Free Chicago apartment background check

538 W 120Th St

West Pullman, Chicago IL 60628 25281040420000 4 units · 1957

This building has a higher-than-average number of open problems nearby. Few open issues; problems get fixed quickly. A reasonable bet for a smooth tenancy.

Building Violations (7y) vs. neighborhood
Compared to a typical building in West Pullman
At or below average
avg 4.0
0
FewerMore

This building has 0 building violations (7y), at or below the West Pullman average of 4.0.

Building characteristics
Units4
Year built1957
Stories
Building area1,920 sq ft
Property class212
PIN (Cook County parcel)25281040420000
Ownership

Registered owner per Cook County Assessor records.

Owner name
Bernice Shelton
Mailing address
538 W 120Th St

Landlord portfolio

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

Unlock complete report
Augrented Insights
Initial analysis

The four-unit residential building at 538 W 120th Street in Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood, owned by Bernice Shelton, was constructed in 1957 and has generated a total of four 311 service requests over the past seven years, with all being properly addressed and closed. The records show a consistent pattern of street maintenance issues in the immediate vicinity of the property, with two pothole complaints filed in 2024 and 2026 being directed to the Chicago Department of Transportation. Additionally, there have been two requests for garbage cart maintenance, one in January 2025 and another in February 2026. Given the relatively low number of service requests for a multi-unit building over this time period and the nature of the complaints, which primarily relate to external street conditions and waste management infrastructure, the property's maintenance record appears to be typical for its age and configuration.

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

Free account unlocks the full analysis — plus 2× more records across all data categories and the complete landlord portfolio.
Risk rating

How 538 W 120Th 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

Grade A–B — Low risk

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

Grade C — Moderate risk

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

Grade D–F — High risk

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

Neighborhood percentile
54thpercentile

Out of 1005 buildings in this neighborhood, 462 are predicted to be safer.

RiskiestSafest
Predicted 12-month outcome
56%
No code
violation
44%
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.

Location

Precise location is a proxy for area-level risk — some Chicago zip codes have systematically higher code-enforcement activity.

Property class (211)

Assessor class 211 — small residential (roughly 2–6 units). The assessor's property-class code, which correlates with building type and the violation rates the model expects.

311 call rate, owner's portfolio

Per-property 311 call rate across the owner's portfolio.

12-Month severity forecast
No violation 46.5%
Moderate concern 30.6%
Severe concern 22.9%
Estimated probability of a code violation in the next 12 months at each severity level.
Apartment reviews

538 W 120Th St apartment reviews

Real experiences from people who have lived here. Share yours to help other renters decide.

Share your experience — Help other renters by leaving an honest apartment review

Loading reviews…

On the map

Compare nearby alternatives

This building and nearby alternatives in West Pullman, color-coded by risk level. Click any marker to explore.

Buildings nearby
Loading…
The story over time

538 W 120Th St event timeline

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

2026
311 Request Feb 04
Garbage Cart Maintenance
311 City Services
311 RequestJan 30
Pothole in Street Complaint

See all 4 events

Full history back to 2024 — violations, complaints, permits, and 311 calls.

Unlock complete timeline
Every record we have

Full data for 538 W 120Th St apartments

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

Still apartment hunting in Chicago?

Look up the next apartment before you sign

Search any Chicago address free — no account needed to see the risk rating.

Simple pricing

Get the complete picture

Every plan unlocks the complete report: all Chicago datasets, full history, landlord portfolio, and PDF & Excel exports.

Report Bundle

For the buildings you're deciding on right now

$10 one-time

~$3.33 per building. No subscription ever. Each credit unlocks one building's premium report for 30 days.

  • 3 full AI-powered reports
  • Download PDF reports
  • Advanced safety analysis
  • Compare multiple buildings
  • Credits never expire until you use them
  • Full public records (200 rows per dataset)
Buy 3 Reports — $10

Apartment Hunter

For a wide search across many buildings

$39 one-time

30 reports — ~$1.30 each. No subscription ever.

  • 30 full AI-powered reports
  • Download PDF reports
  • Advanced safety analysis
  • Compare multiple buildings
  • Credits never expire until you use them
  • Full public records (200 rows per dataset)
Buy 30 Reports — $39

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

Watch 538 W 120Th St
Get alerted the moment a new violation or complaint is filed.