Why There Is A Property Management Sign On Every Building In Chicago

If you’ve walked down any street in Chicago lately you may have noticed a distinctive feature present on most of the buildings you pass. Especially if you live in an apartment you’ve probably noticed a Chicago property management sign. In the City of Chicago, it is a legal requirement for multi-family buildings to have a property management company sign posted in a visible location. Chicago code 13-20-030 is as follows:

The owner of any building having residential units designed or used for two or more family units or designed or used for sleeping accommodations, other than family units, for more than ten persons shall post, or cause to be posted, in a prominent place in a common area of the building accessible from the public way, or affixed to the building so as to be visible from the public way, the name, address, and telephone number of the owner, his agent for the purpose of managing, controlling or collecting rents and any other person managing or controlling such building.

Aside from the legal requirements, having a property management sign posted on a building can be a multi-faceted marketing tool & business resource. On the surface level, it’s much easier to get in contact with your company for tenants, vendors, and everyone in between. If a tenant forgets their keys or a utility company needs access to the building, the contact information is posted for everyone to see. This also gives the city a point of contact that can be reliably contacted to assist in resolving code violations or other legal-related issues.

Aisde from having your contact info publically posted another benefit to posting these signs is a little bit of marketing brag. If you have multiple buildings on the same block or neighborhood with consisent branding on your signs, this is an easy form of subtle marketing that activiely shows off the scope of your company portfolio.