To evict someone in Illinois, you serve the tenant a written notice with the correct number of days, wait for that period to expire, file an eviction lawsuit in the circuit court for the county where the property sits, prove your case at a hearing, and then hand the Judgment for Possession to the county sheriff for physical enforcement. No landlord in Illinois can legally remove a tenant without a court order and a sheriff. Start to finish, the process usually runs several weeks to a few months depending on the county’s docket and whether the tenant fights back.
Choose the Right Notice
Everything downstream depends on serving the correct written notice. Illinois recognizes three main grounds, each with its own notice.
Five-Day Notice for Unpaid Rent
Under 735 ILCS 5/9-209, if the tenant is behind on rent, you serve a written demand stating the exact amount owed and giving at least five days to pay.1Illinois General Assembly. 735 ILCS 5/9-209 – Demand for Rent – Eviction Action Full payment within those five days ends the matter and you cannot move forward. Partial payment is a trap: if you accept some rent and your notice does not include the specific statutory warning that only full payment waives your right to terminate, a court can treat the lease as reinstated. This single mistake sinks otherwise solid cases.
Ten-Day Notice for Lease Violations
When the problem is a lease breach rather than unpaid rent, use a 10-day notice under 735 ILCS 5/9-210 that describes the violation with specifics.2Illinois General Assembly. 735 ILCS 5/9-210 – Notice to Quit “Noise” will not survive a hearing. “Loud music from the unit at 3 a.m. on [date]” will. Depending on the violation, the notice may give the tenant a chance to cure or simply end the lease at the end of the 10 days.3Office of the Illinois Courts. Notice of Termination for Lease Violation
Thirty-Day or Seven-Day Notice to End a Tenancy
If the tenant has not done anything wrong and you simply want the property back, 735 ILCS 5/9-207 requires 30 days’ written notice for a month-to-month tenancy and 7 days for a week-to-week tenancy.4Illinois General Assembly. 735 ILCS 5/9-207 – Notice to Terminate Tenancy for Less Than a Year The notice has to give the tenant enough time to vacate before the next rental period begins.
Use the Illinois Supreme Court’s approved standardized notice forms, which every circuit court in the state must accept.5Office of the Illinois Courts. Eviction Handwritten notices routinely get tossed because they leave off the full property address, all adult occupants, or the specific basis for termination.
Chicago Notice Periods Are Longer
If the property sits inside Chicago, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance overrides state law for no-cause terminations. The notice depends on how long the tenancy has run:
- Less than six months: 30 days’ written notice
- Six months to three years: 60 days’ written notice
- More than three years: 120 days’ written notice
A Chicago landlord who fails to give the required notice must let the tenant stay up to 60 additional days (or 120 for tenancies over three years) after finally providing proper notice, no matter what the lease says.6American Legal Publishing. Chicago Municipal Code 5-12-130 – Landlord Remedies For nonpayment, Chicago follows the same 5-day rule as the rest of Illinois.
Serve the Notice Correctly
You cannot tape the notice to the door and be done with it, with one narrow exception. The accepted delivery methods:
- Personal service: handing it directly to the tenant
- Substitute service: leaving it with a household member at least 13 years old
- Certified or registered mail with return receipt
- Posting on the door, but only when no one is in actual possession of the property
Improper service is grounds for dismissal.7Illinois Legal Aid Online. Personal Service of a Written Eviction Notice Write down when, how, and to whom you delivered the notice, because you will have to prove it later. And do not file anything in court until the full notice period has run. Filing even a day early gets the case rejected and forces you to restart the notice.
File the Eviction Case
Once the notice period expires without payment or compliance, file suit in the circuit court for the county where the property is located. Illinois requires electronic filing through eFileIL for civil cases.8State of Illinois Office of the Illinois Courts. eFileIL – Statewide E-Filing Two documents go in: a Complaint laying out the facts and legal grounds, and a Summons that tells the tenant when to appear.
Filing fees vary by county and by whether you are seeking possession alone or possession plus back rent. Possession-only filings generally run about $109 to $140. Filings that also seek unpaid rent run $275 to $390 or more depending on the amount claimed. Cook County sits higher than most downstate counties. Landlords who cannot afford the fees can submit an Application for Waiver of Court Fees, and a judge decides based on income.9Office of the Illinois Courts. Fee Waiver for Civil Cases The clerk assigns a case number and a hearing date once the filing is accepted.
Serve the Summons and Complaint
Filing is not enough. The tenant has to be formally notified of the lawsuit itself, and this is a separate step from the pre-suit notice. The Summons and a copy of the Complaint must be delivered by an authorized third party, usually the county sheriff or a licensed private process server. You cannot hand them over yourself.
Service happens either by direct delivery to the tenant or by leaving the papers with a household member at least 13 years old. The server then files a sworn affidavit with the court confirming delivery. Without that affidavit on file, the judge cannot rule against the tenant.
The Hearing and the Possession Order
At the hearing, the judge examines whether you followed the process and whether your grounds hold up. Bring the original lease, a copy of the notice, proof of how and when you served it, and evidence that the tenant did not comply — payment records showing unpaid rent, photos of damage, whatever supports the ground you pled. If the evidence is sufficient and the tenant raises no valid defense, the court enters a Judgment for Possession that returns the property to you.
The order will specify a date by which the tenant must leave. There is no single statutory grace period covering all residential evictions. In standard cases, the judge sets the move-out date at their discretion. Drug-related evictions and emergency housing proceedings cap stays at 7 days. Condominium assessment disputes require a stay of at least 60 days and allow up to 180 days. Tenants can file a motion asking for more time, which pauses sheriff enforcement while the court considers it.
One deadline matters after you win: an eviction order expires 120 days after entry. If you do not have the sheriff enforce it within that window, you have to file a motion to extend.10Illinois General Assembly. 735 ILCS 5/9-117 – Expiration of Order
Defenses the Tenant Might Raise
Expect the tenant to push back. Some defenses genuinely work; knowing them in advance keeps you from walking into one.
- The rent was paid in full within the notice period, or you accepted partial rent without the required warning language in your notice.
- The property was uninhabitable and the loss of value exceeded the rent owed. Tenants can also deduct repair costs (up to $500 or half the monthly rent, whichever is less) if they followed the proper notice-and-repair procedure.
- Retaliation. If the tenant complained about code violations, requested repairs, or joined a tenants’ organization in the year before you filed, the court will presume the eviction was retaliatory, and you have to overcome that presumption with evidence of a legitimate reason.11Illinois General Assembly. 765 ILCS 721 – Landlord Retaliation Act
- Discrimination based on a protected characteristic such as race, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability.
- Defective notice: served improperly, wrong amount, missing required information, or filed before the notice period ran out.
Defective notice succeeds more than any other defense, and it is entirely preventable. If the judge finds a flaw, the case is dismissed and you start over, losing weeks and another filing fee.
Sheriff Enforcement
If the tenant does not leave by the date in the order, take the judgment to the county sheriff’s office to schedule physical enforcement. The sheriff is the only person legally authorized to carry out an eviction in Illinois.12Illinois Attorney General. Landlord and Tenant Rights and Laws
Sheriff fees vary widely. Some counties charge flat rates, others charge by the hour. Costs range from around $50 for a simple lock change to several hundred dollars for a full removal. Kendall County, for example, charges $285; Winnebago County charges $100 per hour with a 30-minute minimum. Call your county sheriff’s office for the current fee schedule before the hearing so nothing surprises you. On the scheduled date, deputies arrive at the property, oversee the tenant’s departure, return possession to you, and typically post a notice on the door confirming the transfer.
Do Not Try a Self-Help Eviction
Changing the locks, removing doors, shutting off water or electricity, or dragging a tenant’s belongings to the curb might seem faster than court. All of it is illegal in Illinois, no matter how much rent is owed or how badly the property has been damaged. Only a sheriff with a court order can remove someone.13Illinois Legal Aid Online. How Eviction Cases Work
A tenant locked out or forced out illegally can sue for damages, and judges are not sympathetic to landlords who take enforcement into their own hands. In Chicago, the RLTO adds separate remedies for lockouts and utility shutoffs. Whatever you thought you were saving by skipping court almost always costs more.
Belongings Left Behind
Tenants sometimes leave things in the unit after the sheriff finishes. How you handle them depends on location. Chicago’s municipal code requires landlords to store the tenant’s property or leave it on the premises for at least 7 days after the tenant vacates, after which you can dispose of it; items worth less than the cost of storage can be discarded immediately. Outside Chicago, Illinois law does not set a clear statutory timeline. The recommended practice is to give the tenant written notice of a reasonable retrieval window, typically 30 days. Photograph the items, note their condition, and keep copies of any communication. Documentation protects you if the tenant later claims you destroyed something valuable.
Check Military Status Before Filing
Before you file, confirm the tenant is not on active military duty. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act bars landlords from evicting active-duty servicemembers or their dependents without a court order when the property is used primarily as a residence and the rent falls below an annually adjusted federal threshold.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress The base was $2,400 per month in 2003 and has been adjusted for housing price inflation every year since; the current figure is published annually in the Federal Register.
If military duties materially affect the servicemember’s ability to pay, a court can pause proceedings for 90 days or longer. The SCRA does not erase the rent obligation, only pauses enforcement when service creates real financial hardship. Evicting an active-duty servicemember without following SCRA procedure exposes you to federal liability, so check the Defense Manpower Data Center’s database if you have any doubt. Properties receiving federal housing subsidies may also carry a 30-day notice requirement for nonpayment under federal rules covering public housing and project-based rental assistance.