What new laws and regulations now govern the landlord-tenant relationship?
On March 27, 2020, Congress passed the CARES Act which provides Federal protection for tenants living in a dwelling unit covered by the Act. A covered dwelling unit is any property that has a federally backed loan or which participates in a federally subsidized assistance HUD program like Section 8, FHA, Fannie, Freddie, and voucher programs. The Act amends the landlord-tenant relationship for a 120-day period ending July 25, 2020 in the following ways:
a) Landlord of a covered dwelling unit cannot initiate an eviction proceeding based on a tenant’s nonpayment of rent until expiration of the protection period.
b) Landlord cannot impose late fees or penalties because of a tenant’s late rent payment until July 25, 2020.
c) A landlord cannot issue a notice to vacate until July 25, 2020.
d) Landlords must provide tenants with a 30-day notice before they must vacate after the 120-day protection expires on July 25, 2020.
e) Landlords are prohibited from serving a no-fault notice of termination such as a 30-day notice in a month-to-month.
Importantly, note that a landlord can still bring a case for a breach of a lease other than nonpayment of rent.
On March 20, 2020, Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2020-10 which prohibited the enforcement of residential evictions in the state of Illinois. This protection is now extended until July 31, 2020 and prohibits a landlord from commencing a residential eviction action except in the following three cases: 1) the tenant poses a direct threat to the health and safety of other tenants, 2) there is an “immediate and severe” risk to the property, or 3) the tenant is in violation of a building code, health ordinance, or other regulation of that nature. Further, this also prohibits the enforcement of commercial evictions.
On June 17, 2020 Mayor Lightfoot and the Chicago City Council passed the Eviction Protection Ordinance (EPO) covering residential properties in Chicago. The Ordinance extends the Governor’s executive order within Chicago by 60 days from its current expiration of July 31, 2020. It also alters the notice of termination terms. Under the EPO, a landlord can issue a five-day notice for nonpayment of rent indicating that the landlord intends to terminate the tenancy if rent is not paid within the five-day period. Within the five-day notice period, the tenant can then provide the landlord with a “Tenant Notice of COVID-19 Impact.” This notice requires the landlord to then engage in a seven-day “negotiation period” after the expiration of the five-day notice. These negotiations place specific responsibilities on landlords so speak with an attorney if you are not familiar with the EPO. Like the Governor’s Executive Order, the Ordinance does not apply to breaches of the lease for reasons other than nonpayment of rent.
When will courts resume normal operations?
On May 28, Cook County Circuit Court Chief Judge Evans amended the previous General Administrative Order 2020-01 for postponing eviction court hearings until July 6, 2020. This extended the already backlogged number of hearing dates. Currently, the courts are operating at a limited capacity and housing court cases have been pushed out to dates as far as early September.
Can an eviction lawsuit still be filed while courts are closed?
Right now, federal, state, and local orders prohibit the initiation of a residential eviction proceeding for nonpayment of rent. As explained above, these prohibitions are set to expire at different times. However, evictions for reasons other than nonpayment of rent may be filed under certain circumstances.
Are Sheriff’s serving lawsuit paperwork?
An eviction summons is a notice delivered by the Sherriff or a Special Process Server that tells a tenant that an eviction has been filed against them. Currently, eviction summonses are considered non-essential and the Cook County Sheriff will not serve them. Note however that motions for appointing a Special Process Server to bypass the Sheriff have been granted in some cases for evictions not based on the nonpayment of rent.
Will an Eviction Order be enforced?
The Circuit Court of Cook County ordered the Sheriff’s Department to stop all enforcement of residential eviction orders. Originally, this was set to expire on July 6, but all eviction orders have since been extended 60 days past their original expiration but no later than August 17, 2020. In addition, if the property is protected by the CARES Act, the Sheriff’s cannot evict until August 25, 2020. If the CARES Act does not apply, evictions can begin under Governor Pritzker’s Executive Order 2020-39 on July 31, 2020. This order also prohibits the enforcement of commercial evictions. Importantly, note that due to the large volume of eviction orders, the Sheriffs will be backlogged even after the moratorium is lifted.
