Chicago's Building Department published its first "problem landlords" list on its website Monday night in an attempt to crack down and publicly shame apartment building owners into providing tenants with basic services such as heat, hot water and working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
The list and interactive map of 45 properties though, is hard to find, tucked into the city's website under the Department of Building's home page.
Landlords on the list, which the city says it plans to update twice a year, are those that have been found to be liable in two or more administrative hearings within a two-year period and have at least three serious building code violations
Being a "problem landlord" isn't as serious as being identified as a "building scofflaw" in a list already published online annually by the city. Scofflaws are owners who have three or more properties that have been cited for more serious violations and are in active Circuit Court cases.
While on the list, problem landlords will not be able to obtain business licenses, zoning changes, acquire city land or receive city financial assistance or obtain any building permits that are not related to fixing problems at their buildings.
John Bartlett, executive director of Metropolitan Tenants Organization, a tenants' rights group, called the list a "good first step" by the city but questioned how the list was composed.
"I don't see any really large owners," he said. "They're going after the small mom and pops and they're letting the larger owners off the hook. Where are the larger owners? Certainly some of them have had heat violations. Maybe they'll be put on the list."
Offenders will have an opportunity to appeal their inclusion on the list, the city said. The worst could be forced to forfeit control of their buildings. That threat doesn't mean much to some landlords on the list.
"If they want the building, they can have it," said Thomas D'Aprile, whose Clarendon Hills-based Ravine Properties owns the first building on the city's list, at 1001 S. Mayfield Ave.
D'Aprile said Tuesday he didn't know about the list, hadn't seen it and "could care less." Nor will he fight his inclusion on it because, as he put it, he can't fight City Hall. For a few years, he has been unsuccessful at selling the 12-unit building for $570,000. He bought it in 2006 and added new windows and a new boiler, he said.
Inspection records of the building during the past seven years show problems with high weeds, a lack of building registration with the city, and rotted or out-of-code guardrails on porches, among other issues.
Tuesday, D'Aprile argued that issues at the building had been fixed. "Being a landlord in the city of Chicago is next to impossible," he said. "A landlord has basically no rights. Anybody that's interested in purchasing it, I'd be happy to get rid of it."
Records on another building on the list — a four-unit building in the city's Chatham neighborhood — show how daunting the task may be to correct issues.
Three times last year, the city cited the building's owner and assessed fines for problems with smoke detectors, hot water, heat and trash that could cause a "potential rat harborage." The city appointed a receiver to deal with the heat last winter after an inspection found that in one unit, the heat was off and the temperature was 46 degrees, according to city records.
In late October, the building was listed for sale in "as-is" condition for $35,000, saying it was an opportunity for investors and two of the units were occupied. While no sale deed has been recorded with Cook County, the building sold in early December for $65,000, according to Midwest Real Estate Data, the local multiple listing service provider.
Felicia Davis, the city's building commissioner, said building owners that sell their properties will remain on the list until they pay their fines. Buyers of the buildings would be given some time to correct violations.
Last week, a City Council panel endorsed a proposed ordinance tied to improving rental building conditions, in part a response to a September fire at a South Side apartment building that resulted in the deaths of four children. The building had a history of violations.
At that time, the city said it would identify "bad landlords" but the list now is labeled "problem landlords."
The list includes the addresses for 45 buildings, owned by 59 individuals and corporate entities. Most of the apartment buildings cited are on Chicago's West and South sides. The community area with the most "problem" landlords and buildings is Austin, with six buildings.
The list "is all about preventative maintenance," Davis said. "We know there are conditions that if (they) go unabated at these properties, we're likely to have a tragedy."
Chicago has no formalized inspection program for all rental buildings. Last year, the city received more than 50,000 phone calls to its 311 system, most from tenants calling about conditions in their own buildings or from residents about vacant buildings, and performed more than 258,000 building inspections, Davis said.
Bartlett would like to see the city take a more proactive step before issues arise in buildings. "The problem with complaint-based inspections is a lot of times tenants don't call, for a variety of reasons," he said. "Some of them, they're afraid they'll get kicked out. Some of them, their legal status isn't documented or if they're a little behind in the rent, is the landlord going to kick them out? Even a building with problems is better than no building."
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