All Forum Posts by: Marcin Czaicki

@William C. it wasn't that simple. There was a risk that the notice to move out and break the lease was just a stall tactic and had I not moved on with the eviction process right after the notice was given and rent not paid, I could be looking at even longer delay. 

@Matthew Olszak the 5 day notice was only for the rent due and did not mention anything regarding the late fee. I think that since the Illinois law per the quote you included earlier does not specify that this has to be issued after the rent is considered late, perhaps their claim that it was not on day 6 when the rent is late but on day 5, will not be valid. 

Let's see what happens. If the case is dismissed, what are my options. Start over or if they indeed move out before the next hearing just sue for damages/outstanding rent? 

@Matthew Olszak thanks for the input and the excerpt from the law. I don't have an attorney. 

The way my lease is written is that "The rent is due in advance on or before the 1st day of each month. The rent due date is the date that the Landlord must receive the Tenant's payment". 

The clause about late rent reads: "If the rent or any other charges are not received by the landlord on or before 5 days after the rent due date, Tenants must pay a late fee of %50 in addition to the rent." I also have a clause under late payment that reads: "payments received by Landlord when there are arreages, shall be credited first, to any outstanding balance, and then applied to the current amount due." 

I think that the last clause would help me show that there was already unpaid balance of $1005 for bedbug treatment when the tenant gave me the Notice to Vacate on 3/31/17. My 5 day notice was issued 5 days later on 4/5/17. I think that this can provide some defense to show that the 5 day notice was served when the account was in default for quite some time for the other charges. 

@Deanna McCormick I'm familiar in general with the law and the 5 day notice needs to be served in order to start the eviction proceedings. To my knowledge the law does not specify on which day after the rent is due the 5 day notice needs to be given. 

So the story continues. We had a bench trial today and the tenant has brought a council from the Illinois Tenant Association or something like this. They filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the 5 day notice was served on the 5th of the month and the rent was due on the 1st of the month and rent would not be considered "late" until the 6th of the month. 

At this point it's been 2 months of them squatting in the apartment without payment and they also stopped paying water bills which if the tenant doesn't pay on the account in their name, it gets transferred to the property owner's account. 

The new continuation hearing is 14 days from now. 

Is there a law that says that the 5 days notice is to be served only "after" the rent is 5 days late? Also, what would be the option now, give them another 5 days notice and start over or if the case is dismissed and they move out as they promised, do I go after them for the back rent and damages? 

Thanks @Michelle E. I will definitely be able to do more once they move out. I also gave them the right to enter notice and am trying to get a village inspector to come out in the next 2 days so that they can assess what's needed given that I already had the exterminator to come out once and paid for it out of my pocket. 

The tenant is becoming contentious and thinks I should treat it again which I will not do. Hopefully they move out by the end of the month as they advised and the damage will be minimal. I already checked with the city and they are behind on water payment for last month so I'm expecting that I will be stuck with at least 2 months of unpaid water bills as well (the owner of the property ultimately is on the hook for that even if the account was in the tenant's name). 

5 day notice was served yesterday and next Tuesday I'll be filing for the Forcible Entry with the county court if the payment is not received. 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I will give them the 5 day notice along with the notice to the right of entry after 2 days as that's the notice required in IL so that I can schedule the inspector again and take it from there. 

Hello everyone. 

I would like to seek your opinion on my recent development with one of my tenants. They signed a lease in November for 12 months. In early January they advised that they have bed bugs which supposedly were confirmed by the local exterminator chain. I had an exterminator of my choice (licensed) to perform the treatment but after 1 month they claimed that the bed bugs are back. I involved the village and they sent out an inspector to investigate but the tenant never let the inspector in and just last weekend sent me a notice that they will be moving out at the end of April. This is a breach of the lease and as of today they didn't pay their April rent. 

I will be delivering a 5 day notice to them today and I do have their deposit which I was planning on using for the bedbug treatment but now it looks like I'm also going to be out of April's rent. 

Should I go through formal eviction with them even when they are moving out at the end of the month or should I just wait until they move out to start legal process for damages/costs? 

My lease does have clauses that define Abandonment and that tenant will be responsible for any and all damages/losses incurred by me due to their abandonment. This is a Chicago suburbs situation (Kane Co.)

Appreciate any and all responses.