The Rent Loss Calculator: What Waiting Is Costing You
Your tenant owes more than one month of rent. You have no signed move-out agreement. In that case, filing is almost always cheaper than waiting. My flat eviction fee is $895 to $1,600 for residential cases in the counties I cover. Court filing fees add $300 to $389. At most Chicagoland rents, one month of nonpayment costs more than that entire legal bill. The calculator below does the arithmetic for your building. Enter your rent, your months of arrears, and your county. It shows what waiting has already cost you and what the cure costs.
Why Does Waiting Always Feel Like the Cheaper Option?
I file 150+ evictions a year. The most expensive files on my desk are never the complicated ones. They are the ones that started three months late.
The pattern repeats the same way every time. The tenant misses a month and apologizes. You are a reasonable person, so you accept the apology. A partial payment lands, then stops. A relative is supposedly wiring money. Each of those conversations feels free, and each one costs you a full month of rent.
The legal fee never moves. It is the same $895 to $1,600 flat number in month one, month four, and month seven. The rent loss compounds monthly. The fee does not.
That is the sunk-cost cycle. I know one way to break it: make the landlord look at the running total. Landlords tell me, "I can't afford a lawyer right now." Those same landlords usually stare at an unpaid balance four or five times my fee. You cannot afford the waiting. The lawyer is the cheap part.
What Is This Tenant Actually Costing You?
Suburban Cook is priced by municipal district: Bridgeview $895; Skokie, Maywood, and Markham $995; Rolling Meadows $1,250. The math below uses the top rate, $1,250, so the comparison never flatters me.
Enter your rent, your months of arrears, and your venue. The results update as you type. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
- Rent lost so far
- Flat legal fee
- Court filing fees (your cost, paid to the clerk)
- $300 to $389
- If you wait 3 more months
Two honest caveats about the tool. First, the tool estimates. Court timelines vary by county and by case. Judges continue cases, and tenants raise defenses. No calculator on the internet knows your courtroom. Second, the tool is not legal advice, and it is not a quote for atypical cases. A jury demand, a heavy counterclaim, or a tenant with a lawyer changes the work. I price those cases individually after we talk. The flat fees are real and published. The projections are arithmetic, nothing more.
One benchmark for your number. The median Chicago filing claimed about $2,390 in back rent, per Lawyers' Committee for Better Housing data, 2019. That is one to two months of rent at most Chicagoland rents. Type your number above and see how you compare.
Compare your total legal cost to one or two more months of rent. If the legal cost is smaller, and you have nothing in writing from the tenant, file. Serve the notice today. The notice period takes days to weeks, and nothing else can start until it runs. I cover the close calls in my guide on whether to wait or file your eviction.
What Does a Real Example Look Like?
Take a two-flat in Logan Square. The rent is $1,800 a month. The tenant stopped paying in April. It is now August. Four months of "next Friday, I promise" have gone by. The waiting has cost $7,200.
My entire flat fee for a Chicago eviction is $1,600, and a contested trial is included. Add the $389 top filing fee. The whole legal bill is $1,989. That is barely more than one of the four months this landlord already donated. Every promise you accept from here costs another $1,800. Each promise costs nearly the full price of a permanent fix.
The calculator does not predict how long your specific case takes, because that honestly varies. For planning, my Chicago eviction guide pegs a contested city case at around 150 days. Some cases settle in as little as eight weeks. My DuPage eviction page runs on a 65-day timeline. The month-by-month framing above is the honest version. Whatever your courthouse does, every month of delay is a month of rent gone before the clock begins.
"I file 150+ evictions a year. The most expensive ones are the ones that started three months late."
Flat Fees From $895. Contested Trial Included. Free Consultation.
Tell me your rent, your county, and the months of arrears. I will quote the exact fee. I will tell you what your courthouse realistically looks like. I will tell you if filing now beats waiting on your facts. If waiting wins, I will say so.
All consultations are confidential.
How Should I Read My Number?
Follow the rule in the navy box under the calculator. Do not "start thinking about it." Serve the notice, and start the clock. My Illinois eviction process guide lays out every step after you file.
I will concede the other side of the table, because it exists. Waiting beats filing in three cases.
- The tenant signed a written agreement to be out by a date certain. Waiting for that date usually beats litigating toward the same result.
- The arrears are actually shrinking, with documented payments two months running. A payment plan can beat a judgment against someone with no assets.
- The tenant has already left, and you own the property in your own name. You may not need me at all for possession.
An LLC cannot file pro se in Illinois. If the building sits in an LLC, the law closes the do-it-yourself route, no matter how simple the case looks. I explain why on my page about LLC court representation.
Everyone else holds four months of promises and a growing number in red. Read your number as a stop-loss order. You would not hold a stock that drops $1,800 every month on a stranger's verbal assurance. Your rental is the same portfolio.
What Does an Eviction Cost in Each Illinois Venue?
The calculator uses these same figures. The flat fee covers the case from notice through contested trial. Court filing fees of $300 to $389 are additional. You pay the filing fees to the clerk.
| Venue | Flat attorney fee | Filing fees (client cost) |
|---|---|---|
| DuPage County | $895 | $300 to $389 |
| Kane County | $995 | $300 to $389 |
| Suburban Cook: Bridgeview | $895 | $300 to $389 |
| Suburban Cook: Skokie, Maywood, Markham | $995 | $300 to $389 |
| Suburban Cook: Rolling Meadows | $1,250 | $300 to $389 |
| City of Chicago | $1,600 | $300 to $389 |
| Commercial (any county) | $2,000 | $300 to $389 |
A contested trial is included at every price above. The fee does not grow because the tenant fights. My page on flat-fee eviction representation in Illinois lists what the flat fee covers and what it excludes. You can also start the clock yourself today. The 5-day, 30-day, and Demand for Immediate Possession forms are free in my eviction resources library. The library is also the hub for every eviction guide on this site. Start there if your question runs past the math.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this calculator accurate?
The fees are exact. They are my published flat fees, and they include a contested trial. The loss figures are arithmetic: your rent multiplied by your months of arrears. They are exactly as accurate as your inputs. The calculator does not predict your case timeline, because timelines vary by county and by case. Treat the output as a decision tool, not a quote. Call me before you rely on it for an unusual case.
What does the flat fee include?
The flat fee covers everything from the notice through a contested trial. I draft and serve the eviction notice. I prepare and file the complaint. I appear at every court date. I negotiate any settlement, and I try the case if the tenant fights. Court filing fees of $300 to $389 are separate, and you pay them to the clerk. Atypical matters, such as a jury demand or a heavy counterclaim, get a separate quote before I start work.
What should I do with my number?
Compare your number to the flat fee for your county. Does one more month of unpaid rent cost more than the entire legal fee? Then the arithmetic has already made the decision. Each new promise you accept is a gift to the tenant. Waiting can still make sense in two cases. The tenant signed an agreement to leave by a specific date. Or the tenant genuinely pays down the arrears. My free 30-minute phone consultation exists to sort your facts into one of those two piles.