{"id":5666,"date":"2015-02-06T13:03:35","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T19:03:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=5666"},"modified":"2015-02-06T13:03:35","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T19:03:35","slug":"chicagos-problem-landlords-list-questioned-by-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicagos-problem-landlords-list-questioned-by-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago\u2019s \u2018problem landlords list&#8217; questioned by experts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Stephanie Choporis<\/p>\n<p>Housing experts and a private building owner are questioning the effectiveness of Chicago\u2019s \u2018problem\u2019 landlords list and the properties selected for the record.<\/p>\n<p>Some think the list is limited in scope and not targeting landlords with the most serious building code violations.<\/p>\n<p>The inaugural list, published on the department of buildings <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cityofchicago.org\/content\/city\/en\/depts\/bldgs\/provdrs\/inspect\/news\/2014\/jan\/-mayor-emanuel--departm-ent-of-buildings-publish-problem-landlor.html\" target=\"_blank\">website<\/a> on Jan. 27, contains 45 residential properties and their landlords. Owners on the list have gone through at least two administrative hearings in the past two years for the listed property and were found responsible for three or more serious building code <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cityofchicago.org\/content\/dam\/city\/depts\/bldgs\/general\/Rules_Regs\/DOB_Problem_Landlord_List_Rules_Regs2115.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">violations<\/a>, such as inadequate heat, lack of hot water, defective or missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and insect infestation.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/fusiontables\/embedviz?q=select+col2+from+1PI2YUhzyPgp0fW3XgYrRf1Ydfab3IxVlsQCyhY9D&amp;viz=MAP&amp;h=false&amp;lat=41.8216210781&amp;lng=-87.7023042152&amp;t=1&amp;z=10&amp;l=col2&amp;y=2&amp;tmplt=2&amp;hml=TWO_COL_LAT_LNG\" width=\"500\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Chicago\u2019s department of buildings published a list of 45 properties with \u2018problem\u2019 landlords, but experts question whom the list targets.(Chicago Department of Buildings, Stephanie Choporis\/Medill)<\/em><\/div>\n<p>John Fry, assistant director for the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tenant.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Illinois Tenants Union<\/a>, said he began questioning the list after noticing the prevalence of small landlords versus limited liability companies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t recognize a single name on the list,\u201d said Fry, who is also a licensed Illinois home inspector. \u201cWe deal with the biggest slumlords. Why wouldn\u2019t I recognize at least one name on that list?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He declined to disclose a list of the city\u2019s slumlords but explained that professional slumlords typically put their properties in the hands of an LLC. If the city targeted slumlords, he said there would have been more LLCs on the list.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Edward Voci, who is a tenant rights litigator and instructor at Northeastern Illinois University, questioned the list\u2019s 45 properties.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat strikes me as a low number,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The release came shortly after an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cityofchicago.org\/city\/en\/depts\/bldgs\/provdrs\/inspect\/news\/2014\/jan\/-mayor-emanuel--city-council-approve-ordinance-to-identify-irres.html\" target=\"_blank\">ordinance<\/a> acknowledged four children who died in a Roseland apartment fire last September and after the Metropolitan Tenants Organization saw a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dnainfo.com\/chicago\/20150109\/downtown\/cold-weather-no-heat-drives-record-number-website-for-help\" target=\"_blank\">spike<\/a> in heat-related calls following a cold spell in early January.<\/p>\n<p>To be relieved of the \u2018problem\u2019 status, landlords need to correct all serious and lesser violations at the listed building, fully pay any related fines and inspection fees and prove that they do not own another property on the list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCompliance is what we\u2019re looking for here,\u201d said Mimi Simon, department of buildings spokeswoman.<\/p>\n<p>Simon said the list\u2019s main goal is to improve living conditions and landlord transparency for tenants.<\/p>\n<p>Fry pointed out other issues, such as holes in the stipulation requiring landlords to attend at least two administrative hearings. He added that slumlords could skip out on hearings by possessing enough funds to hire a good attorney, whereas smaller landlords might not have such resources.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s unfair to the landlords,\u201d said a private landlord about the list. His name is being withheld by request because he is a city employee.<\/p>\n<p>He said the landlord-tenant relationship is rather biased. In his approximate 17 years of being a building owner, he said tenants who are negligent with rent payments often complain to the city to prolong or circumvent the eviction process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say 85 percent of people that call the department of buildings is due to retaliation,\u201d he said of his experiences.<\/p>\n<p>Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, said some buildings might slip into a deteriorated state because the owners are trying to save on building operating costs, such as property taxes, utilities and ongoing maintenance.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe deal with the biggest slumlords. Why wouldn\u2019t I recognize at least one name on that list?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; John Fry, Illinois Tenants Union<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But the private landlord, who owns property in Englewood, considers upkeep important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI take pride in keeping my place in order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Fry said the hidden issue is the city\u2019s misallocation of inspector resources and lack of inspection and law enforcement, such as renting out illegal units.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole point is to make Chicago safer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than a list, he said this could be achieved by designating more money for courts and hiring additional judges, court clerks and inspectors.<\/p>\n<p>To determine the list\u2019s effectiveness, Voci said the city should report changes that are made to the reported buildings, specifically how much landlords spend on repairs and whether a building has entered receivership.<\/p>\n<p>Simon declined to comment on the number of small landlords in comparison to LLCs on the list. In response to the number of properties, she simply restated the requirements for landing on the list.<\/p>\n<p>The property management companies that declined to comment on this matter were Lakeview Associates, MAC Property Management and Planned Property Management.<\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Three serious building code violations are enough to place a property owner on Chicago&#8217;s &#8216;problem landlords list.&#8217; (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dharder9475\/\" target=\"_blank\">Don Harder<\/a>\/<a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Creative Commons<\/a>)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Stephanie Choporis Housing experts and a private building owner are questioning the effectiveness of Chicago\u2019s \u2018problem\u2019 landlords list and the properties selected for the record. Some think the list is limited in scope and not targeting landlords with the most serious building code violations. The inaugural list, published on the department of buildings website [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":5672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public-affairs","category-winter-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chicago\u2019s \u2018problem landlords list&#039; questioned by experts - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/chicagos-problem-landlords-list-questioned-by-experts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago\u2019s \u2018problem landlords list&#039; questioned by experts - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Stephanie Choporis Housing experts and a private building owner are questioning the effectiveness of Chicago\u2019s \u2018problem\u2019 landlords list and the properties selected for the record. Some think the list is limited in scope and not targeting landlords with the most serious building code violations. 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