Town hall meeting vs. board meeting
Q. The first question in your April 4 column referred to town hall meetings, and refers to the need for a quorum of the owners to be present to vote. Aren't these town hall meetings actually board meetings?
A. Let me clarify. I do understand that some associations hold board meetings and call them town hall meetings when the purpose is essentially to provide information to owners on an issue. That said, the town hall meetings referred in the April 4 column referred to gatherings of the owners, and not to board meetings. Therefore, voting by the owners, on a matter requiring an owner vote, at such a gathering of the owners could only occur if notice of the owners' meeting were given and if a quorum of the owners were present.
Q. Many of the owners in our condominium think the board, especially the president, has been misappropriating funds for many years. We are upset and think this needs to be investigated. What can we do?
A. The board of managers of the condominium association is obligated to keep detailed, accurate records of the receipts and expenditures affecting the use and operation of the property. Similarly, the board must keep and maintain the true and complete copies of the books and records of account for the association's current and 10 immediately preceding fiscal years, including but not limited to itemized and detailed records of all receipts and expenditures.
Any member of the association has the right to inspect, examine and make copies of these, in person or by agent, at any reasonable time or times, at the association's principal office. However, those records can only be examined and copied for a "proper purpose." In order to exercise this right, a member of the association must submit a written request to the association's board of managers or its authorized agent, stating with particularity the records sought to be examined and a proper purpose for the request. That's generally not a difficult threshold to meet.
If a review of the books and records reveal any sort of embezzlement, the owners should seek legal counsel on how to remove and replace the board members. The new board members could then engage an accountant to perform a forensic evaluation. Thereafter, the association could pursue legal action against those involved in the embezzlement and/or make a claim under the association's fidelity insurance.
Q. A meeting of the unit owners of our condominium association was recently called, and notice of the meeting was provided to owners by email. Our declaration requires notices to be mailed by certified mail or personally delivered to an owner with a written receipt. I have never asked if it was OK to provide me notice by email. I thought the board was required to obtain an owner's approval to issue notice by email? Was the email notice valid?
A. The board of a condominium association can adopt rules that would permit owners to consent to receiving meeting notices from the association by email. Once the rule is adopted, an owner would have to consent to receive notice by email. If an owner does not consent, the association would have to issue notice to such owner by mail or personal delivery as specified in the declaration for your association. Notice issued by the association by email, in the absence of the rule and an owner's consent, would not be valid. However, if you attended the meeting (for any purpose other than to object to the notice), you waived your right to challenge the notice.
• 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.