Tenant had lapse in liability insurance

[Heather Rodden]

I have a tenant that did not pay for her insurance and cannot until late next week. She is on a month to month lease. I live in Illinois. Just checking what your process would be. I believe I give her a 10 day notice, and I’m going to give her non renewal of lease or I guess a 30 day notice. First timer here, any advise?

[Marcia Maynard]

Sounds like two separate issues....

1. How to ensure tenant follows through on getting and maintaining renter's insurance policy. Notice to Comply (or Cure.) Also, do periodic verification to ensure insurance remains in force.

2. How to force tenant to move for "no cause". Long-term lease - Notice of Non-renewal. Month-to-Month rental agreement - Notice of Termination.

Note: the name of the notices may vary depending on your jurisdiction. Check with the landlord-tenant laws for your jurisdiction for the timing and proper serving of notices. Some jurisdictions will not allow you to evict for no-cause and will require you give a tenant a chance to cure a violation before you can proceed to evict for cause.

What would I do? I would have an open and honest, respectful and congenial conversation with the tenant. Unless I have reason to believe the tenant will not renew her renter's insurance policy in a timely manner, I would trust that she will renew it within the next seven days. No need to serve the legal notice. When we serve a legal notice it carries a $20 posting fee for our additional effort. Unless the tenant is causing other problems, I would give her a friendly reminder and see if she follows through. If she doesn't, then a legal notice to comply would follow.