2018 IL Condo Law Changes-Petition Submission

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Written by Alexa Jackson

Category: What We're Thinking About Lately...

Published: 19 September 2017

This is one of a series of articles regarding changes in the IL Condo Act that will become effective in 2018.

There are five changes to Section 18 of the Illinois Condominium Property Act:

1. Section 18(a)8(i) permits owners to object to increases in assessments more than 115% of the prior year’s assessments, by submitting a petition to the Board signed by 20% of the Association owners. The amendment increases the amount of time to submit the petition from within 14 days, to within 21 days, of the Board action.
2. Section 18(a) (16) permits unit owners to object to any contract entered into with a current Board member, the Board member’s family, or a company which the Board member or their family has 25% or more interest in, by filing a petition. This amendment increases the amount of time to file the petition from within 20 days of entering the contract, to 30 days.
3. Section 18(b) (9) (c) provides that if the Board adopts a rule permitting electronic voting or mail-in absentee ballots for Board elections, the unit owners may object by filing a petition to the Board. The amendment increases the amount of time to submit the petition to the Board, from within 14 days of the rule’s adoption, to within 30 days of the rule’s adoption.
4. Section 18.4(a) provides that unit owners may file a petition, signed by 20% of owners, to contest capital improvement projects approved by the Board costing more than 5% of the annual budget. The amendment increases the amount of time to submit the petition from within 14 days of the Board approving the expenditure, to within 21 days.
5. Section 18.10 is new and states that Associations with 100 or more units should use generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).

2018 IL Condo Law Changes- Books and Records

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Written by Alexa Jackson

Category: What We're Thinking About Lately...

Published: 12 September 2017

This is one of a series of articles regarding changes in the IL Condo Act that will become effective in 2018.

Section 19 of the IL Condo Act governs the books and records that must be maintained for examination and copying by owners. Several changes have been made to the subsections. Here are highlights:

1. Subsection (a) (7) is amended so that the Board must maintain a list of the email addresses and phone numbers of all members for use by unit owners if requested for a purpose relating to the Association. This needs to be read in conjunction with Section 18.4 (s) which permits owners to consent to receive notices by e-mail, but permits an owner to designate an electronic address or USPS address, or both, as the unit owner’s address on any member list.
2. Subsection (b) is amended to expand the categories of documents that an owner is entitled to examine and copy, by simply making a request in writing. This will make it easier for owners to obtain the books and records identified in these subsections. (More detail on this item will be posted in a subsequent post in this series.)
3. Subsection (d-5) is added to define “commercial purpose” as the use of any part of a record, or records, or information derived from the records, in any form for sale, resale, or advertisements for sales and services.
4. Subsection (e) is amended to eliminate the requirement that an owner state a “proper purpose” to examine books and records. However, as a condition, the Board may require that the requesting unit owner certifies in writing that the information will not be used for any commercial purpose, or for any purpose that does not relate to the Association. The amendment permits the Association to fine anyone making false certifications. The Board must now respond to a request for records within 10 business days, instead of 30. Additionally, the Board may, but is not required to, charge the unit owner requesting the records for the cost of retrieving the records.

2018 IL Condo Law Changes – Surplus Funds

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Written by Alexa Jackson

Category: What We're Thinking About Lately...

Published: 05 September 2017

This is the first in a series of articles regarding changes in the IL Condo Act that will become effective in 2018.

The Illinois Condominium Property Act has created a new section that states, at the end of the Association’s fiscal year, and once the Association has approved any year end fiscal audit if necessary, and if the fiscal year ended with a surplus of funds instead of expenses, including budget reserve funds, then the Board had the authority to dispose of the surplus through the following methods:

1. Contribute the surplus to the reserve fund
2. Return the surplus to the unit owner as a credit toward leftover monthly assessments for the current fiscal year
3. Return the surplus to the unit owners in the form of a direct payment
4. Maintain the funds in the operating account, where funds are applied as a credit when calculating the coming annual budget.

If the fiscal year ends with a deficit, the Board has the discretion to address the deficit by incorporating it into the budget for the following year.

Unit owners can object to the Board’s decision as follows: If 20% of the unit owners object within 30 days’ notice to the action, the Board may call a meeting of the unit owners within 30 days of the date of delivery of the petition. At the meeting, unit owners may vote to select a different option than that chosen by the board. Unless most of the total votes of unit owners are cast at the meeting to reject the Board’s selection, and choose a different option, the Board’s decision is ratified.

Gray area surrounding condo law and foreclosures

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Written by Alexa Jackson

Category: What We're Thinking About Lately...

Published: 28 August 2017

In general, when a condominium unit is foreclosed, any assessment balances unpaid by the prior owner are extinguished by the foreclosure. IL law then allows associations to recover certain amounts from a third party purchaser if they have taken the proper steps. 

A recent opinion from Illinois’ First Appellate District provides that “prompt” payment of assessments is required to extinguish pre-sale assessments under the Condominium Property Act. This means that, potentially, the bank could be held responsible for the prior owner's balance if they don't "promptly" start making assessment payments on the unit. 

The problem, however, is that there is no strict definition of "prompt" established by law to determine whether or not the lien has been successfully extinguished by the bank.

Further guidance regarding the payment timing required to confirm the extinguishment of a condominium association’s lien will hopefully be provided in a pending Supreme Court appeal.

Read more about current events on this topic here.