Fraudulent Leases

OK, this is a long one, but it’s making me nuts right now. I have seen A BUNCH of fraudulent leases on foreclosed properties recently, where the leasee gets bilked out of a lot of money in good faith with no recourse. The person purporting to be the landlord will have keys to a vacant property and the person walking in has no idea that the person they are speaking to has no right to the property. Do a quick title search when you rent property. You can go to the Cook County Assessor site and do a PIN search http://cookcountyassessor.com/Search/Property-Search.aspx

 Then, take the PIN you get from there and check the Cook County Recorder of Deeds http://cookrecorder.com/

 This will let you know if there is a Lis Pidens (a foreclosure in the works) or if the person you are leasing from actually owns the building. It takes a few minutes and will potentially save you from a horrible fraudulent scam! Love and light, my darlings 

Does the sheriff evict in the winter?

Does the Cook County Sheriff evict in the winter? Despite what seems to be the commonly held belief to the contrary, the sheriff absolutely DOES evict in the winter. There is what is called the “moratorium,”  a prohibition on evictions during the holidays, that typically lasts from December 15th through January 2nd. The sheriff will not evict during that time frame. Outside that time frame, the sheriff will not evict if the temperature falls below 15 degrees. If it is a really cold winter, the sheriff will evict far fewer people. If the winter is warm, evictions will proceed as usual after the moratorium is over. Don’t get caught out in the cold thinking that the sheriff won’t evict you in the winter! They absolutely will.