Illinois Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

735 ILCS 5/9-209 requires a written demand giving the tenant not less than 5 days after service to pay the rent demanded. These are calendar days and weekends and holidays count. The notice must state the amount due and must prominently include the statutory sentence that only full payment of the rent demanded will waive the landlord's right to terminate, unless the landlord agrees in writing to continue the lease for a partial payment. Under 735 ILCS 5/9-211 you may serve it personally, by leaving it with someone aged 13 or older residing at or in possession of the premises, by certified or registered mail with a return receipt from the addressee, or by posting if no one is in actual possession.

735 ILCS 5/9-210 provides a 10-day notice to quit when the tenant defaults on any term of the lease. Read it carefully: it is a notice to quit, not a notice to cure, and state law gives the tenant no statutory right to fix the problem and stay. Chicago and suburban Cook County are different — both local ordinances give the tenant a right to cure within the 10 days, which covers a large share of Illinois small landlords.

735 ILCS 5/9-207 requires 30 days' written notice to end a month-to-month tenancy and 7 days for week-to-week. Illinois has no statewide just-cause requirement. Chicago's Fair Notice Ordinance overrides this with a tiered rule for non-renewal or any rent increase — 30 days for tenancies under 6 months, 60 days for 6 months to 3 years, and 120 days for 3 years or more — and the Cook County RTLO requires 60 days' notice of non-renewal in suburban Cook County.

Evictions are filed in the Circuit Court of the county where the property is located. Fees vary widely by county and by whether you also seek money damages — roughly $237 in Cook County for possession plus under $15,000 in rent and about $432 above that, and about $300 in DuPage. Add sheriff service, about $60 per defendant in Cook, and a separate fee to place the eviction order with the sheriff.

Illinois evictions do not use a fixed answer deadline. The clerk issues a summons setting a return or appearance date not less than 7 nor more than 40 days after issuance, and the tenant preserves the right to contest by filing an Appearance and, where applicable, an Answer on or before that first court date.

An uncontested case commonly runs about five to eight weeks: 5 days of notice, one to two weeks to file and serve, a return date usually set a couple of weeks out, and then a stay of 7 to 14 days on the order of possession before the sheriff can act. Cook County and Chicago run slower because of case volume and the extra ordinance requirements, while many downstate counties move faster.

Only the county sheriff acting on a court order may remove a tenant in Illinois. Changing locks, removing doors, putting belongings out, or shutting off heat, water, gas, or electricity is an unlawful self-help eviction under the Eviction Article, 735 ILCS 5/9-101 et seq., which requires that entry be made peaceably and only where the law allows it. Statewide the tenant sues for actual damages, but the Rental Property Utility Service Act, 765 ILCS 735, adds a full abatement of rent for every month the utility was off plus consequential damages, and statutory damages of up to $300 per tenant where the landlord acted with deliberate or reckless indifference. Chicago's RLTO independently lets a locked-out tenant recover two months' rent or twice the actual damages, whichever is greater, plus attorney's fees.

Effective January 1, 2026, HB 3566 bars naming minors as defendants in an eviction case; a violation gets the case dismissed and the record sealed, and willful or wanton violations expose the landlord to a $1,000 statutory penalty plus actual damages and attorney's fees. Also effective January 1, 2026, Public Act 103-1031 requires every new or renewed lease to carry a state-issued Summary of Rights under the Safe Homes Act as its first page, and SB 1563 clarifies that the Eviction Act does not limit police enforcement of criminal trespass laws. The statutory 5-day, 10-day, and 30-day notice periods were not changed.

Location decides your notice periods in Illinois more than the state statute does. Chicago's RLTO and Fair Notice Ordinance and the Cook County RTLO layer longer termination notices and a right to cure on top of state law, and the Cook County RTLO exempts owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer, which is exactly the profile of many small landlords — check whether you are exempt before assuming either set of rules applies. A second trap: statewide, accepting partial rent does not void your 5-day notice if it carries the statutory full-payment language, but under Chicago's ordinance accepting any partial back rent waives your claim to the rest demanded in that notice. Finally, if the property is titled to an LLC or corporation, Illinois courts will require you to hire an attorney to prosecute the eviction; only an individual owner can appear pro se.

• 735 ILCS 5/9-209
• 735 ILCS 5/9-210
• 735 ILCS 5/9-207