Eviction Moratorium Suit Against Pritzker

Governor Pritzker’s COVID-19 response plan is once again under fire. This time, landlords are suing him over his eviction moratorium issued in Executive Order 2020-30.

The moratorium prevents landlords from filing evictions for nonpayment of rent. During this time, tenants who either cannot make their rent payments or choose not to cannot have an eviction lawsuit brought against them until the expiration of the Order. 

The Executive Order did leave landlords and property owners with few circumstances in which eviction suits can be brought against a tenant. This includes the ability to file an eviction for breaches of the lease other than nonpayment of rent. This offers protections to landlords if their tenant is posing a significant threat to other tenants or residents or to the property. A landlord may not bring suit for any reason other than the specific exceptions listed out in the Order.

The moratorium, which is ends in June 27th, 2020, has not yet been extended. However, Governor Pritzker announced that he will be extending the moratorium by extending Executive Order 2020-39 to July 31st. No official order extension has been issued. 

The suit against Governor Pritzker is being brought by JL properties and two other landlords. In the complaint, the landlords state that they are not being offered the same protections as their tenants. They argue the Governor’s order shifts the cost of protecting the tenants onto the landlords at their expense. The order offers no support for these incurred costs.

 The suit is endorsed by the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association. They stated in a press release:

“Small mom-and-pop landlords, who make up the majority of IRPOA members, have had their interests marginalized by the State of Illinois for too long. Corporate landlords may be able to absorb the losses that the Governor’s eviction moratorium imposes, but the majority of rental housing in Illinois is provided by average working class people who own a handful of rentals and rely on the monthly rent to meet their own obligations. Mom-and-pop landlords cannot go without income for over 5 months when sole proprietors have not been receiving assistance from COVID-19 programs to compensate for the lost income.”

If the landlords succeed, the moratorium would end. At this point, landlords could begin filing eviction suits for nonpayment of rent and any eviction order could be enforced. In addition, if the lawsuit is successful, the Governor’s planned extension that ends on July 31st would never go into effect. This suit would also bar the Governor from issuing a similar eviction moratorium again if successful.