Chicago Building Code Hearings: After a Violation Is Cited

A building code violation in Chicago is a written record of what an inspector saw. A Chicago building code hearing is what can happen next, and the two are not the same thing. Plenty of cited violations never reach a hearing at all. This post follows the path the city describes in its own enforcement document: who decides where a case goes, what arrives in the mail, what happens in each venue, and what showing the repairs does. It is part of our guide to building code violations in Chicago.

The two places a Chicago building case can go

Before anything is scheduled, a Department of Buildings supervisor sets the level of enforcement. The city's building code violation enforcement process names three levels: a 20 notice for maintenance violations, which the city calls a warning notice; a 50 notice for life-safety violations that are not dangerous or hazardous, processed for Administrative Hearings; and an 80 notice for dangerous and hazardous violations, processed for the Circuit Court.

There is a step in between that owners rarely hear about. The Department of Buildings sends the violations to the Title Group in the Department of Law, which runs title to establish who the owners are. The city says Circuit Court title work covers all title holders, trust holders, mortgage holders, lien holders, the taxpayer of record and every other party with a recorded interest, while Administrative Hearings title is typically just the legal title holder, and may include other parties in possession or control of the property, whom the Code also defines as owners.

That is why a notice can arrive long after the inspection, and why a lender or a co-owner can get one too.

The notice and the hearing date: read the date on the paper

Once title is finished, the city says the Department of Buildings mails the notices to the responsible owners, and that those include both a notice of hearing and a notice of the building code violations. Read them together. One tells you when and where; the other tells you what the city says is wrong with the building.

A few things the paperwork settles that guessing will not:

Which venue. Administrative Hearings and the Circuit Court are different buildings, different procedures and different judges.
Which date. The date is printed on the notice. The city says certain case types, such as insufficient heat, are given priority dates, so do not assume your timing matches a case you have heard about.
Who is named. If the wrong owner is named, that is a known outcome with a known fix: the city's process describes refiling against the correct owner.

For a Circuit Court case, the city says its lawyers must attempt to personally serve the owner and all parties of record before the initial court date, including parties who live out of state.

What happens at a Buildings Hearings Division hearing

Administrative Hearings cases are heard by the city's Department of Administrative Hearings, which describes itself as an independent quasi-judicial body and runs a Buildings Hearings Division for these cases.

The city says the prosecution of an Administrative Hearings case ends when the Administrative Law Judge enters one of a short list of orders: finding the owner liable or not liable, granting the city's motion to nonsuit the case, defaulting the owner when they fail to appear, or dismissing the case when the prosecution does not move it forward.

The nonsuit list is the useful part, because it is the city describing when it drops a case. Its own reasons include that the complaint was brought in error against someone who does not own the property, that the complaint is defective, that the department wants to proceed in the Circuit Court instead, that the owner has timely provided proof that they have fixed the violations, and that the department wants to work with the owner outside the judicial system.

The department also publishes the practical material on its site: an appearance form, a glossary of terms, its rules, hearing locations, information about virtual hearings and settlement, the motion to set aside a default, a legal aid help desk, a language line and sign language interpreters.

When the city takes a building case to the Circuit Court

Dangerous and hazardous life-safety conditions go to the Circuit Court of Cook County, where the city says it has more enforcement options than at Administrative Hearings. The ones it names are worth knowing about:

Case-management dates. The court can set dates purely to monitor the status of compliance, which Administrative Hearings does not do.
A court inspector. A Department of Buildings court inspector is assigned to the building, inspects before every subsequent hearing, reports the current condition to the judge and recommends repairs to be written into the court order.
Substantial compliance, then a possible consent decree. The city says its lawyers follow the case until the violations are brought into substantial compliance. Where an owner has abated the dangerous conditions but minor items remain, the prosecutor may agree to dismiss the case subject to a consent decree, which takes the case out of court and gives the owner room to finish. The city says it does not dismiss cases where dangerous and hazardous life-safety violations remain.
A receiver. When an owner is unwilling or unable to abate dangerous living conditions, the court can appoint a receiver, who works to restore things like heat and gas service.
Vacating, and what can follow. The city can ask the court for an order allowing it to vacate the property, and it is clear that the decision belongs to the judge. If a building is vacated, a demolition inspection may follow and the case can be transferred to the demolition court call.

That last sequence is the far end of the process. It is here because owners hear about it secondhand and assume it is the normal path. It is not.

Showing compliance: repairs, permits and re-inspection

In both venues the question is the same: what does the building look like now. The city's own list of reasons for dropping a case includes an owner who timely provided proof that the violations were fixed, so documentation does real work here.

In practice: get the specific cited items, hire a contractor who can pull the permit the work needs, pull it, complete the work, then ask for a re-inspection so the record reflects it. Keep the permit, the invoices and the photographs together. In a Circuit Court case, the court inspector is the person whose observations reach the judge, so getting them inside the building matters more than any letter you write.

Where to find your case and who can explain it

The violation itself. Start by pulling the record for the address. Our post on how to check a Chicago property for building code violations walks through the city's two free tools, and the violation number on your paperwork will match a row.
An Administrative Hearings case. The department publishes hearing locations, its rules, the appearance form and the request-for-information path.
A Circuit Court case. The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County keeps the court file and the online case search.
A lawyer. Administrative Hearings lists a legal aid help desk, and for a Circuit Court building case an attorney who does this work regularly is worth the call. We are a buyer, and none of this is legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I miss my Chicago building code hearing?

The city says a default judgment is entered when the person named fails to appear. The Department of Administrative Hearings publishes a motion to set aside a default, which is how an owner asks that a default be reopened. Read your notice, then call the department listed on it.

Do I need a lawyer for a building code hearing?

That is your call, and it depends on the venue and the violations. Administrative Hearings lists a legal aid help desk on its site, and a Circuit Court case involving dangerous or hazardous conditions is the kind where owners usually get their own attorney. We are not a law firm and cannot advise you on it.

Can the city really vacate or demolish a building over code violations?

The city says that in the Circuit Court it can ask for an order allowing it to vacate a property, and that the decision is the judge's. It also says a demolition inspection may follow and the case can be moved to the demolition court call. That is the far end of a long process aimed at getting conditions corrected, not the usual outcome of a citation.

If you would rather sell the building as it is

Some owners look at the cited items, price the work and decide it is not a project they want. Correcting the violations is one path; selling the building as it stands is another. Knowing which venue the case is in makes that a real decision instead of a guess.

Our code violations page explains how we look at buildings with open cases and what we ask about. There is no fee to ask and no obligation to accept.

About this article: it is general information written by a home buyer, not by a lawyer or a housing counselor. Fair Value Investments (a d/b/a of Probate Professionals of America, LLC) is a private real-estate investor and home buyer purchasing property for our own account. We are not a licensed real estate broker, not a law firm, not a lender, and not a government agency, and nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice. Any offer is made at our discretion after we evaluate the property; a cash offer, if made, may be below market value. You are free to consult your own attorney, tax advisor, or a licensed real-estate professional before deciding. There is no fee to receive an offer and no obligation to accept.