City Garbage violation, Can I make my tenants pay? (Chicago: short sale, real estate)

[megatronwashere]

My wife and I recently purchased a multi-family building on a short sale. we got a violation notice about the garbage being all over the place. it's $300 dollars. We recently moved to one of the apartments in the building and I have cleaned up and notified all tenants about neighbors complaining. This violation was given out around the time of our closing when we didn't even have contacts with any tenants yet. My question is, can we make the tenants pay for the violation or is it not lawful? also, can violation notice like garbage disposal be written into future lease agreements?

[Carson9]

Originally Posted by megatronwashere

My wife and I recently purchased a multi-family building on a short sale. we got a violation notice about the garbage being all over the place. it's $300 dollars. We recently moved to one of the apartments in the building and I have cleaned up and notified all tenants about neighbors complaining. This violation was given out around the time of our closing when we didn't even have contacts with any tenants yet. My question is, can we make the tenants pay for the violation or is it not lawful? also, can violation notice like garbage disposal be written into future lease agreements?

If you just closed on a place, why don't you reach out to your real estate attorney? I'm sure he/she will have much more accurate advise to give you than this forum.

[jwaiter]

I'm not a landlord, so not sure how that works, but a condo association board could enforce a violation of condo policy and assess fines against the unit violating it.

[ViolentDisasters]

No. As the property owner, you are legally responsible all city taxes and fines pertaining to the property, and it is illegal in the city of Chicago (and most other municipalities) to pass your debts on to tenants.

What you can do -- if this persists to be a problem after discussing the issue with your tenant(s) -- is file a forcible action with the court seeking to break the existing lease agreement.

[SaveStRene]

I found out I am paying for the electricity for the "common" areas
I heard that they landlord is responsible for this portion
How can I get him to pay for the common area's portion of the light bill

[jwaiter]

In our condo building, our common area electric has it's own bill and meter, I would think this would be standard, ie, common area electric is on it's own bill.