Connected Management Blog

Understanding Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore Drive – A practical perspective Earlier this month the Illinois Appellate Court issued an order that is causing quite a stir in condo association circles. Palm v. 2800 Lake Shore Drive is a case that relates to how boards of condo associations conduct their business. Specifically, how board members communicate and make decisions. On the surface the ruling appears to introduce an incredible level of difficulty to the process that a board must follow in order to perform their duties. Many of the updates that I have read from attorneys and other professionals in the...

Building Safety Requirements This article contains information about various building safety requirements and Chicago municipal codes. These are common building items and issues that board members should be aware of to remain in full compliance with all city requirements. In practice it is unlikely that your association would be penalized by the city for failing to adhere to some of these requirements. Nonetheless these items are important to maintaining a safe building for your owners and other occupants. You can access the complete Chicago Municipal Code online: http://www.amlegal.com/library/il/chicago.shtml I encourage you to review these items and check to see how your...

Illinois Supreme Court rules in favor of Associations - No excuses to avoid paying assessments The struggling economy and the spike in mortgage foreclosures over the past five years have made collecting funds from unit owners a hot topic with our board members. The process for “treating” a delinquent unit owner has historically been straight forward. Step number one is to issue a demand letter that provides the owner with a period of 30 days in order to pay the entire past due balance. If the debt is not paid within the 30 days the association can proceed with step number...

Special Assessments - An overview for Chicago board members The primary source of income for a condominium association is through the normal monthly assessments paid by the unit owners. These assessments are determined and set one time per year through the adoption of an annual budget. Once the budget has been adopted by the Board, the assessment amounts for each unit are fixed for the year and are not changed. What happens if there are unplanned repairs or other situations where additional funds are needed to support the association? The primary tool at the Board's disposal is a special assessment. A...

Condominium Association Annual budgets Your annual budget calculates the total amount of assessment payments required to support the association’s expenses and savings. Since adopting a new budget typically means an increase to the monthly assessment requirements of your owners, the change can often be met with resistance. It is therefore important to make sure that your board follows all requirements of your association bylaws and the Illinois Condo Act. Some bylaws place a restriction on the total increase to assessments that can be called for by a budget without requiring a majority approval of the unit owners. These restrictions, however, have...