Fishman sent her maintenance man to deliver a ten-day eviction notice to her door.

Yeah, that’s not legal. Hope the tenant finds a good lawyer.

Mun. Code Ch. 5-12-170: Under the 2020 revisions of the RLTO (“Fair Notice Ordinance”), Landlords must provide a tenant that is not in the eviction process: • 30 days of notice to terminate a month-to-month tenancy, decline to renew your lease or raise your rent if you have lived in your apartment for less than six months. • 60 days of notice for the same if you have lived in your apartment for more than six months but less than three years.

One of the high-points in my life was having a landlord show up with the local sheriffs to try and force an eviction that up until this point had only been verbal. I happily showed them the state’s tenant laws that said “30 days after written notice is provided” and had a lawyer friend on speed dial if they had any questions. Landlord got so belligerent that the sheriffs escorted them off instead.

Landlords can’t legally remove someone from a unit until they’ve filed in court and a judge orders the Cook County Sheriff’s Office to enforce the eviction.

Sounds like he’d have to go through a judge first too.

True, at the end of a ten day (or 30 day) notice, the landlord can go to court to force the tenant out. This process will take a while, but it will immediately blacklist the tenant and make it much harder for them to find a new rental.

So in practice, it’s often better to leave before the landlord goes to court.