Designed to help tenants and lessees from being evicted during the pandemic, the moratorium had the unintended consequence of making it really hard to get rid of unwanted guests.
South Side homeowner Clarice Mason told CBS2 Chicago she has been trying to get three squatters out of her home for almost a year. And though CBS2 can confirm her name is on the deed for the house and Cook County records show she is the taxpayer, police have been unable to help her remove the women. Police have told her it's a civil matter, and they were unable to act.
Michael Zink, an eviction attorney, told CBS2 that Gov. Pritzker's eviction moratorium grants rights to tenants, lessees, and also residents. The problems can begin when a resident is defined as someone who has spent one night and made a claim on a residence.
Mason's story may sound bizarre, but it's not the only one. There have been multiple reports of Chicago homeowners with unwanted guests that just won't leave.
On the North Side of Chicago, Todd Woolman is dealing with two squatters that refuse to vacate his home. He told NBC5 Chicago that he had asked one of the men to house sit for him while he cared for a sick relative.
Woolman was gone from his home for two months. During that time, his house sitter invited a second man to stay with him. And when Woolman returned home, the men refused to leave.
Woolman told NBC5, "They established residency while I was gone. Which means they had their addresses changed to my address."
It was winter at the time and Woolman said he felt bad about kicking them out in cold weather and during the pandemic. So he gave them time to find a place to stay. However, according to Woolman, they never left. It grew increasingly worse as one of the men began to drink heavily.
Woolman tried changing the locks on his condo and calling Chicago police. However, the police made Woolman give the men keys to the new locks.
During the moratorium on evictions, when squatters have established residency, it's very hard to remove them legally without a formal court proceeding.
Woolman moved out of his home in April and went to court to get the pair evicted. His request was granted, and on May 18th, the men were given two weeks to vacate the premises.
Meanwhile, Woolman has stopped paying the electric bill and had gas service terminated. This hasn't stopped the men, however. They ran an extension cord out the window to an exterior outlet on the building.
In yet another squatter incident, residents in a Rogers Park condo lived in a building with an illegal squatter with mental health issues.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported neighbors had complained of loud noises at night that grew increasingly hostile. Police were frequently called due to disturbances.
At one point, a couple living in a neighboring condo reported seeing a claw hammer coming through the wall of their bedroom from the squatter's side.
The man was taken to a psychiatric hospital for mental health issues. When he left, neighbors discovered a frightening scene of dismantled appliances, plastic covering the walls, torn drywall, and homemade weapons.
While the man was gone, the condo board changed the locks. But when he returned after his release, he asked for a key. Police said the lockout was "illegal" and ordered the condo board to give it to him.
In the end, the condo board sued the unit's owner, Greenspire Capital. After the original eviction order and the new lawsuit ended up in court, the man finally agreed to move out. But, only if Greenspire paid him $1,400. Which they did.
According to Attorney Zink, “If the police don’t know who’s telling the truth, which is what happens most of the time, they’re going to tell the property owner, ‘You’ll have to take them to eviction court."
Zink believes the governor's eviction moratorium should remove the word "resident" or define it more narrowly.