Eviction Laws in Illinois: Notices, Court Process, and Enforcement

Eviction laws in Illinois require every landlord to go through the courts. You cannot be removed from a rental without a written notice, a filed lawsuit, a judge’s Order for Possession, and a sheriff to carry it out. The governing statute is Article IX of the Code of Civil Procedure, starting at 735 ILCS 5/9-101.¹ Chicago layers extra tenant protections on top of the state rules, and a landlord who skips a step or tries to force someone out without a court order can be held liable.

When a Landlord Can File

An eviction case has to rest on one of the situations the statute recognizes. Nonpayment of rent is the most common. Lease violations come next, covering things like unauthorized occupants, serious property damage, or repeated disturbances that breach a specific lease term. Holdover tenancies count too: the lease expires, the landlord declines to renew, and the tenant stays. The statute also reaches people who occupy property without any right or title at all.¹

Criminal drug activity on the premises follows a separate, faster track described further down.

The Written Notice Comes First

Before a landlord files anything, they have to serve a written notice matching the problem. Filing suit without the correct notice is one of the fastest ways to have a case thrown out.

Five-Day Notice for Unpaid Rent

When rent is past due, the landlord serves a written demand giving the tenant at least five days to pay the full amount owed. The notice has to state the exact dollar figure and warn that the lease will terminate if the tenant does not pay in full before the five days expire.¹ It must also prominently state that only full payment will stop the termination, unless the landlord agrees in writing to accept a partial payment. Without that language, a partial payment during the five-day window can invalidate the notice entirely.

Ten-Day Notice for Lease Violations

If the tenant breaches any lease term other than rent, the landlord serves a ten-day notice describing the specific violation and stating that the tenancy will terminate at the end of those ten days.² Unlike the five-day notice, this one does not give the tenant an automatic right to cure the violation and stay. Whether a fix is possible depends on the lease and the circumstances; the notice itself simply terminates the tenancy.

Ending a Periodic Tenancy

When there is no fixed end date, notice length turns on the rent-payment cycle:

Week-to-week: 7 days’ written notice.
Month-to-month: 30 days’ written notice.
Year-to-year: 60 days’ written notice, given within the last four months of the current lease year.

The 7-day and 30-day figures come directly from the statute.³ Chicago tenants get considerably longer periods; see below.

How the Notice Has to Be Delivered

Illinois recognizes three ways to deliver a written notice or demand. The landlord can hand it directly to the tenant, leave it with any person at least 13 years old who lives on or is in charge of the premises, or send it by certified or registered mail with a return receipt. If nobody is on the property at all, the notice can be posted on the premises.⁴ Any other method risks having the notice ruled invalid.

Proof of service matters as much as the method. A signed affidavit stating who received the notice, when, and how has to be filed with the court when the lawsuit begins. Standardized forms are on the Illinois Courts website.⁵

Filing the Court Case

If the notice period runs out without payment, a cure, or a move-out, the landlord files a Complaint for Eviction with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in the county where the property sits. The complaint names all adult occupants, describes the property, states the grounds, and asks for possession. Unpaid rent can be claimed in the same complaint.¹

The filing package includes a copy of the notice served, the affidavit of service, and any relevant lease provisions. Where there’s a written lease, the sections the tenant allegedly violated get attached. Filing fees vary. A possession-only case in a smaller county can run under $100; larger jurisdictions charge several hundred dollars.

A significant change took effect January 1, 2026: a landlord cannot name anyone under 18 as a defendant. If a complaint lists a minor, the entire case will be dismissed against every defendant, and the minor can recover $1,000 in damages plus attorney fees.¹ The landlord can refile against the proper adult defendants, but pays new filing fees.

The Hearing

Once the complaint is filed, the clerk issues a summons that has to be served on the tenant. Service of the summons follows different rules than service of the notice, and if personal service fails, the landlord can request constructive service through posting and mailing or by publication.¹

At the hearing the landlord has to prove three things: a valid ground exists, proper notice was served the right way, and the tenant did not cure the problem within the notice period. The tenant can raise defenses under a general denial. If the landlord meets the burden, the judge signs an Order for Possession, which is the legal authorization to remove the tenant. A money judgment for unpaid rent can be entered in the same case.

Defenses That Can Defeat an Eviction

Tenants aren’t limited to arguing over whether rent was paid. Any one of the following can end a case that looks straightforward on paper:

Defective notice: wrong dollar amount, missing required language, bad service, or a suit filed before the notice period expired. This is where most landlord cases fall apart.
Rent was paid on time, or the amount claimed is wrong.
The violation was cured before the deadline, or the landlord accepted rent or signed a new lease after learning of the violation.
Uninhabitable conditions: no heat, no running water, serious code violations. Under the implied warranty of habitability, a tenant can argue the apartment’s condition reduced its value below the rent demanded.
Retaliation for reporting a code violation, requesting legally required repairs, or complaining to a government agency. Illinois prohibits retaliatory evictions.
Discrimination based on a protected characteristic under the Fair Housing Act or the Illinois Human Rights Act.
Illegal self-help: the landlord already locked the tenant out, shut off utilities, or removed belongings without a court order.

A defense doesn’t have to disprove the whole complaint. A technically defective notice, or an acceptance of rent after the alleged violation, is enough to get the case dismissed.

The Sheriff Carries Out the Eviction

Only the county sheriff can physically remove a tenant under a court order in Illinois. A landlord who changes locks, removes doors, shuts off utilities, or moves belongings out without an order is breaking the law and exposing themselves to damages.⁶ Self-help tactics can also destroy a pending case.

After the Order for Possession is entered, the landlord delivers a certified copy to the sheriff’s office and pays a separate execution fee that varies by county. In Cook County, enforcement can be scheduled as soon as 24 hours after the order is placed with the sheriff’s evictions office.⁷ Actual scheduling depends on the sheriff’s caseload, and in busy counties wait times can stretch to several weeks. A judge may grant a brief stay giving the tenant more time, but that’s discretionary rather than automatic.

The 120-Day Enforcement Deadline

An eviction order doesn’t last forever. If the sheriff has not enforced it within 120 days after entry, the order expires. The landlord can ask the court for an extension, but the tenant must be notified and can oppose it.⁸ Grounds to block the extension include reinstatement of the tenancy after judgment, a cured or forgiven violation, a post-judgment agreement the tenant has honored, or another legal bar to enforcement.

Chicago’s Added Protections

Tenants inside the city of Chicago get more than state law provides. The Fair Notice Ordinance stretches out the notice period for lease terminations that are not based on nonpayment or a lease violation:

More than 6 months but less than 3 years of tenancy: 60 days’ notice to terminate the lease or raise rent.
More than 3 years of tenancy: 120 days’ notice.

These rules apply to every tenant in the city, whether the lease is written or month-to-month, and do not apply when the eviction is for nonpayment or another lease violation.⁹

Chicago also gives a tenant facing eviction for nonpayment the right to stop the case by paying all back rent owed plus any court filing fees the landlord has already paid. The payment can be made any time before the judge issues the Order for Possession. This right does not apply if the tenant lives in a building of six or fewer units where the landlord also resides.⁹

Situations With Their Own Rules

Two categories fall outside the standard process, and one more sits in a legal gray zone.

Drug activity on the premises. When a rental is being used to manufacture, sell, or traffic controlled substances, the landlord can file a verified complaint with direct evidence, and the court schedules a hearing for any day after 14 days from the filing date.¹⁰ If the tenant doesn’t appear, the court enters a default order. If they do appear, the trial happens immediately and generally can’t be continued more than seven days without both sides agreeing.

Active-duty service members. The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act applies in Illinois. An active-duty service member or their spouse facing eviction can request a 90-day stay of proceedings, and the court can extend it. Protections apply when monthly rent falls below a federally set threshold that adjusts annually; for 2024 it was $9,812.12 per month.

Belongings left behind. Illinois has no single statewide statute on abandoned property. Inside Chicago, the landlord has to store or leave the belongings on the premises for at least seven days after the tenant departs; after that they can be disposed of, and items clearly worth less than the cost of storage can be discarded immediately. Outside Chicago, the safer practice is written notice to the former tenant and a reasonable retrieval period, often around 30 days, before disposal. A landlord who tosses belongings too quickly can face a claim for their value.

1
Justia. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5 – Article IX Eviction
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-210 – Notice to Quit
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-207 – Notice to Terminate Tenancy for Less Than a Year
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-211 – Service of Demand or Notice
5
Office of the Illinois Courts. Eviction
6
Illinois Attorney General. Landlord and Tenant Rights and Laws
7
Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Eviction Procedure – Tenant’s Guide
8
FindLaw. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-117 – Expiration of Order
9
City of Chicago. Know Your Rights – Fair Notice Ordinance
10
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 735 ILCS 5/9-118 – Emergency Housing Eviction Proceedings