November 18, 2020 – Governor Pritzker has extended the Illinois eviction ban through 2020, but he also added restrictions that rental owner advocates say will root out bad actors looking to take advantage of their landlords. Illinois previously had no requirements for tenants to show that they are unable to pay rent in order to dodge being evicted.
The Governor changed that last week when he filed an executive order that requires to tenant to certify the following:
Make less than $99,000 ($198,000 if filing jointly)
Didn’t receive an Economic Impact Payment pursuant to Section 2001 of the CARES Act.
Are unable to make a full rent or housing payment due to a COVID-19 related hardship including, loss of income, compensable hours or wages, or an increase in out-of-pocket expenses related to COVID-19.
Are making an effort to pay their rent as best as possible.
Would likely be homeless if evicted due to no other available housing options.
The requirements mirror that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium requirements.
The National Multifamily Housing Council tracks rent payments for over 11 million properties. The council found that over 94% of renters that it tracked had paid rent for the month of October 2020, which was a 1.8 percentage point difference from the same month in 2019.
