Evicting a tenant for non-payment and or violation of a lease’s terms is not an easy process. Governor Pritzker’s executive order staying evictions has made the process even harder on landlords. The Governor first filed the moratorium on evictions as part of the March 2020 stay at home order. The Governor has extended the eviction moratorium a total of 8 times since. Prior to November 13, 2020 landlords could only evict renters if a tenant threatened another tenants health or safety, if they poses a significant risk to property or if they violated building codes or health ordinances. Landlords could only move forward with an eviction for the aforementioned reasons and could not file for evictions based on non-payment of rent.
The Executive Order entered on November 13, 2020 has added additional exemptions to the moratorium. Landlords can move forward on evictions if the renter is expected to make $99,000.00 in 2020 or $198,000.00 for a joint tax filing. Landlords must now provide tenants with a disclosure prior to initiating an eviction matter against them. To be exempted from evictions tenants will have to sign off on a document, subject to perjury, indicating that they make less than $99,000.00 a year or $198,000.00 a year together with joint filer, unable to make rent payments due to Covid-19 related hardships but have been making payments for the amount they can afford, and that if evicted the tenants will become homeless.
Are you a landlord struggling to evict tenants during the eviction moratorium? Contact the attorneys at Allison Mosby-Scott to assist you in initiating your case during this unprecedented time.
