court General Order Halts Sheriff Evictions

On Friday, March 13, 2020, Chief Judge Timothy C. Evans entered general order 2020-01 which suspended certain operations of the Circuit Court of Cook County.  We blogged about some of the suspended operations yesterday.  We’ve now obtained a copy of the general order.  In response to the general order, the Sheriff of Cook County has been ordered by the Circuit Court of Cook County to

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Seattle Bans Winter Evictions – Could it Happen in Chicago?

Eviction to be Banned in Seattle

We all know about the annual winter moratorium on evictions in Chicagoland.  Every year, around Christmas and New Year’s Day, the courts stop the Sheriff from enforcing eviction orders.  The Cook County Sheriff is also ordered not to evict when it is too cold or weather conditions make an eviction dangerous for the tenants or Sheriff’s officers.  However, the moratorium is temporary, fairly short, and eventually, things get back on track.  The City of Seattle has thrown those concepts right out the window.  The Seattle City counsel yesterday voted 7-0 (that’s right, a unanimous vote) to BAN most evictions for a three month period.  Could it happen in Chicago?

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Eviction Record Sealing Measure Advances

A few weeks back, I wrote about a senate bill intended to seal eviction records.  A similar measure was filed as HB2299.  NPR is reporting that the measure has passed out of committee.  This is a dangerous proposition for landlords.  As NPR reported, proponents of the measure have indicated that while they acknowledge that landlords want to screen tenants, they do not believe that an eviction filing correlates to a person’s ability to be a good tenant.  Huh?

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Breaking down the new State of Illinois Eviction Order

New Eviction Form Released

Back in September, I wrote about changes made to the Forcible Entry and Detainer Eviction Act.  The gist of the changes was to get rid of the words “Forcible Entry and Detainer” and replace them with “Eviction” and to create a “standardized” eviction order.  The law went into effect on January 1, 2018 and the state-standardized Eviction Order (known as form E-O 3500-2 in Cook County) is now available in courtrooms and online.  The form is radically different than the Order for Possession form that many Chicagoland landlords may be used to.  Let’s take a closer look. 

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