Cook County Eviction

[Sean McKee]

Hello BP!

So I have a tough decision to make on whether or not I want to evict a tenant.

 Background:

Tenant is a single mom with 3 kids. She put down a 3 month security deposit. She has never been a good tenant. Has a sense of entitlement and an attitude. She's also not the best with maintaining unit.From beginning she's paid late. Served her a 5 day notice and then We agreed on biweekly payment agreement to make easier to pay.She Recently lost her full-time  job and is only working part 25  time. She does LYFT when she has can and other delivery type jobs. Needless to say we had to put about 400 on a past due payment plan. She was almost done with past due payment plan, when she alerted me she didn't get enough hours at job because boss was on vacation. She's 200 dollars short of funds needed for both her biweekly payment and past due payment. She tried paying me partially in cash but I refused.

Tiring of her payment issues and her default of the terms of her biweekly payment agreement I served her a 10 day notice to Quit.

A few days later she comes back saying her attorney (probably lying about attorney)says I can't evict her with a 10 day notice for non-payment. I've already cleared this with my attorney and I can for violating her payment terms.

So here's where I am:

I'm split 50:50 between actually evicting her and working out a way for her to stay.

I've already offered her cash for keys as it's worked well for me in past. Unfortunately she did not accept.

 In Cook County evictions are not the fastest (3 to 4 months best case according to attorney ). One reason the notice was served and money wasn't accepted was to make a point that I'm serious about the lease.  She seems to have gotten nervous and does seem sincere about paying.So I'm considering letting her stay on more restrictive terms and stating if she gets more than 500 behind I'll evict.

The other part of me doesn't particularly want to deal with her anymore. She's become a time and resource drain, worse she's not that great of a tenant. And I certainly will not allow her to get months behind. 

So there's the dilemma. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and go to court to soon. Yet I don't her getting too far behind. 

Regardless of what happens, I'll never allow a similar tenant on any of my buildings again.

So what are your thoughts and stories on how you handled similar situations?

Thanks!