Pritzker Signs Anti-Squatter Law After State Rep's Neighbors Targeted

CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill this week clarifying that police can remove squatters from a property before a court eviction process concludes, formalizing the law just days after news broke that a local legislator was struggling with squatters next door.

“This outdated eviction law has treated squatters the same as tenants, leaving property owners in limbo and tying the hands of law enforcement,” the governor said Monday in a news release.

“This bill delivers long-overdue clarity, closes dangerous legal loopholes, and ensures that trespassers can no longer manipulate the system to delay removal from properties they never had any right to occupy in the first place.”

Currently, Illinois law does not distinguish between overstaying tenants and squatters if a squatter claims to be a tenant or owner, according to Pritzker's office. A person occupying a property with no legal right to do so cannot be evicted by police until a court eviction process has concluded, leaving squatters with the right to remain on the property during often-lengthy legal procedures, the governor's office said.

The new law, known as Senate Bill 1563, will take effect on Jan. 1, and will clarify police's ability to enforce trespassing laws as well as establish a clear distinction between lawful tenants and unlawful squatters.

Prizker signed the bill less than a week after WLS reported that squatters had moved into a house next door to state Rep. Marcus Evans, a Chicago Democrat who lives in the Avalon Park neighborhood. The home’s owners had recently listed the house for sale, but when they stopped by to check on it, the locks were changed and a family they didn’t know was living inside, according to WLS.

“My community is full of hard working MORTGAGE and RENT paying citizens who believe in working, NOT stealing and scheming. We don’t support crooks who prey on hardworking people,” Evans wrote Monday in a Facebook post.

“What I experienced was evil, devastating and traumatizing. We all need to vehemently condemn the evil action of squatting on folks property and I am committed to fighting in my role as State Representative and Avalon Park (8th Ward of Chicago) homeowner.”