Tenant - Lease Violation

[Andrew Oladipo]

Hi All,

We (my wife & I) own a rental property in Lombard IL. We've been landlords for a whooping 6 weeks.

One of our tenant, recently tried to change oil on her car and ended up spilling oil all over the parking lot (our next door landlord, who helps take care of our lawn, told us). I have drafted a violation notice (thanks to tips from a BP podcast with Marcia Maynard). My notice basically stated what she did was a violation of the lease agreement and that she has up till Dec 15th to clean the parking lot. It also clearly states a repeat will attract a fine of $50 plus the tenant will be responsible for any clean up cost incurred by us (this is not part of the lease agreement I inherited, but something I thought of). It is obvious she attempted to clean the lot but it wasn't properly done. She is out of town for now. She is a section 8 tenant (not too sure if this makes any difference but wanted to throw that out there).

For what has been done, should I insist on getting her to clean the lot again? If she fails to do that, what are my options? Should I focus on possible future occurrence and let this go?

I will appreciate any feedback.