State Specific Question About: ILLINOIS (IL)

This is my first eviction. I got default Judgement. Sheriff will come 4 to 6 week.

My question is this :

If sheriff comes and tenant not home, what happens ?

I'm only evicting tenant but two other peolpe leaving with him.Sheriff's office sad it will be a 2 step eviction- What do they mean by that ?

This whole proccess took me 3 month to get this far, can I file for more money judgement?

I don't know the strange laws in IL, so I'll just give general advice.

Stay in control. Be legal, but don't melt into a puddle just because the tenant has the upper hand right now.

I don't like strangers handling my business (Sheriff, judge) and a system that makes ME wait, losing money all the while.

Work this out with the tenant. $100, $100, $300, or $500 Cash For Keys is cheaper than the month or two of rent you are losing just waiting for the process to grind.

Be friendly with the tenant and see if you can work something out. "This is a mess. Let's see if we can work this out and not make the lawyers rich. Do you need help with moving? what if I bring my trailer and a few helpers?"

Tenants, esp deadbeats, are blown away when you are nice to them. They expect a mean LL.

We had an eviction this month. I issued the 3-day on 9/5/11. Brought it to the lawyer on 9/12/11. His court date was on 9/19/11. I met the sheriff at 1:30 last Friday. He posted a no-tresspassing notice on the door. He informed me if tenant showed back up to call 911 and tell the tenant that they had his bed waiting for him at the jail. The lawyer will go back to court for a judgement award in a couple of weeks. Attorney's fee will be about 300.00 to 350.00.

Now when Brad 20k posts, I always read them. He has some really good ideas. But, I would not do a cash for keys. How does the tenant have the upper hand? He is going to be out soon enough. I know the saying "be right or be rich", I would rather be both.

When I hear of a 3 month long eviction, I think the landlord just failed to follow the procedure to go ahead with the eviction.

Good reply. Keeps me thinking.

I say the tenant has the upper hand because the laws are weighted to protect the tenant. The LL must do everything perfectly and wait and wait and wait, hoping the system will take care of him. Meanwhile, the tenant couldn't care less! He does not have to do anything - not show in court, not reply, can drag his feet moving. He knew he would be evicted the day he signed the lease and is just waiting out the process.

My Sheriff says kicking people out of the home is at the bottom of his TO DO list.

We're like the little girl whining "It's not fair!" while the bullies just take her ice cream. Give her some tools or skills to defend herself.

We're doing the right thing, held accountable to do the right thing, but dependent upon strangers (sheriff, judge, system) to take care of us. None of these people or the system care one iota about our income.

From what I read on this site about IL laws, things can move very slowly there.

There are soooo many things that can go wrong and delay an eviction. In every case, the LL loses more money:

-Free atty files a continuance,

-tenant calls court "I'm sick today" = delay

-LL did one tiny thing wrong, case thrown out

-tenant files BK = delay,

-tenant files for divorce = delay,

-Sheriff is busy so notices don't get served promptly,

-tenant says "I'm thinking of hiring an atty"= 30 day delay,

-judge on vacation,

-tenant asks for an additional hearing and cries = delay

I'm 6 for 6 recently with getting the tenant to agree and sign to move out. I'm getting them to move out in 5-14 days, rather than months, rather than waiting for the wheels of justice to slowly grind, without the chance of all those things going wrong, without offering Cash For Keys. I take the papers to court and hand them to the judge. He enters them as the judgment.

PS: Cash For Keys - I add that back into the final settlement as a cost to the tenant. (but we seldom see a penny on such judgments!)