Illegal Apartment Inspections

In an era of increasing government transparency, Schiller Park Ordinance 09-2732 may very well be one of the crudest political cover-ups in the village’s history.

By its own action to adopt the new ordinance on Aug. 25, it appears Schiller Park did not previously have legal authority to force citizens to comply with a non-existent law or local ordinance. Multi-family building owners who dutifully complied may have a legitimate legal claim against Schiller Park.

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Anyone who rents or manages a multi-dwelling apartment building in Schiller Park knows about the Village’s rigorous annual, mandatory inspection program.

Most of us were dumbfounded when we awoke to the Chicago Tribune newspaper headline: Illinois pollution enforcement hampered by politics. The article, based on a Tribune investigation, revealed how carcinogenic solvents and caustic acids oozed out of rusty barrels packed haphazardly into a ramshackle building just two blocks away from a Schiller Park subdivision. read more »

A Cook County Circuit Court judge recently gave renters a voice over mandatory annual inspections of their apartments by local government housing inspectors.

Judge Joel L. Greenblatt of the third municipal district in Rolling Meadows ruled that apartment building owners and managers cannot be forced to allow inspectors to enter individual apartments when tenants aren’t home or decline inspections for privacy reasons. read more »

Never mind that Illinois lost a combined 73,600 jobs last November and December and more than a half million persons in the state remain unemployed.

Never mind that almost every other person currently working is deeply concerned about their job security in this messy economic environment.

If you are renter in Schiller Park, you are expected to stay home from work and risk losing your job so that a housing inspector can come through your apartment for a mandatory, annual apartment inspection. read more »

Apartment renters in Schiller Park made it clear Tuesday night how much they value their constitutional right to privacy.

Several long-time apartment renters told a standing-room-only Village Board meeting that they will move away from Schiller Park if Village housing officials continue insisting on mandatory, annual apartment inspections without cause or court orders. They say the involuntary inspections are an invasion of their privacy and discriminatory. read more »

Apartment renters and owners are encouraged to attend a Village of Schiller Park Board meeting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10 to protest mandatory annual inspections in the Chicago west suburban community.

The meeting will be held at the Schiller Park Village Hall at 9526 W. Irving Park Rd., in Schiller Park. Attend the meeting and bring your family, friends and neighbors. If one person loses their constitutional right to privacy, everyone loses them.

Check out the News Release distributed this morning through Business Wire.

Renters have no voice over mandatory annual inspections of their apartments in Chicago west suburban Schiller Park. Renters there are viewed as second-rate citizens.

Schiller Park housing officials are pressing on apartment building owners to essentially waive renters’ rights to privacy by forcing them to open apartments doors, with or without the renter’s presence. Denying access to housing inspectors could lead to violations, fines and fees. read more »

Village of Schiller Park (Illinois) housing inspectors want to enter every single apartment in the village at least once a year to make sure safety items, such as smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, remain in place and are working properly.

Once inside, however, inspectors search for other obscure maintenance problems and can issue violations that can lead to fines and fees for re-inspections. In recent apartment inspections in Schiller Park, inspectors cited tenants for basic maintenance issues, such a soap scum on shower tiles or dirty cooking stoves. One tenant was told he could not use a futon as a sleeping bed in the living room. read more »