Joliet, IL Rental Inspections: Inspection Programs (2026)

Joliet's systematic inspection of rental housing program, Division 15 of Chapter 8, reaches every "covered property": single-family, two-family and multifamily rentals, boarding, rooming, lodging and tourist houses, hotels and motels, dormitories, short-term rental units, and dwellings in mixed-use buildings (Sec. 8-152(e)). Sec. 8-155 sets the inspection procedure. Notice of an inspection must go out by first-class mail or email to the owner or the owner's designated agent at least seven days in advance, and if that notice is undeliverable, the city mails the person designated as responsible for maintenance under Sec.

2 and posts a notice on the building (Sec. 8-155(a)). The owner or an authorized representative able to provide access to the entire building must be present for the inspection (Sec. 8-155(b)). If the biennial inspection finds the premises in compliance and the fee has been paid, the city issues a certificate of inspection; if it finds violations, the city gives written notice and sets a reinspection date, and issues the certificate only once the violations are corrected by that date (Sec. 8-155(c), (d)). Properties that pass with few or no violations can earn a waiver from the next scheduled inspection: five years for a Type O certificate, three years for Type I, and one year for Type II, under Sec.

7(a). Newly constructed rental properties are exempt from their first inspection for three years after the certificate of occupancy issues (Sec. 00 for a building of 111 units or more under the Division 15 fee schedule.