Police Called and Nuisance Landlord Hearing

[Sean McKee]

Hello BP!

I'm hoping someone might have some guidance on a recent event that happened at my property in Cicero. Long story short is that my tenant apparently had some friends that stole from a local corner store and were hiding out in my building. Police came and it was evidently a scene. However, the store owner did not press charges. My other tenant on site told me what happened and gave the responding officer my contact information. He told me there was a loud party the weekend prior but did not tell me.  The police never reached out to me.

Fast forward 10 days later and I'm getting a notice that I have to appear for an administrative hearing because I was "allowing" gang activity to occur and jeopardizing the safety of the community. Below is the ordinance they said I violated:

" Commit any offense that is a nuisance according to the laws of the state."

These tenants were properly screened, passed background, credit checks, employment, etc. I never had issues with them until this incident. I do quarterly inspections of the units and other inspections of the property. I even renewed their lease. I never caught anything out of the ordinary. Had I suspected they were materially violating anything in the lease, I would have evicted them.  I'm not saying they are innocent, but I was not made aware of any issues by anyone until this incident. So, I'm not exactly sure how I'm in violation of anything?

I have already contacted my lawyer. I'm handling the tenants separately and they have been cooperating. I submitted FOIA request to the police department. However, I wanted to know if anyone has experienced this? Is there a way to make them drop this without appearing for this administrative hearing? I'm not concerned about being held liable (at least I don't think I should be), but this is a huge inconvenience. I'm not sure why I am expected to be responsible for grown adults.

Thanks for any advice or thoughts!