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?
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.
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.