How do I get building code violation leads in Chicago, Illinois?
Chicago building code violation leads are free on data.cityofchicago.org, the city's official open data portal. Open the Building Violations dataset, filter Violation Status to OPEN, sort by the newest violation date, and export the filtered list as a CSV.
How do I pull code violations records step by step?
The Chicago Department of Buildings publishes every building violation it issues in the Building Violations dataset on data.cityofchicago.org — filter to open violations to surface the distressed properties you want.
Go to the Chicago Data Portal
Navigate to data.cityofchicago.org, the City of Chicago's official open data portal. Building code violations for Chicago (Cook County) are published here.
Open the Building Violations dataset
Search the portal for Building Violations (under Buildings), or go straight to the dataset page. Each row is one violation issued by the Department of Buildings — this is a very large dataset, so plan to filter before downloading.
View the data table
The dataset opens in a spreadsheet-style explorer with columns like ID, Violation Code, Violation Status, and Address.
Filter to open violations
In the Filters panel at the bottom, choose the Violation Status column and set it to OPEN. This limits the list to violations that have not been resolved — the distressed properties you want.
Sort by the newest violation date
Open the Violation Date column menu and sort it descending so the most recent open violations are at the top of the table.
Export the list as a CSV
Click Export in the top right, keep Download file selected with the format set to CSV, and click Download. Apply the OPEN filter first — the portal will warn you that the full dataset is too large for spreadsheet programs.
Record the data
For each violation, capture the violation ID (case number), violation code, status, property address, and violation date. Match the address against the Cook County Assessor to find the owner and mailing address.
What property data does Cook County publish?
| Code Violations | data.cityofchicago.org · Socrata · FREE |
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Live in CountyPull for Cook County right now
| List type | Records | New in 30 days |
|---|---|---|
| Code Violation | 9,443 | 9,443 |
| Lis Pendens | 1,880 | 549 |
| Foreclosure | 9 | 0 |
| Will Lis Pendens / Foreclosure | 3 | 3 |
| Will Sheriff'S Deed | 2 | 2 |
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