Wheeling — Ch. 4.84 Rental Residential Property § 4.84.030

(a) "Chronic public nuisance" with respect to a rented residential dwelling unit, a chronic public nuisance is defined as follows:
1. The occurrence of a felony offense in the use of any rental unit; or
2. The occurrence of two or more public nuisances in the use of any rental units within any twelve-month period; or
3. The occurrence of six or more state or local offenses in the use of any multi-family residential structure.
(b) "Chronic public nuisance property" means any rental unit whose tenant(s), any member of the tenant's household, tenant's guest(s), and any person under tenant's control, commit any two or more public nuisances, one of which constitutes a felony offense, within the village of Wheeling within any one-year period, or any three or more public nuisances within the village of Wheeling within any one-year period, and any multi-family rental structure whose tenant(s), any member of the tenant's household, tenant's guest(s), and any person under tenant's control, commit any six or more public nuisances within the village of Wheeling within any one-year period.
(c) "Code" means any state statute, village ordinance or governmental regulation concerning fitness for habitation, or the construction, maintenance, operation, occupancy, use or appearance of any premises or dwelling unit.
(d) "Code official" means the director of community development or his designee.
(e) "Conditional license" means a limited approval of the premises for a period of up to six months when a property cannot fully comply with all the applicable requirements of the village of Wheeling due to special circumstances (e.g., weather conditions, unavailability of required materials or services, or other circumstances approved by the code official).
(f) "Crime free housing seminar" means a seminar sponsored by the Wheeling Police Department to provide information to landlords and their designated agents regarding the requirements under this code, including the crime free housing lease provision.
g) "Dwelling unit" means one or more rooms physically arranged so as to create an independent housekeeping establishment for occupancy with separate bathroom and facilities for cooking and sleeping.
(h) "Felony offense" means any offense that constitutes a felony under the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/1-1 et seq., including, but not limited to, those described as a public nuisance in this section.
(i) "Judgment" means an order entered by the administrative law judge pursuant to Chapter 1.28 of this code or a court of competent jurisdiction, awarding fines, fees, costs and/or damages for violations of this code or state or federal law, in any way related to a certain property.
(j) "Landlord" means the owner of the dwelling unit or the building of which it is a part.
(k) "Multiple-family rental residential property" means rental residential property with two or more dwelling units including a group of more than one lot or pad made available for placement of mobile homes thereon under a common ownership operation, commonly known as a mobile home park as defined in Section 4.80.010 (d).
(l) "Notice" means unless otherwise stated, all notices required shall be in writing and shall be served by one party upon the other by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, or personally upon the person or member of his or her household over the age of twelve.
(m) "Owner" means one or more persons in whom is vested all or part of the legal title to the premises, jointly or severally, or all or part of the beneficial ownership and a right to present use and enjoyment of the premises, including a mortgage holder in possession.
(n) "Owner's family" means the owner's parents, siblings or children whether natural or by adoption.
(o) "Permit" means to suffer, allow, approve, consent to, acquiesce in or agree to the doing of an act, including the failure to prevent through inaction.
(p) "Person" means an individual, corporation, government, governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association or any other legal or commercial entity.
(q) "Premises" means a lot, plot or parcel of land including the interior and exterior of any structures thereon.
(r) "Property agent" or "property manager" means a person, operator, firm, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity designated in writing by the property owner to the code official to manage a rental residential property including the authority to receive notices or citations.
(s) "Public nuisance" means the following criminal offenses are hereby declared to be public nuisances to be considered in determining whether or not a chronic public nuisance property exists:
1. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 9 (Homicide) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/9-1 et seq.
2. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 10 (Kidnapping and related offenses) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/10-1 et seq.
3. Any offenses defined and prohibited by Section 11-14 (Prostitution), Section 11-15 (Soliciting for a prostitute), Section 11-16 (Pandering), Section 11-17 (Keeping a place of prostitution), Section 11-20 (Obscenity), Section 11-20.1 (Child pornography), or Section 11-21 (Harmful material to minors) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/11-14, 5/11-15, 5/11-16, 5/11-17, 5/11-20, 5/11-20.1, and 5/11-21.
4. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 12 (Bodily Harm) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/12 et seq.
5. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 16 (Theft) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/16-1 et seq.
6. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 20-2 (Possession of Explosives or Incendiary Devices) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/20-2 et seq.
7. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 24 (Deadly Weapons) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/24-1 et seq.
8. Any offenses defined and prohibited by Article 25 (Mob Action) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/25-1 et seq.
9. Any offense defined and prohibited by Section 26-2 (Disorderly conduct) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/26-1 et seq.
10. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 28 (Gambling) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/28-1 et seq.
11. Any offense defined and prohibited by Article 31 (Interference with Public Officers) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/31-1 et seq.
12. Any offense defined and prohibited by Section 6-16 (Prohibited sales and possession) or Section 6-20 (Purchase or acceptance of gift of liquor by persons under age 21) of the Liquor Control Act of 1934, 235 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/6-16 and 5/6-20.
13. Any offense defined and prohibited by the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 570/100 et seq.
14. Any offense defined and prohibited by the Cannabis Control Act, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 550/1 et seq.
15. Any offense that constitutes a felony under the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/1-1 et seq., including, but not limited to, those set forth above.
16. Any inchoate offense defined and prohibited by Article 8 (Inchoate Offenses) of the Criminal Code of 1961, 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/8-1 et seq., which is relative to the commission of any of the aforesaid principal offenses.
17. Any offense defined and prohibited by Articles I through VIII of this Chapter.
18. Public nuisances exclude, pursuant to Section 1-2-1.5 of the Illinois Municipal Code, 65 ILCS 5/1-2-1.5:
1) Contact made to the police or seeking other emergency services, if (i) the contact was made with the intent to prevent or respond to domestic violence or sexual violence; (ii) the intervention or emergency assistance was needed to respond to or prevent domestic violence or sexual violence; or (iii) the contact was made by, on behalf of, or otherwise concerns an individual with a disability and the purpose of the contact was related to that individual's disability; or
2) An incident or incidents of actual or threatened domestic violence or sexual violence against the tenant, household member, or guest occurring in the rental unit or on the premises; or
3) Criminal activity or a local ordinance violation occurring in the rental unit or on the premises that is directly relating to domestic violence or sexual violence, engaged in by a tenant, member of a tenant's household, guest, or other party, and against a tenant, household member, guest or other party.
(t) "Public nuisance activity" means the commission of any act or conduct, which constitutes any of the offenses declared to be a public nuisance.
(u) "Rental agreement" means any agreements and valid rules and regulations embodying the terms and conditions concerning the use and occupancy of a specified dwelling unit and premises.
(v) "Rental residential property" means residential structures or dwelling units let or intended to be let for rent or lease including single-family detached structures and lots or pads made available for placement of mobile homes thereon.
(w) "Rental unit" means a dwelling unit in a rental structure occupied or available for occupancy, other than the owner of record, under a rental agreement including single-family detached structures and mobile homes located on lots or pads made available for placement of mobile homes thereon.
(x) "Rental residential license" means a license to rent a rental unit or rental structure as required by this Chapter.
(y) "Responsible party" means and includes landlords, landlords' designated agents, residential operators' licensees, and property managers.
(z) "Routine maintenance" means the scope of daily, weekly, monthly or annual maintenance required to keep a dwelling unit and/or building in a sanitary condition, free from damage or defects. Any remodeling, alteration or repair work involving structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection equipment requiring permits from the building division shall be considered to exceed the scope of routine maintenance.
(aa) "Security certificate" means a certificate issued to a property owner upon completion and review of a crime prevention analysis conducted by the police department (which may include, among other things, research of recent criminal history, a security survey and presentation of safety tips to protect the property, its occupants and visitors, as well as the owner's implementation of any security recommendations as may be determined by the director.
(bb) "Security survey" means an analysis of property and locale characteristics, conducted by the police department, to determine the vulnerability of the property, occupants and visitors to criminal activity, and to make recommendations to reduce criminal activity and promote safety based upon those observations.
(cc) "Single dwelling rental unit" means a rental structure containing only one dwelling unit ("SDR").
(dd) "Tenant" means an occupant of rental residential housing.
(ee) "Village" means the village of Wheeling.
(ff) "Village manager" means the village manager or any person acting in the manager's stead or as appointed by the village manager to act as his/her agent.
(gg) Whenever the term "person", "landlord" or "tenant" is used in the masculine or singular form, it shall also include and refer to the feminine or plural form.
(hh) Words or phrases as used in this Chapter and not herein defined shall be defined as provided by the village of Wheeling's current property maintenance code, and current building code.