2026-09-10 · Illinois · Legislation

What happened. SB 1563 was signed July 21, 2025 as Public Act 104-0029, effective January 1, 2026. It amends 735 ILCS 5/9-102 by adding a savings clause.¹

Nothing in Article IX may be construed to prohibit law enforcement from enforcing the criminal trespass offense under the Criminal Code, or to interfere with law enforcement's ability to remove persons or property from premises where there is a criminal trespass.

What it does not do

Three things, and each has been claimed for it somewhere:

• It does not create a summary removal procedure. There is no new expedited track, no affidavit process, no self-help remedy.
• It does not define “squatter.” The word does not appear.
• It does not alter any of the eleven grounds in 9-102(a) — including subsection (a)(7), the condominium ground under which an association sues a unit owner who fails to pay their proportionate share of common expenses, other lawfully agreed expenses, or any unpaid fine.

The line it clarifies

The practical question this addresses is one that police officers and property managers have argued about at doorways for years: when someone is in a unit with no lease and no claim of right, is that a criminal matter the police can resolve, or a civil matter requiring a sixty-day eviction case?

1. Public Act 104-0029 (SB 1563), eviction and criminal trespass, full text ↩
2. SB 1563 bill status, Illinois General Assembly ↩