There’s been a lot of press coverage about the mess in foreclosure land because many of the affidavits filed to support foreclosure actions were signed by people who […]
Uncategorized
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Deed Restrictions and the Building Official
Often I get questions about deed restrictions and the role of the building official. Deed restrictions (also known as restrictive covenants) may prohibit a number of things including […]
Building Codes
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Are You Ready for Green Technology?
There was an interesting article in the Chicago Tribune about the difficulties homeowners and businesses encounter with local jurisdictions when they want to use green technology, such as […]
Code Enforcement / property maintenance
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Property Maintenance and the Mentally Ill
One of the greatest sources of satisfaction in my work is helping inspectors achieve observable results, e.g. the roof that gets fixed, the yard that gets cleaned up, […]
Code Enforcement
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Upcoming Code Enforcement Program in New Orleans
I’ve just been made aware of a terrific code enforcement conference for municipal attorneys in New Orleans on Oct. 9 and 10. It’s the Code Enforcement Program held […]
Foreclosure
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The Big Short
I just read a terrific book about how we got into this financial mess, The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. Hardly anyone expected these subprime loans to be […]
Code Enforcement / property maintenance
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Woman Dies in Home, Hole Cut in Roof to Remove Her
I recognize that hoarding cases can be extremely time consuming to deal with and difficult for a property maintenance inspector because the person the inspector is dealing with […]
Fire Prevention
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How to Upset the Fire Marshall In Once Easy Lesson
I was recently at the Ravinia Festival, an outdoor park for music with my daughter. She bought me tickets to see a band and we were having a […]
Code Enforcement / Ordinances
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Mowing Season
It’s that time of year again when I get questions about notice to offenders who don’t cut their grass. Some of the inspectors complain that owners of property […]
Code Enforcement / Fire Prevention
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My Trip to Japan
My husband and I had a wonderful time in Japan but I couldn’t ignore some interesting differences. We stayed at a Japanese inn that was part of a […]