Residential Landlord Evictions and Rental Assistance After Covid in Will County

 Posted on October 21, 2022 in Residential Landlord Evictions

Procedures for Residential Eviction for Romeoville, Will County

An eviction is the process of getting a court order to remove a tenant and other occupants from a rental property. A court order is required to evict someone from a property. In Will County, the Sheriff will schedule the eviction. In Will County, the Sheriff will then schedule a date to conduct the eviction. The time to execute an eviction and evict a tenant varies.

Summary process is the court case a property owner files to get a court order. An order of possession is the court order that allows a property owner to evict a tenant. The Will County Sheriff is Sheriff’s Office to evict a tenant and their belongings out of the property after the order of possession court order expires. 

The Illinois (IL) Rental Payment Program (“ILRPP”) is administered through the Illinois Housing Development Authority. The Illinois Rental Assistance Program (“IRAP”) unlike ILRPP is open and is accepting eligible participants on a rolling basis.  IRAP provides housing assistance to tenants and direct financial assistance to property owners. IRAP offers security for tenants and financial assistance for property owners. The program provides housing assistance to tenants and directly to property owners with the objective of providing housing security for tenants. 

Residential Rental Assistance in Will County, Illinois

Rental Assistance Programs in Will County and the State of Illinois are limited to residential evictions. Residential landlords may choose to reject or accept the Illinois Rental Payment Program. Below is a list of cities in Will County that may be eligible for residential rental assistance through Will County (or the State of Illinois:

         * Crete

         * Mokena

         * Frankfort

         * Elwood

         * Naperville

         * Lockport

         * Channahon

         * Bolingbrook

         * Joliet

         * Plainfield

         * Shorewood

         * Crest Hill

A benefit of the rental assistance program is public payment of back-owed rent. A key obstacle for residential property owners is the tenant’s follow-through to meet the guidelines of the rental assistance program. Most Tenants do not follow the program guidelines nor comply with the regulations for assistance (without court intervention). Most Tenants (where landlords are considering eviction) do not follow the program guidelines nor comply with the regulations for assistance. Residential landlords with an attorney scare tenants into compliance. The court process provides accountability for tenants that have either failed to pay the rent or communicate with the landlord. 

Process to Obtain Rental Payments from ILRPP

 Residential Landlords at times will seek legal advice regarding their options and whether they should accept the ILRPP. If the landlord decides to accept rental assistance, then the application process will commence. The landlord and tenant will need to work together to complete the application and must abide by the following steps:

Completed by Tenant

1. Visit ilrpp.ihda.org and submit:

• Court Summons Information
• Your Name & Email Address
• Landlord Name & Landlord Email Address
• Rental Unit Information
• Lease Information
• Previous COVID Assistance (if received)
• Amounts of Past Due Rent

2. After completing Section I, the Tenant will receive an email from DocuSign within 24 hours with instructions to complete Section II. Please monitor your email, including spam and junk folders.

I would put the above into paragraph form. I would combine steps one and two and create a sub-heading saying something like “Completed by Tenant” then the next sub-heading would be “Completed by Landlord” – Please apply this to all three sub-sections and put into paragraph form clearly detailing the steps. I am not sure if you need to do a complete step-by-step guide, but more of a general overview of what is required by each party.

Section II – Completed by Tenant

1. Click REVIEW DOCUMENTS in the DocuSign email

2. Click CONTINUE, upload your documents, and enter:

• Government-issued Photo ID (regardless of expiration date)
• Proof of Address dated within 90 days Income Information or a completed and signed Income Attestation Form
• Eviction Court Document 

3. Copy down your Application ID # located at the top left side of the page

4. If you need to finish your application later, please click FINISH LATER

5.  Submit application by clicking FINISH – changes should not be made once the application has been submitted

6. Once you have submitted Section II, the Landlord will receive an email from DocuSign within 24 hours with instructions to complete Section III

Section II – Completed by Housing Provider/Landlord

1. Click REVIEW DOCUMENTS in the DocuSign email.

2. Click CONTINUE, upload your documents, and enter:

• Grant Payment Information (who grant should be paid to)
• SSN or ITIN (if payment is made to an individual)
• Employer ID Number (if payment is made to a business entity)
• Eviction Court Document 

3. Copy down your Application ID # located at the top left side of the page

4. If you need to finish your application later, please click FINISH LATER

5. The property owner must click FINISH to submit Section III – changes should not be made once the application has been submitted.

Both Tenant and Housing Provider/Landlord MUST submit their Sections of the application to be eligible for review. The tenant or the landlord cannot unilaterally decide to seek rental assistance. There must be an agreement between the landlord and tenant to seek rental assistance. In Will County, residential property owners should strongly consider accepting rental assistance. Illinois Rental Assistance is the program for tenants with loss of income. 

Property owners should always consider the benefits and downfalls of rental assistance, specifically whether a tenant is likely to comply with the ILRPP rental assistance rules and regulations. The court process provides accountability for tenants and requires follow through with time deadlines. This form of accountability is done through compliance hearings based on a settlement agreement between the property owner and tenant (reword this to make better)

The time deadlines result in strict compliance with ILRPP rules and regulations. Residential evictions with tenants requiring government assistance are often unqualified tenants. Unqualified tenants are likely to face eviction proceedings in the future due to their lack of strong qualifications. 

Strong tenant applicants have good credit scores and stable jobs with sufficient income to timely pay the rent. Residential property owners must evaluate whether their tenants are unqualified. An unqualified tenant is a result of a system error of a property owner. The system error is accepting the wrong tenants. Proper tenant selection prevents evictions. Evictions are costly for landlords. Most of the time in an attorney's experience the tenants do not comply with the rules and regulations. In most of these cases, accepting rental assistance only prolongs the eviction process and creates a hassle, both in time and money, for the landlord.

Eviction Notices for Will County

The first type of eviction notice is called a five-day notice, which is used when a tenant is not paying their rent. To do so, the proprietor must first serve the tenant a 5-Day Notice in writing to pay rent or vacate the premises. If five days has passed and the tenant has not vacated or paid the amount in full, the landlord has the right to terminate the tenant’s lease. If the tenant does not pay the rent or vacate the property after that time, the landlord can then move forward and file an eviction lawsuit.

The second type of notice is the 30-day notice. The Landlord must provide a 30-day notice when there is no lease or a month-month tenancy. The landlord must wait until the time on the notice has expired before filing suit, which is the end of the next month period. Once the term of the notice has run, the landlord may file a petition for possession of the premises or for both possession and damages (usually meaning unpaid rent). 

Once the five-day or thirty-day notice has been served and the amount of time has passed, the Landlord can file a complaint in forcible entry and detainer in court. A complaint in forcible entry and detainer is the election by a landlord to seek possession of the premises or damages or both possession and unpaid rent damages.

The Sheriff will not schedule an eviction for at least a couple of weeks from the time of filing. However, the scheduling of an eviction could potentially take a month or longer. The Sheriff will enter the premises and supervise the eviction of the tenant. If the tenant has not vacated the premises by the time the eviction day comes around, the Sheriff will enter the premises and supervise while the tenant is evicted. – the sheriff eviction does not take place until after the date on the possession has passed and the tenant is still inside the property. You should insert another paragraph between paragraphs 2 and 3 to discuss the court process for obtaining an order of possession.

Will County Eviction Services for Landlords

Landlord Evictions, LLC is a boutique law firm that specializes in evictions or otherwise known as forcible entry and detainer actions or otherwise known as evictions in Joliet, Crest Hill, Mokena, New Lenox, Plainfield, Shorewood, Bolingbrook, Romeoville, and nearby areas in Will County. Fill out our online form or call us today at 630-780-1034.

Source:

https://ihda.org/about-ihda/illinois-rental-payment-program/