A local real estate ordinance has raised concerns about violations of the Fourth Amendment, after the city of Zion, Illinois, threatened a landlord with fines for not compelling her tenants to allow warrantless inspections of their homes. The city has agreed to temporarily stop enforcing the controversial law while the landlord seeks a ruling in a federal civil rights lawsuit declaring it unconstitutional.
Zion’s far-reaching rental inspection ordinance gave it the authority to fine landlords for failing to compel tenants to allow the allegedly unconstitutional searches, and even went as far as allowing for the landlord to lose the right to rent out properties.
