Privacy policy

City Experts, Inc. ("City Experts," "we," "us") respects your privacy. This policy explains what information this website collects, and, more importantly, what it does not.

Information this website collects

This website is informational. It has no user accounts and no advertising trackers. Apart from the ARO waitlist, rental application, and landlord verification forms described below, which you may choose to fill out, you can browse every page without actively providing any personal information. The only data processed automatically is the technical data our hosting provider needs to deliver and secure the site, described below.

The calculators

The tools on this site (the late fee, security deposit interest and prorated rent calculators, and the ARO qualification estimator) run entirely in your web browser. Nothing you type into them is saved, stored, or transmitted to us or to anyone else. Closing or refreshing the page permanently discards everything you entered.

The ARO waitlist

If you join the waitlist for an affordable (ARO) apartment through the waitlist form on this website, we collect and store your name, email address, phone number, and, if you provide them, your preferred unit type and household size. We also record which consent boxes you checked and when. If you contact us about the waitlist by phone, staff may add notes to your entry (for example, the date you called); we treat those notes with the same care as the rest of your information.

To catch typos before you submit, the waitlist page checks whether your email address's domain (the part after the @, never the full address) can receive mail. Your browser sends that domain name to Cloudflare's public DNS service (cloudflare-dns.com) to look it up. Cloudflare's handling of these lookups is described in the 1.1.1.1 resolver privacy policy.

We use this information for one purpose: to maintain the waitlist and contact you about apartment availability, viewings, and the application process. We do not send marketing messages to the waitlist, and we do not sell, rent, or share waitlist information with third parties, except the service provider that stores it on our behalf (the database is hosted by Cloudflare) or where disclosure is required by law.

Calls and text messages

By joining the waitlist, you agree that City Experts staff may call or text you at the number you provide about the waitlist, apartment availability, viewings, and the application process. Separately, and only if you check the optional box, you agree to receive automated text messages with waitlist and availability updates. That optional consent is not required to join the waitlist, and you can withdraw it at any time by replying STOP or by contacting us. Message and data rates may apply. We do not send automated or mass texts to anyone who has not given that optional consent.

Keeping and removing waitlist information

Your information stays on the waitlist until you lease a unit, ask to be removed, or the waitlist is retired. We review the waitlist at least once a year and remove entries that are no longer needed. You may request removal, correction, or a copy of the information we hold about you at any time by emailing contact@cityexperts.us, and we will honor the request promptly. Joining the waitlist is free, is not a rental application, and does not guarantee an offer of housing; eligibility for ARO units, including income qualification, is verified separately in accordance with the Chicago Affordable Requirements Ordinance and applicable fair housing laws. This website is operated from the United States, and the waitlist is intended for prospective tenants of the Chicago properties we manage.

When you contact us

If you call, email, or write to us, we will use the information you provide (such as your name and contact details) to respond to you and to conduct our business with you. We do not sell personal information.

Hosting, cookies, and analytics

This website is hosted on and delivered through Cloudflare. To serve the site and protect it from abuse, Cloudflare processes technical data about each request (such as your IP address, browser type, and pages requested) and may set a small number of strictly necessary cookies on your device, for example session cookies used for security and bot management (such as __cf_bm). These cookies are essential for the site to function safely; they are not advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, and we do not use any advertising cookies of our own. Cloudflare may also provide us with aggregate, non-identifying analytics such as page load counts and performance metrics. Cloudflare's handling of this data is described in the Cloudflare Privacy Policy.

Third-party services

The resident portal is operated by Rentec Direct, a third-party service with its own privacy policy. Links to other websites, such as the City of Chicago, are provided for convenience; we are not responsible for their content or privacy practices.

Rental applications

If you apply for an apartment through the application form on this website, we collect your name, email address, phone number, the apartment you are applying for, your household size, your income and its sources, the places you lived in the last 12 months with your landlords' names and contact details, anything you tell us about gaps in your rental history or about an accommodation you need, and the documents you upload (for example, bank statements showing rent payments, pay stubs, or benefit letters). We do not collect your Social Security number, date of birth, or criminal history on this form. If we screen your credit, you provide those details directly to TransUnion SmartMove under TransUnion's own privacy policy, and we receive the report you release to us.

We use this information only to evaluate your application, including contacting the landlords and income sources you list to verify what you told us. When a landlord answers our verification request on this website, we store their name, role, phone number, and answers with your application. We do not sell or share application information, except with the service providers that host it for us (Cloudflare stores the form data and files), with the people you authorized us to contact for verification, or where disclosure is required by law.

Application records are available only to City Experts staff who sign in through a separate access system, and every view, download, and change is logged. We delete uploaded documents 90 days after we decide on your application (or 180 days after you apply if no decision is made), and the rest of the application record 3 years after the decision, so we can answer questions and meet our legal obligations. You may ask for a copy of your information, a correction, or deletion of documents we no longer need by emailing contact@cityexperts.us. If information about you were ever accessed without authorization, we would notify you as required by the Illinois Personal Information Protection Act.

Residents

Personal information collected during leasing and property management (for example, lease records and rent payments) is collected through separate processes, including the resident portal, and is handled in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local law, including fair housing and consumer reporting laws.

Children

This website is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top of this page reflects the latest revision.

Contact

Questions about this policy? Contact City Experts, Inc., 220 N Green St, Chicago, IL 60607 · Call (773) 831-4545 · Text · contact@cityexperts.us.