Squatters Rights in Illinois: What They Actually Are and How Owners Remove Squatters
Squatters in Illinois cannot take your property. Ownership requires 20 years of open, continuous possession. Removal runs through eviction court, not the police. One narrow exception covers the true break-in trespasser. For everyone else, you file an eviction case under the Eviction Article (735 ILCS 5/9-101 et seq.). The case ends when the sheriff restores possession to you. Plan on 30 to 60 days outside Chicago. Plan on 45 to 60-plus days in the city. My flat fee for the whole case, notice through sheriff coordination, runs $895 in DuPage County to $1,600 in Chicago.
I handle more than 150 evictions a year across Cook, DuPage, Kane, and Lake counties. Squatter calls are the most panicked calls I get. Nobody tells owners the key fact up front: squatters lose these cases almost every time. Owners lose 30 to 90 days when they do the wrong things first. This article is the map around that lost time.
Do Squatters Have Rights in Illinois?
Illinois law has no box labeled "squatter." Squatters have procedural rights, not ownership rights. An occupant who has established possession may be entitled to notice and a court case before removal. That costs you weeks. It does not cost you the house. When an owner calls me, the person inside is one of three legally distinct animals. The removal path depends entirely on which one you have:
- The true trespasser. Someone broke into your vacant property. There is no lease, no payment, no documents, and no prior permission. That break-in is a crime. It is the only version of "squatter" the police might remove for you.
- The holdover tenant or guest. The lease expired and the tenant stayed. Or your tenant moved out and her boyfriend did not. He is an unauthorized occupant who never signed anything. Or you let a relative "crash for a few weeks" in October, and it is now April. These people had permission at some point. The law treats them as occupants, not trespassers. You must have them evicted through court.
- The occupant claiming color of title. This is the professional version. The occupant hands the responding officer a lease. A scammer often "signed" that lease with them after renting out your vacant house on Facebook Marketplace. The occupant adds mail addressed to the unit and a utility bill in their name. Some are con artists. Some are victims of the con. Either way, the paperwork pushes the fight into civil court.
In my practice, categories two and three are the overwhelming majority. Sometimes the fraud runs the other direction. A person passes your screening and signs your lease under a stolen or invented name. That person is not a squatter. I cover that case in my guide to tenants who use fake identities. Now to the police.
Why Do the Police Keep Saying "It's a Civil Matter"?
Criminal trespass to real property is a crime under 720 ILCS 5/21-3. Criminal trespass to a residence, under 720 ILCS 5/19-4, is more serious still. Call the police for a genuine break-in: fresh pry marks, a stranger with no story. Press the point.
Then the occupant says "I live here." The occupant produces a lease, a piece of mail, or a key that turns. At that moment the officer stops seeing a burglary. The officer sees a possession dispute. Patrol officers may not adjudicate leases on a doorstep. An officer who removes a lawful occupant by mistake creates a civil rights lawsuit for the city. So the officer says "civil matter" and leaves. I do not love it. I understand it.
Does the New 2026 Illinois Squatter Law (SB 1563) Help?
Less than the headlines suggested. Senate Bill 1563 became Public Act 104-29. The Governor approved it on July 21, 2025. It took effect on January 1, 2026. Its entire operative change is one new subsection, 735 ILCS 5/9-102(e): "Nothing in this Article may be construed to prohibit law enforcement officials from enforcing the offense of criminal trespass ... or to interfere with the ability of law enforcement officials to remove persons or property from the premises when there is a criminal trespass." That language confirms one thing. The eviction statute does not tie an officer's hands on a true trespass. That helps with category one.
Read the rest carefully, because much of the coverage got it wrong. Illinois enacted no owner affidavit. Illinois enacted no affidavit form. Illinois enacted no "colorable claim of tenancy" test. The sworn-affidavit procedure is Florida's, under Fla. Stat. § 82.035(3). Illinois has no counterpart. Do not walk into a police station with an affidavit. The affidavit does nothing there. The amendment also does nothing for holdovers and fake-lease occupants. Those occupants still go through eviction court.
I tell the next part to every caller. My office lives with this law weekly. My advice on SB 1563 has stayed the same since it passed.
In Cook County, police do not enforce the new law, even when the facts qualify. A statute that says officers may act does not make a watch commander order a removal. After January 1, departments still treat occupied buildings as civil matters, exactly as before. Plan around the eviction, not the affidavit. The eviction case is the one path that reliably ends with the sheriff restoring possession. That holds no matter what paperwork the occupant waves at the responding officer.
Can I Just Change the Locks or Shut Off the Utilities?
No. This is where owners do themselves the most damage. Every year owners tell me they will just "handle it." They plan to swap the locks while the squatter is out. They plan to kill the power. They plan to stack the belongings in the alley. That plan buys you a lawsuit with your name in the caption.
Illinois has required peaceable, court-ordered recovery of possession for well over a century. Under 735 ILCS 5/9-101, even the rightful owner may not retake property by force. A locked-out occupant can sue for wrongful eviction and damages. Yes, even a fake-lease squatter can sue. A court can often let the occupant back in while your case crawls forward.
In Chicago, RLTO Section 5-12-160 flatly bans lockouts, lock changes, utility interruptions, and removal of doors or belongings. The lockout ban covers every dwelling unit in the city. The RLTO's usual owner-occupied exemptions do not save you here. The fine is not less than $200 nor more than $500. Each day the lockout continues is a separate offense. In a civil suit, the occupant recovers possession of the unit or the belongings. The occupant also recovers up to two months' rent or twice their actual damages, whichever is greater. Attorney fees are not in that section; they come through RLTO § 5-12-180.
Suburban Cook County's Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance bans the same conduct countywide. I defend landlords against RLTO claims regularly. Lockout cases are the hardest to defend. The conduct is usually on the squatter's phone, on video, in 4K. The lockout ban has one lawful exception: a genuine tenant abandonment under the RLTO's strict 21-day and 32-day rules. Abandonment is a different situation from a squatter. I cover the checklist in my guide on what to do when your tenant abandons the property.
The math is simple. My flat fee to evict runs $895 to $1,600. A lockout claim starts north of that. It grows by the day.
How Do I Remove a Squatter in Illinois?
Removing a squatter is procedurally an eviction. I run it the same way I run the standard Illinois eviction process. Five steps end it:
Serve the written demand or notice.
Serve a trespasser or fake-lease occupant with a demand for immediate possession. Serve a holdover month-to-month occupant with a 30-day notice. In Chicago, the Fair Notice rules can stretch that to 60 or 120 days for long-term occupants. Pick the correct notice. The wrong notice is where do-it-yourself cases die. Free 5-day, 30-day, and Demand for Immediate Possession forms are in my notice library.
File the eviction complaint.
File in the county where the property sits. Filing fees run $389.25 in Cook County and $298.00 in DuPage.
Serve the occupant.
Use a private special process server, not the sheriff. I always do. A squatter who dodges service can stall a case for weeks.
Go to court.
Most squatters never file an appearance. I take a default judgment. The ones with fake leases must explain the lease to a judge. That goes about how you would expect.
Get the Order for Possession. Then send the sheriff.
Only the sheriff may physically remove the occupant. This is the one government line you cannot skip.
The realistic total is 30 to 60 days outside Chicago. Plan on 45 to 60-plus days in the city. Add time when the sheriff's eviction queue backs up. The queue carries its own trap. Under 735 ILCS 5/9-117, no one may enforce an eviction order more than 120 days after entry. The court can extend that deadline on your motion. A long sheriff backlog can outlive the order itself. I cover the backlog and the extension motion in my article on sheriff eviction delays and the 120-day expiration. Every form, notice, and checklist I use is in my free eviction resources library.
"The police said it's a civil matter. Fine. I file the civil matter, and I file it this week."
Squatter Removal, Flat Fee: $1,600 in Chicago, $895 in DuPage. Notice Through Sheriff.
Send me the property address. Tell me what you know about the person inside. I will name the squatter category you have. I will name the notice that ends it. I will quote the exact flat fee for your county before you commit to anything.
All consultations are confidential.
What About Adverse Possession? Can a Squatter Ever Own My Property?
The internet has convinced half of Chicagoland that a squatter who lasts 30 days "gets rights." The rumor says a squatter who lasts long enough gets the deed. No.
Adverse possession in Illinois requires 20 years of continuous, open, notorious, exclusive, and hostile possession (735 ILCS 5/13-101). Shorter seven-year routes exist. None of them is open to a squatter. Two routes (735 ILCS 5/13-109 and 13-110) require color of title made in good faith. They also require payment of all taxes legally assessed for those seven years. Your squatter is not paying your tax bill. The third route (735 ILCS 5/13-107) requires no tax payment. It demands seven successive years of actual residence under "a connected title, deductible of record." A break-in occupant by definition does not have that. Nobody acquires your three-flat by holding out for a summer.
The 30-day rumor garbles procedure, not ownership. An occupant who has established possession may be entitled to notice and a court case before removal. That costs you weeks. It does not cost you the house.
How Do I Keep Squatters Out of a Vacant Property?
Nearly every fake-lease case I file started with a property that sat visibly empty. The property sat between tenants, during probate, or mid-rehab. If that is you, take these steps:
- Change the locks the day the property goes vacant. Use a smart lock or a lockbox with an access log.
- Put lights on timers. Keep cameras, with visible signage, on every entrance.
- Have someone walk the interior weekly: a neighbor, your contractor, your agent. Fresh eyes beat alarm systems.
- Forward the mail. A stuffed mailbox is an invitation.
- Search your own address on Zillow, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace monthly. Rental scams reuse real photos of real vacant houses.
- Keep the utilities on in your name. Watch for usage spikes. A spike is often the first sign someone has moved in.
What Happens When You Hire Me?
You call. The same week, I verify your ownership. I identify which of the three categories your occupant falls into. I get the correct notice or demand served properly, by a process server, not taped to the door. Then I file the case. I push for the earliest court date. I negotiate in parallel. With squatters I sometimes recommend a small cash-for-keys offer. The offer can beat the sheriff's queue by a month. You are buying time, not forgiving sins.
My flat fees cover the whole arc from the notice through coordinating the sheriff. The fee is $895 in DuPage County. The fee is $895 to $1,250 in suburban Cook, depending on the municipal district. The fee is $995 in Kane. The fee is $1,600 in Chicago. Court costs are extra. The complete cost breakdown is in my article on what an eviction lawyer costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the police ever remove a squatter in Illinois?
Yes, for a true criminal trespass. That means a recent break-in by someone with no claim of tenancy and no paperwork (720 ILCS 5/21-3; 720 ILCS 5/19-4). Senate Bill 1563 became Public Act 104-29, effective January 1, 2026. It added 735 ILCS 5/9-102(e). The new subsection confirms that the eviction statute does not stop police from enforcing criminal trespass. It created no owner affidavit; that device belongs to Florida law. Bring your deed or mortgage. Be ready to show there is no lease. Once the occupant claims tenancy or shows any lease, expect a civil-matter answer. Then call an eviction lawyer.
Does the new 2026 Illinois squatter law mean police will remove squatters now?
Not in my experience. Senate Bill 1563 only confirms that the eviction statute does not stop police from enforcing criminal trespass. It created no removal procedure and no owner affidavit. In Cook County, my office has not seen police enforce it, even on facts that qualify. Plan around the eviction, not the affidavit. Get the correct notice served. Get the case filed. That path ends with the sheriff restoring possession.
How long does it take to evict a squatter in Chicago?
Plan on 45 to 60-plus days from filing through sheriff enforcement. Add any notice period on the front end. Suburban counties usually run 30 to 60 days. Squatters frequently default by not showing up to court. A default shortens the middle of the case.
Can a squatter actually take ownership of my property?
Realistically, no. Illinois adverse possession requires 20 years of qualifying possession. Two shorter seven-year routes exist. One route requires color of title plus payment of all the property taxes for those seven years. The other route requires seven years of actual residence under a title connected of record. A squatter has none of those. A squatter who occupies your property for months has procedural rights at most, never the deed.
Do squatters get rights after 30 days in Illinois?
No. The 30-day rumor is false. Illinois has no rule that gives a squatter rights after 30 days. Ownership by adverse possession requires 20 years of open and continuous possession. A squatter at day 30 has no path to your deed. You remove that squatter through the eviction process, the same as any other occupant.
Can I just shut off the utilities and wait them out?
No. Utility shutoffs are illegal self-help eviction statewide. In Chicago they violate RLTO 5-12-160. The fine is $200 to $500 for each day the shutoff continues. The occupant also recovers two months' rent or twice their actual damages, whichever is greater. Attorney fees are available under RLTO 5-12-180. A shutoff converts a winnable eviction into a lawsuit where you are the defendant.
If someone is squatting in your property right now, every week of waiting is money gone. Call me at (630) 839-9195 or book a free 30-minute phone consultation. I will identify which kind of case you have. I will get the right notice served this week. The consultation is free. The lockout lawsuit you avoid is the expensive part.