Went to the Cook County eviction court last Tuesday. Surprised by what I saw.

I had to go to the Daley Center for a landlord-tenant issue last week. I sat in on a few eviction hearings and noticed almost nobody had a lawyer. The judge moved through cases real fast, like maybe 2 minutes each. If you don't know the right forms or deadlines, you're sunk. Has anyone here had luck representing themselves in housing court?

3 comments

3 Comments

brookeellis3d ago

Cringe reading that, I've definitely been the one with the handwritten note before.

val_ramirez3d ago

my buddy mark tried to do it himself last year. he showed up with a handwritten note and the judge barely looked at it before ruling against him. the landlord had a lawyer who just rattled off some legal terms and that was it. took maybe 90 seconds. mark said he felt like he was in a different country.

phoenix_martin403d ago

Val_ramirez I get where youre coming from but I think different people have totally different luck with this stuff. My cousin tried the same thing in small claims and the judge actually helped him fill out a form wrong, walked him through it step by step. Depends a lot on the judge and how backed up the court is that day. Handwritten notes probably just look rushed and unprepared, not necessarily wrong.