City To Publish 'Bad Landlords' List
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 13, 2015 7:00PM
Do you have a landlord who waits until at least two inches of snow are recorded before turning on the heat? Have you complained about a leaky faucet or a weak spot in the living room floor only to hear your landlord answer "I'll get to it." Do you pay rent and not see your landlord invest back in his buildings and provide his or her tenants with the best possible apartments to call home?
If so, they may wind up on the city's latest naughty list. The Emanuel administration announced plans to list the names of building owners with three cases filed against them in Administrative Hearings court the past two year. The announcement came after an emergency hearing last Friday where the owners of 20 properties were forced to restore heat to their buildings during the recent run of single digit weather.
In addition to publicly shaming these building owners, the list is intended to be of use for judges to get a bigger picture of the cases they're hearing. The city will penalize the landlords who make the list and those building owners will not be able to buy "city land, zoning changes, business licenses and any building permits unrelated to addressing their violations," according to a statement by the city. The city also plans on pursuing landlords who refuse to show up for court hearings. Owners run the risk of losing their properties if they refuse to improve their properties after the list is published.
Housing cases in Administrative Hearings court typically involve a lack of heat in apartments, illegal porches, non-functioning or nonexistent smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and other violations. Expect the list to be published in the next two weeks. It will be updated quarterly.