Owners forum often allowed, sometimes required
Q. Our board of directors just issued a statement saying it will no longer include a homeowner's forum at the beginning of board meetings. Homeowners can still attend board meetings, but we are not allowed to address the board with comments and questions. Is it legal for the board to do this?
A. While unit owner forums have become a custom and practice at many board meetings, the answer to your question depends on the type of association. A unit owner forum is not required in a condominium or in a homeowners association, so the board of these associations has the discretion whether or not to include an owner's forum at board meetings. However, the board of a common interest community association must reserve a portion of the board meeting for comments by members of the association. That said, the duration and meeting order for the member comment period is within the sole discretion of the board of the common interest community association.
Whether required by statute or voluntarily included if not required, these forums are intended as a general comment period for unit owners. A specific amount of time could be allocated at the meeting (generally at the beginning or end) for this purpose. The time allocated for the forum should be relative to the length of the meeting, and it should take up a relatively short portion of the meeting.
The time limit should be announced at the beginning of the forum so that it does not leave the incorrect impression that an owner is being arbitrarily cut off when time expires. If an owner has anything substantial to address with the board, the owner should contact the board in advance so that the matter can be formally placed on the agenda for discussion, if appropriate.
Q. I'm considering buying the condominium unit next to my unit and combining the two units. I was reading your 2012 article and I am curious if it is still necessary to get approval from all association members to enclose a common element vestibule in order to consolidate the side-by-side entry doors into one for the combined units?
A. As I noted in that article, the owner of two adjoining condominium units can make written application to the board of managers requesting an amendment to the condominium instruments in order to combine the units into a single unit. The amendment, approved by the board, only needs to be signed by the owner of the combined units. The enclosure of the common element vestibule continues to raise an interesting issue.
The Illinois Condominium Property Act would permit the amendment to grant the owner of the combined unit, with the board's approval, the exclusive right to use and enclose the common element vestibule. However, an appellate court decision requires the unanimous approval of all unit owners in the association to permit this grant of the exclusive right to use this portion of the common element vestibule. That's not going to happen very often.
I was hopeful that legislation would be introduced to clarify the ability of the board to grant this exclusive use of the common elements to the owner of a combined unit, without approval of all of the owners in the association. That, I must report, did not happen.
On a personal note, the Illinois Chapter of Community Associations Institute will hold its annual Legal Forum on Thursday, May 7, at the Chicago University Center in Chicago. My partner, Kerry Bartell, and I will speak at a morning session on "The Aftermath of the Palm v 2800 Lake Shore Drive Condominium Decision." Registration information is available at www.cai-illinois.org.
• David M. Bendoff is an attorney with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit in Buffalo Grove. Send questions for the column to him at CondoTalk@ksnlaw.com. The firm provides legal service to condominium, townhouse, homeowner associations and housing cooperatives. This column is not a substitute for consultation with legal counsel.