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* UPDATED x1 * Landlords file suit against Pritzker to allow resumption of evictions

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[Bumped up to Thursday morning for visibility.]

* Press release…

The Illinois Rental Property Owners Association (IRPOA) announces our support of the lawsuit filed by IRPOA members JL Properties Group, Mark Dauenbaugh and Steven Cole, challenging Governor Pritzker’s legal authority to deny housing providers access to the courts.

The Governor’s moratorium on evictions essentially ties the hands of housing providers to enforce our lease agreements. While we agree with the Governor’s intent of protecting renters affected by COVID-19, the Governor’s moratorium also applies to people who are not affected by COVID-19 but are choosing not to pay their rent.

Furthermore, the Governor’s moratorium limits a housing provider’s ability to address lease violations that are related to behavior and not COVID-19

Our members have been and will continue to work to ensure that individuals affected by COVID-19 are given every opportunity to remain in their home. We have been waiving late fees, offering payment plans, and directing tenants to resources for rental assistance. But we need access to the courts for those tenants who have been unresponsive or are violating leases in ways unrelated to COVID-19.

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.

The plaintiff’s attorney James Noonan said “While we share the Governor’s concerns on spreading the virus, we believe the eviction moratorium goes too far. It unnecessarily and unlawfully redistributes the cost of protecting tenants to landlords, who deserve the same protection under Illinois law as other Illinoisans.”

We encourage housing providers from across Illinois to join us in this fight. Financial contributions for legal expenses are welcome and we ask all housing providers to add your voices to the growing number of small businesses who are speaking out about being unfairly burdened by the State’s response to COVID-19.

Established in 1994, the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association is an alliance of a dozen independent rental property owner associations across the State of Illinois. With the hundreds of investor-members and the thousands of dwellings they represent, IRPOA advocates for laws and ordinances that are in the best interests of both the owner and the tenant.

The filing is here.

*** UPDATE *** Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance…

Yesterday a landlord filed a suit challenging Governor Pritzker’s statewide eviction moratorium in Will County. It is noteworthy that the case concerns tenants who have been in violation of their lease prior to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and who, unlike their fellow residents, have lived free rent since then.

While the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance (NBOA) appreciates the struggles that housing providers face during this difficult time in paying for their costs and maintaining their properties, NBOA believes it is always better to work with their residents to find solutions, and to support rental assistance, both of which have been done successfully at the local and statewide level in recent weeks.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 2:01 am

Comments

this has to go hand in hand with the state picking up a prorated portion of the landowners property tax bill for it to be remotely fair.

Comment by Blue Dog Dem Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 7:20 am
“While we agree with the Governor’s intent of protecting renters affected by COVID-19, the Governor’s moratorium also applies to people who are not affected by COVID-19 but are choosing not to pay their rent.”

I’d love to know how one qualifies in IRPOA’s mind as “not affected by COVID-19″ considering that this is the most life-altering worldwide event since either WWII or the 1917-1918 Pandemic at the close of WWI. Do they have renters on the Moon?

Comment by Chambananon Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 7:33 am
How nice of them to agree that we should protect renters who were forced off of jobs due to COVID. If they win this suit they’re evidently going to evict those people with the quickness, of course, but at least they agree in principle!

Comment by Pearly Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 7:42 am
Rental assistance should come from either the state or the city
Making landlords especially small landlords the de facto assistance provider is unfair.

Comment by DuPage Saint Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 8:38 am
“It unnecessarily and unlawfully redistributes the cost of protecting tenants to landlords, who deserve the same protection under Illinois law as other Illinoisans.”

Oo, they really got me with that. The governor needs to come up with something creative here. Because as much as I hate to see someone cast out into the street, the costs of housing people for free is just too high and unfairly burdensome.

Comment by Ducky LaMoore Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 9:01 am
I get it. I really do. I’m sure there are some taking advantage of the moratorium. But, I don’t trust landlords to not start throwing everyone out of on their rear ends.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 9:14 am
Please note- the ban on FILING eviction lawsuits is much different than the banning of ENFORCING eviction judgments. Under the filing ban landlords cannot get the court process started. A process that can take many months start to finish (especially in Cook County). A landlord who files a case in August will very likely not get their judgment enforced (once they met their burden in court) until 2021 sometime- at least in Cook. I can’t speak to the rest of state.

Comment by Count Floyd Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 9:47 am
Demoralized - Why would landlords be evicting people for fun? Doesn’t that hurt their bottom line?

Comment by Just Me 2 Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 9:51 am
== Why would landlords be evicting people for fun? Doesn’t that hurt their bottom line?==

Strawman argument. No one said landlords evict people for fun. Replacing a renter who can’t pay the rent with someone who can pay the rent doesn’t “hurt one’s bottom line.” It helps one’s bottom line.

Comment by All this Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 10:47 am
Does the sheriff’s office even have the manpower and time to do evictions now? What about the court system?

Comment by cermak_rd Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 10:53 am
==No one said landlords evict people for fun. Replacing a renter who can’t pay the rent with someone who can pay the rent doesn’t “hurt one’s bottom line.” It helps one’s bottom line.==

And it’s not just failure to pay rent for an extended period of time that gets you evicted. (maybe some cut you slack if you miss a month, provided that you let them know). At a lot of places, if you are doing drugs or other actions that threaten the quality of life of other tenants, they can still evict you even if you are paying the rent regularly on time. Eviction can also sometimes occur if a rental house or apartment building is sold from one landlord to another.

Comment by Chatham Resident Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 10:54 am
== It is noteworthy that the case concerns tenants who have been in violation of their lease prior to the current COVID-19 pandemic,==

With that update I absolutely support their ask.

Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 11:31 am
I am a landlord, whose evictions are luckily low. Per my attorney, filing is only the first challenge. The Court will be backed up. The Sheriff will be backed up. We expect the whole process to cause well over six months of lost rent per defaulting tenant. Don’t get me wrong, I am very sympathetic to people in need. I can take moderate losses, but please no more eviction extensions.

Comment by Southwest Sider Thursday, Jun 25, 20 @ 1:25 pm