Free Chicago apartment background check

1253 W Nelson St

Lake View, Chicago IL 60657 14291150020000 3 units · 1888

This building has a substantial enforcement record over the last seven years, and our model sees a moderate chance of more in the next 12 months. Read the records below before you sign. Ask which issues were resolved, get repair commitments in writing, and inspect the unit yourself.

Building Violations (7y) vs. neighborhood
Records already on file, against a typical building in Lake View — not a forecast
Above average
avg 1.0
5
FewerMore

This building has 5 building violations (7y), above the Lake View average of 1.0.

Building characteristics
Units3
Year built1888
Stories
Building area2,379 sq ft
Property class211
PIN (Cook County parcel)14291150020000
Ownership

Registered owner per Cook County Assessor records.

Owner name
Mailing address
1257 W Nelson

Landlord portfolio

Other Chicago properties this owner holds, with a risk rating for each.

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Augrented Insights
Initial analysis

The three-unit residential building at 1253 W Nelson St in Lake View, owned by Gerald K Olson, is an 1888 structure that has experienced several maintenance and safety issues over the past seven years. Most notably, in July 2021, multiple complaint-driven inspections were conducted, resulting in five documented violations, though all were subsequently resolved. More recently, there have been concerns related to tree maintenance, with two open service requests from June 2026 for tree debris clean-up and removal inspection. The building's service request history also includes a successfully resolved garbage cart maintenance issue from January 2025, a closed vicious animal complaint from August 2025, and a completed stop sign repair request from August 2025.

AI-generated · may contain errors · check the source data tables below

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Risk rating

How 1253 W Nelson St's risk score is calculated

We trained a model on 7 years of Chicago code enforcement data — building violations, 311 complaint history, environmental enforcement, and owner track records. It estimates the probability that the City of Chicago will find a code violation at this address in the next 12 months. Lower % = safer.

What the score means for you

Lower risk — safer than most nearby

City inspectors rarely find violations here. Strong maintenance history and a clean complaint record.

Typical — about average for the neighborhood

Some past violations or complaints on record. Worth asking the landlord about any open issues before signing.

Higher risk — riskier than most nearby

Elevated violation and complaint history. City inspectors have found issues here before and are statistically likely to again.

Neighborhood percentile
25thpercentile

Out of 3452 buildings in this neighborhood, 2589 are predicted to be safer. The band is relative to this neighborhood, so a share of every neighborhood falls in each colour.

RiskiestSafest
Predicted 12-month outcome
51%
No code
violation
49%
Code violation
likely
Model explanation

What's driving this score

The data points that most influenced this building's risk rating — ranked by the weight the model placed on each one.

Code violations (past 7 years)

City of Chicago Department of Buildings violations issued at this address over the last 7 years — a direct record of enforcement activity.

Violation rate, owner's portfolio

Per-property violation rate across the owner's portfolio.

Code violations, owner's portfolio

Building violations across all properties this owner is registered on — a signal of systemic maintenance issues.

12-Month risk forecast
Moderate failure risk 49%
Estimated probability of a code violation in the next 12 months.
Apartment reviews

1253 W Nelson St apartment reviews

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On the map

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The story over time

1253 W Nelson St event timeline

Building violations, environmental complaints and enforcement, permits, scofflaw listings, and 311 calls — most recent records in order.

2023
311 Request Jun 23
Building Violation

See all 10 events

Full history back to 2021 — violations, complaints, permits, and 311 calls.

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Every record we have

Full data for 1253 W Nelson St apartments

Chicago public datasets for this parcel — building violations, permits, 311 calls, environmental complaints and enforcement, scofflaw listings, and vacant building registrations.

Side by side

How 1253 W Nelson St compares to the neighborhood

This building against comparable properties in Lake View. Toggle filters to narrow the peer group.

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Cancel anytime · Data sourced from the City of Chicago Department of Buildings, Chicago 311, Cook County Assessor & the Chicago Data Portal

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