Landlord Tenant Law

Many landlord-tenant relationships are perfect - money is timely remitted and the property is well-maintained.  In some cases, the tenant fails to pay rent or fails to abide by certain terms of the lease causing the landlord-tenant relationship to break down.   When the relationship is no longer viable – the landlord can choose to terminate the lease, or opt not to renew same with the hope that the tenant moves-out of the property on his/her own volition.  When the tenant fails to voluntarily turn over possession to the landlord and vacate the rental property, the landlord cannot simply change the locks – the landlord must send the required notice (which can get complicated!) and thereafter file an eviction action.  The process of evicting a tenant under Illinois common law involves 5 distinct steps – note that not all steps may be necessary for the tenant to lose his/her right to possession:

1. Tenant must be delinquent in his/her rent;
2. Landlord must notify the tenant in writing that the rent must be paid within no less than 5 days;
3. The time period in the written landlord-tenant notice must expire without payment being made by the tenant;
4. Landlord must sue for possession and a money judgment (the money judgment portion is optional)
5. Landlord must obtain an Order for Possession from the Court authorizing the Sheriff to evict the tenant.

At Tressler LLP, we take the stress out of the eviction process and work with our landlord clients to ensure they understand what will occur from the time the eviction notice is sent until the day of the eviction.  For more information regarding the eviction process, click here.

Tresller LLP will handle eviction actions throughout all Northern Illinois including Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will Counties.  Feel free to contact us and if we cannot assist, we might be able to provide a referral to an attorney that may be able to assist you.  We are generally willing to have a short (5 to 10 minutes) initial discussion over the telephone to determine if we can assist in your situation and to determine if we might be an appropriate match to work with you.  We do not dispense legal advice during that conversation.  Face to face initial consultations are by appointment only. 

For more information, please contact us at collections@tresslerllp.com. We look forward to working with you!