Yearly Lease expires 3/31/2023. How to evict tenant who will not leave? Any lawyer?

Question

I have a tenant in a basement apartment of a three flat in Cook county suburb. He always resists rent increases, tries to withhold money, tries to push remodels that I refuse now. A few years ago, I did some remodeling for him while he was living there eg., new flooring, some counters, a new fridge etc thinking that he will be a good long term tenant. But he proved otherwise. His rent is at least 10-12% below market even after proposed increase. He has been there 4 years and has always been a pain. I want him out because lease is expiring. He did not agree to proposed rent increase of $30 which will make his rent to $810. His attitude is to get maximum benefit and pay least rent. He is using common laundry room as his personal storage and parking an extra car in his spot without consideration for other tenants. He changed his apartment lock to a numbered lock without asking me. So far I tolerated him but I am not willing to do that anymore. Can someone recommend a Chicago lawyer? Anybody with any ideas is welcome.

Thanks

Blake B. · Answer

Depending on the terms of your lease, he may have already broken the lease agreement (i.e changing locks and parking additional cars not covered in the terms of the lease agreement). If so, you can file for eviction immediately...and if I were you, I would not wait as it takes quite some time for the Sheriff to come out and evict after you get the judgment. You may be almost better off offering to pay him to leave rather than taking him to court. My best guess is, if you were to file today, it'd be 6 weeks until your initial court day and if you've done a good job and gotten him served before then, then maybe only another 2 weeks until you get a hearing day and can move the court for and order of possession/eviction; however, after that, expect to wait at least 6 weeks for the Sheriff to evict.

John Warren · Answer

@Atul Mohlajee along with the other good advice you got from @Mark Ainley, I think you also need to take steps to manage the property in the way you want to. I would immediately give notice to enter in 3 or 4 days to change the locks. I would also issue notices about garbage in the common areas being removed after a certain period of time, and any illegal parking. I would not personally use this in court, but instead would legitimately tow an illegally parked car or would trash out any belongings left in the wrong places.

The court system is very slow in Cook County, but the laws on these things are very much on your side. I had a tenant call the police on me a few weeks ago for entering the unit. I had provided proper notice, so I calmly waited for the police to arrive to explain to the tenant why he didn't have a right to deny entry. We also changed his locks back after he changed them.

A lot of times, these types of tenants will leave a situation where the owner is managing the building and forcing them to comply. They thrive on finding the next small-time landlord to take advantage of and would rather not be confronted.

The guy who called the police on us left within one week and we were happy to see him go. This cost us $0 and honestly caused me very little stress.

Ben Zimmerman · Answer

If the lease doesn't expire yet for another few weeks then I wouldn't necessarily jump to conclusions that he won't actually leave.  Have you given him the proper notices of non-renewal?  Someone mentioned 120 days for Chicago and I'll assume this is correct.  If you didn't give the proper notice, or if you gave him a verbal notice, I would immediately send him certified mail (with receipt) containing a written notice that he needs to be out 120 days from today.

More importantly you should evaluate the leasing agreement and update it to include provisions that he is doing that you don't like.  If you don't want personal stuff in the laundry area, or additional parked cars, then your lease should specifically spell that out etc.  At an absolute bare minimum the lease should specify that the tenant is not able to make any changes without your consent.  Changing the locks is simply unacceptable and needs to be reverted back to the original lock immediately.  Refusing to do that would be grounds for immediate eviction in my books.Get rid of these types of people after year 1, not year 4.  The longer you tolerate bad behavior from tenants, the sooner you get gray hairs... It's just not worth it.

Mark Ainley · Answer

@Atul Mohlajee You must give him 120 notice of non-renewal (since he has been there longer than 3 years / 60 days only if less) and on day 121 file for eviction and follow the process.  The process stinks if you have other ways of getting them out, but sometimes other ways to negotiate with the tenant to leave only happen with the pressure of the looming eviction case going on.  I would advise paying the $75-$85 to have a process server serve him the "notice of non-renewal," because that will be the legal document you would use to file for eviction on, and if that is wrong, then you have to start another 120 days.

I will send you a recent article/podcast episode I put together so you can understand the Cook County eviction process step by step.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Definitely remove this tenant. You should have done it three years ago. Now that he is this embedded, he is more likely to stick around and fight this tooth and nail.

I have no experience in Chicago, but below is a Google search for "eviction attorney." Read their reviews and look for someone that has real experience in evictions. I always recommend you get your notes in order, then call the attorney and interview them to see if they are a good fit. They will usually give you a free consult first. Call 2-3 of them before making a decision.

https://www.google.com/localse...

Adam Martin · Answer

You have a bad tenant for sure and hopefully you can non renew to get them out.  I have some tenants who are slightly under rent and I'm really not too concerned being 10-15% under but the key here is those are great tenants I don't want to lose.  Discounts are earned not deserved.  I'd raise rents for someone like this not 10% below but 15% over market.  If they want to stay and be a pain fine but I'm at least being compensated for it.  If they want to leave all the better.  There is also no way I'd lock myself into another year with them.  If they want to stay M2M and I'm being compensated for it fine but that yearly lease locks you in way more than them but it doesn't sound like you want them around anyway.  While this is not exactly an eviction it may be easier to make leaving the obvious choice for them vs. relying on the courts in your area.

Katelin Burke · Answer

I understand that it can be difficult when tenants resist rent increases and try to withhold money. However, it is important to keep in mind that you have the right to set reasonable rental rates and expect payment from your tenants. If you feel like this tenant is not respecting the terms of the lease agreement, I would consider reaching out to a lawyer as soon as possible. Waiting is only going to delay, depending on what route you take. PM me for lawyer recommendations.

Atul Mohlajee · Answer

Thanks Blake.  Anyone else with any advise on this please?

Yearly Lease expires 3/31/2023. How to evict tenant who will not leave? Any lawyer?

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