House & Apartment

Eviction is a court process. A housing provider, landlord An owner of property who rents it out to a tenant , or property owner can file an eviction case to remove someone from a home.

Eviction laws apply to people with a spoken or written agreement to live in someone else’s property. This includes:

• Month-to-month or week-to-week tenancies, and
• Written rental agreements for a set period of time.

Learn more about common situations that lead to eviction cases:

• Dealing with unpaid rent,
• Addressing lease violations,
• Ending a lease, and
• Foreclosure for tenants.

Many tenants and other occupants must be served with a written eviction notice before a housing provider can file an eviction case.

Besides eviction, other laws can force a person to leave the place where they have been staying. For example:

• A sheriff A county officer who can serve people with summons. They can evict someone with a court order. can enforce Taking legal steps to make someone do what the court tells them to do trespassing Unlawful entry or attempted entry of the property of another laws without a judge’s order when a person has not been invited to enter or stay on the property,
• A judge may order a person to stay away in a Stalking No Contact Order or Order of Protection, and
• A judge may order people living in a property to be evicted in a foreclosure or tax sale case against the property owner.

For help with questions about situations that could lead to eviction, use Get Legal Help or contact:

• Eviction Help Illinois statewide, or
• Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt in Cook County.