Your condo association may need to contract with vendors for recurring maintenance or one-time projects. Your association may want to use a request for proposal when collecting bids from vendors.
A request for proposal (RFP) is meant to give direction to a contractor/vendor about the scope of service for a project and to the association with a focused cost to complete the identified scope. A properly prepared RFP can make a big difference in getting quality proposals from service providers and give the association the ability to make an informed decision.
There are three keys to keep in mind when you are getting ready to develop the RFP for an upcoming project or contract:
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At HausFS, we come across many small associations that do not keep a separate bank account for accumulating reserves funds. Sometimes this is a result of the buildings simply not having any excess funds to transfer to a savings account because they are not budgeting properly. More often the board just never got around to opening an additional bank account and segregating the reserves that they have.
There is a few good reasons why your association should have a separate bank account for reserves funds:
HausFS recommends that all small associations segregate their reserves funds in a no-fee savings account that bears interest. The association should also be transferring funds to reserves each month based on its annual budget. Your budget should show a minimum of 10% allocated to reserves each year to meet lender requirements.
Condominiums associations are considered corporations in the eyes of the IRS. As such, they are required to file an annual tax return (either an 1120 or 1120-H).
Condo associations showing taxable income on their federal returns are also required to file an IL-1120 with the state of Illinois.
Tax returns must be postmarked by April 16th this year. The IRS granted an extra month to file beginning with the 2016 tax year.
Board members can no longer represent their association in an administrative hearing. Administrative law judges hearing cases in the City of Chicago used to allow non-attorney representation for ordinance violations. However, it has been determined recently that non-attorneys appearing on behalf of such entities at administrative hearings were committing the unauthorized practice of law.
In Illinois, if you attend an administrative hearing on behalf of an entity without an attorney, a default judgment may be entered because you will not be allowed to appear on its behalf. In order to vacate the default judgment, you will need to engage an attorney to file a motion on your behalf, in most cases resulting in an additional hearing and costs.
Therefore, it is recommended that condo board members engage legal representation shortly after receiving an ordinance violation in order to prevent a default judgment and additional expense.
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