(A) Failure to register rental building. If the city discovers that an owner is renting a building or any part thereof without first having obtained a certificate, the owner shall be subject to a $500 fine plus payment of the registration fee.
(B) Late renewal penalties.
(1) If an owner renews one or more certificates between February 2 and April 1 for the then current rental registration period, the owner shall be subject to a late renewal penalty of $200 per rental dwelling. The owner shall also be required to pay a renewal fee for each rental dwelling in an amount then in effect at the time the owner pays his or her renewal penalty.
(2) If an owner fails to renew one or more certificates for one full rental registration period, the owner shall be subject to a late renewal penalty of $250 for each rental dwelling. The owner shall also be required to pay a renewal fee for each rental dwelling in the amount then in effect at the time the owner pays his or her renewal penalty.
(3) If an owner fails to renew one or more certificates for two or more full rental registration periods, the owner shall be subject to a late renewal penalty of $350 for each rental dwelling for each year when the one or more certificates were not renewed. The owner shall also be required to pay a renewal fee for each rental dwelling in the amount then in effect at the time the owner pays his or her renewal penalty.
(4) An owner shall not be charged with a penalty under this subsection (B) for the failure to renew one or more certificates if the owner can demonstrate by documentation that:
(a) The owner sold the one or more rental dwellings on or before February 1;
(b) The owner or one or more of the owner’s immediate family members continuously occupied the one or more rental dwellings for at least nine consecutive months and are still occupying the same one or more rental dwellings on February 1;
(c) The owner demolished the one or more rental dwellings prior to February 1; or
(d) The owner can demonstrate that the one or more rental dwellings were taken off the rental market for purposes of restoring or remodeling the one or more rental dwellings and that the one or more rental dwellings have been registered as vacant building pursuant to Chapter 169 of this code.
(C) Non-response penalties.
(1) Any owner or local representative that refuses or fails on two or more occasions during a 365-day period to meet with and at the request of the code official or other city official to address an emergency, as provided in § 163.05(A), at one or more rental dwellings shall subject the owner to a fine of $750 per rental dwelling. If the owner or the local representative continues to refuse the code official’s or other city official’s request to inspect the one or more rental dwellings or the said fine is not paid within 21 days of when it is levied, the mayor shall have the authority to revoke the owner’s one or more certificates for these rental dwellings for a period no longer than 180 days or until the said emergency condition or conditions have been abated, whichever is shorter.
(2) Any owner or local representative that refuses or fails on three or more occasions during a 365-day period to meet with and at the request of the code official or other city official to address a non-emergency, as provided in § 163.05(A), at one or more rental dwellings shall subject the owner to a fine of $500 per rental dwelling. If the owner or the local representative continues to refuse the code official’s or other city official’s request to inspect the one or more rental dwellings or the said fine is not paid within 21 days of when it is levied, the mayor shall have the authority to revoke the certificate(s) for the owner’s one or more rental dwellings that are or were subject of the emergency with such revocation being no longer than 90 days or until the said non-emergency condition or conditions are abated, whichever is shorter.
(3) Prior to the mayor exercising his or her authority to revoke or suspend a certificate or issue a fine, the mayor shall confer with the owner or the local representative to discuss the reason for the owner’s or local representative’s failure or refusal to meet with the code official or other city official regarding the emergency or non-emergency condition. Upon conclusion of the aforesaid meeting, the mayor may elect to suspend the certificate for the time periods provided in subsections (B)(1) and (2) of this section. During the time period when the one or more certificates have been revoked, the owner shall be prohibited from leasing or renting the one or more rental dwellings that were the subject of the emergency or non-emergency situation, as the case may be and the said rental dwellings shall remain vacant. If the owner rents or leases a rental dwelling where the certificate for that dwelling has been revoked, a fine between $1,500 and $5,000 shall be levied against the owner. If the owner fails to pay the said fine within 21 days from the date it was levied, the mayor shall have the authority to revoke all the owner’s rental dwelling certificates.
(D) Owner’s wrongful retaliation against a tenant. If an owner is found to have wrongfully retaliated against a tenant because the tenant filed a tenant complaint with the city before the owner issued a five-day or ten-day notice to quit the premises or a 30-day notice that a month-to-month tenant’s lease shall terminate, the owner shall be subject to a fine in the amount between $1,000 and $5,000.
(E) Inspections.
(1) If the code official determines that, after completing his or her inspection report, there are sufficient conditions in the rental dwelling to deem the rental dwelling either uninhabitable or dangerous and unsafe, the code official shall have the authority to:
(a) Declare the rental dwelling, and if appropriate, one or more other rental dwellings if the inspected rental dwelling is in a multi-rental dwelling building, either uninhabitable or dangerous and unsafe.
(b) Place one or more placards declaring the one or more rental dwellings as either uninhabitable or dangerous and unsafe.
(c) Order that the one or more tenants vacate the said one or more rental dwellings either immediately or by a certain specified date at the owner’s expense.
(d) Initiate a case in the city’s administrative adjudication system (Chapter 42) regarding the code violations.
(2) If the code official determines that the tenant notified the owner or local representative in writing that the conditions found by the code official during the tenant complaint inspection before the owner served the tenant with a five-day notice or a ten-day notice to quit the premises or a 30-day notice that a month-to-month tenancy will be vacated, or filed in the circuit court an action to evict the tenant, the city, in addition to any other applicable penalty provided for in this section, shall also have the authority to seek the imposition of one or more of the following penalties:
(a) Return of the tenant’s security deposit, if any;
(b) Return of the tenant’s advance rental payment, if any;
(c) Reimburse the tenant for the tenant’s actual costs of moving to a new location so long as the move was undertaken by a bona fide moving company licensed in the State of Illinois and the tenant presents the owner or local representative with a copy of a bona fide receipt from said moving company; and/or
(d) Reimburse any utility deposit(s) the tenant incurs in connection with moving to another rental dwelling.
(e) Any and all such return and/or reimbursement of moneys shall be made to the tenant within three business days following the tenant’s first request or demand for such refund(s) and/or reimbursements.
(f) In the alternative to subsections (E)(2)(a), (b), (c), and (d) of this subsection, the owner can tender a $1,000 payment to the tenant on the same day the tenant requests or demands the reimbursements and/or refunds provided in the immediate aforesaid subsections.
(g) If two or more unrelated tenants lawfully occupied the same rental unit, the amounts provided in subsections (E)(2)(a), (b), (c), and (d) of this subsection shall be tendered to each of those tenants.
(3) If the code official, after completing his or her inspection, finds that there are code violations that shall be abated within a specified period of time without the tenant having to vacate the rental dwelling and if the owner or local representative fails to abate those violations within that stated period of time, in addition to any other penalty imposed pursuant to this section, an additional fine of not less than $1,000 can be imposed after finding of liability in the city’s administrative adjudication process provided in Chapter 42.
(F) Other violations of chapter. Unless expressly provided otherwise in this chapter, the penalty for violating any other provision in this chapter shall be a fine in an amount stated below.
(1) No less than $250 but no greater than $1,000 for a first violation at a rental dwelling;
(2) No less than $500 but no more than $2,000 for two violations that occur within a 365-day period at the same rental dwelling; and
(3) No less than $1,000 but no more than $4,000 for any three or more violations that occur within a 365-day period that occur at the same rental dwelling.
(G) Refusal to issue certificate. The code official shall refrain from issuing a certificate under the following circumstances:
(1) The rental dwelling is not habitable at the time the owner seeks to register the rental dwelling or renew the certificate therefor.
(2) The owner has not received a certificate of occupancy for the rental dwelling at the time the owner seeks to register the rental dwelling or renew the certificate therefore.
(3) A free-standing rental dwelling has been condemned because it is uninhabitable and/or because it is dangerous and unsafe.
(4) A rental dwelling in a multi-rental dwelling building has been condemned as uninhabitable; or because the entire building has been condemned as uninhabitable; or because another rental dwelling in the building that has been condemned as uninhabitable threatens the habitability of one or more other rental dwellings within the said building.
(5) The owner’s application is incomplete.
(6) The owner has not tendered the registration or certificate renewal fee.
(7) The application for registration or renewal of a certificate contains false or misleading information.
(8) The rental dwelling has been cited on two occasions within a six-month period in the last year for being in violation of one or more codes and where the owner did not abate such violations within the timeframes provided on the notices of violation or citations for violation.
(H) Revocation of certificate. In all events, a certificate may be revoked at any time the Code Inspector finds that a code violation involving the exterior structure or interior of a rental dwelling presents an immediate threat to human life, health or safety or the safety of property owned by a third person.
(I) Prosecution of violations of this chapter. All violations of this chapter shall be prosecuted through the administrative adjudication process provided in Chapter 42 and in the same manner as the code official prosecutes violations of the city’s property maintenance code (Chapter 167).
(Ord. 9467, passed 2-6-24)