Richard Magnone 
Cook County Court Issues Guidance on Return to EvictionsOn July 27, 2020, Judge Kenneth Wright, Jr. entered a General Order dealing with the current caseload of Cook County eviction cases. As you know, the Governor’s extension of Executive Order 2020-30 is going to extend the moratorium on evictions to August 22, 2020. In the order, the court explains how the backlog of already filed and pending eviction cases will be dealt with.
Cook County Seeks County-wide RLTOUPDATE: See here for more on this proposed ordinance that is set to be voted on by the Cook County Board on December 15, 2020.
Yep – you heard that right. Coming soon to rental units in the suburbs is the pain felt for years by landlords in the City. At a time when it seemed that the regulations affecting landlords could not get more voluminous and complex, the Cook County Board is debating a newly introduced Cook County Residential Tenant and Landlord Ordinance this morning July 30, 2020 (you can watch the County Board proceedings Live here). I haven’t made a deep dive into the law, but here are a few high points from my first pass through:
Moratorium Extended to August 22, 2020So, after you’ve already added insult to injury, what comes next? I guess more of the same. Some commentators (not me) had suggested that the Governor was unlikely to extend the ban on evictions that goes all the way back to April 23, 2020. On July 24, Governor Pritzker
For the first time since 2016, the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance has been amended. By a vote of 35-15, the City Council passed Mayor’s second draft of the measure. At the Building’s committee a week earlier upon only a few hours notice, the Mayor presented an amendment to the proposal she originally introduced on May 20, 2020 which contained even more anti-landlord provisions. That version was
Did you NOTICE this?We’ve discussed the Mayor’s Fair Notice law for a few weeks here. However, when the Building Committee met last week, they pushed through a materially changed version of the law. They gave next to no notice to anyone before passing the new, anti-landlord, language out of committee so that it can go in front of the full City Council. Many groups, including the Chicago Association of Realtors are issuing a CALL TO ACTION to oppose these amendments to the CRLTO which are likely to be heard at the next City Council meeting.
As reported here a few weeks back, on July 17, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court has entered new Rule 139 amending the pleading practice in eviction actions. The new rule became effective upon its entry, so all eviction cases going forward will need to comply. The rule requires landlords to attach written evidence, like a … Read more
Language ReleasedUPDATE: the notice has been released and we are suggesting that landlords also serve the tenant notification as well.
On June 17, 2020, the City of Chicago passed the Covid-19 Eviction Protection Ordinance. The law provides that the City’s Department of Housing was to prepare a notice that is supposed to accompany any 5 day notice served in Chicago that is governed by the ordinance. Almost immediately, the City published
UPDATE: This flowchart is now OUT OF DATE and SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON.
During the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, I’ve been asked perhaps thousands of times in one way or another “what rights does a Chicago landlord have right now”? The quick answer is VERY FEW. Nonetheless, such a short answer is trite and unhelpful. So, maybe we can help to clear things up. There are a number of laws, local rules, and orders that are governing the situation for landlords in Chicago right now. I’ve distilled them into a flowchart that might help to untangle the mess.
Governor Pritzker promised an eviction freeze until July 31, 2020 but only delivered with a moratorium until July 26, 2020. Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans must have saw that and decided to deliver on the Gov’s promise. On June 26, 2020, he entered General Administrative Order 2020-02. This nine page monster order
Forgive the clickbait (it’s a Monday!). Despite the Governor’s verbal promises on June 17, 2020 to extend his previous ban on the commencement of any residential eviction lawsuit and ban on enforcement of commercial or residential eviction orders to July 31, 2020, the Governor instead enacted Executive Order 2020-44 which extends the authority in Executive … Read more