Quorum not needed at annual meeting of unit owners.

Q. Must a quorum of the board members be present at the annual meeting of the unit owners?

A. A quorum of the board is not necessary at any meeting of the unit owners; after all it's a meeting of the owners, not of the board. The president of the board presides over meetings of the unit owners, and is the only board member required to be at an owner's meeting. Of course, a quorum of the board must be present at a board meeting.

Q. Our annual meeting of the owners and election of board members was recently held. Because of the sparse turnout, I asked if a quorum of the owners was established. I was told a quorum of the owners was not required to conduct the annual meeting of the association's members. Was this correct?

A. A quorum of the owners must be present before the annual meeting and election could proceed. An owner can be present at the annual meeting in person or by proxy (or mail in/electronic vote if permitted). If a quorum of the owners was not present, the election was not valid.

Q. The bylaws of our homeowners association provide for a three-member board. After I resigned, the two remaining board members and the property manager met privately to discuss who should be appointed to fill the vacancy. No action was taken to actually fill the vacancy at that meeting. Did this gathering constitute a board meeting, for which notice should have been issued?

A. Whether a condominium or a common interest community association, a gathering of a quorum of the board to conduct board business is a board meeting. Discussing who should be appointed to fill a vacancy on the board is conducting board business, and this gathering of the two remaining board members did constitute a meeting of the board. Written notice of the meeting should have been provided and posted in conspicuous places at the association, at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. To whom the notice should have been given will depend on the specific language in your association's governing documents.

Q. Owners in our common interest community association were asked to vote by mail with respect to a proposed amendment to the association's declaration of covenants. As ballots were received, they were opened and a tally kept of the "results," rather than being opened at a meeting.

A. To maintain the integrity of the vote, ballots should be opened at, not in advance of, the meeting called to vote on the amendment to the declaration.

Q. The board of my condominium association filed an appeal of the assessed valuation of all units in the association. I did not ask to participate, and I received a bill for a portion of the attorney's fees incurred by the association. Do I have to pay the attorney's fees?

A. Section 10(c) of the Illinois Condominium Property addresses this issue. Upon authorization by a two-thirds vote of the members of the board of managers at a meeting duly called for such purpose, or upon such greater vote as may be required by the declaration or bylaws, the board of managers acting on behalf of all unit owners does have the power to seek relief from or in connection with the assessment or levy of any such taxes, special assessments or charges. The board can charge and collect all attorney's fees incurred in connection therewith as common expenses. Since tax appeals are typically handled on a contingent fee basis, the fact that attorney's fees were incurred indicates the appeal was successful, and resulted in a reduction in the assessed valuation of the units! That would translate into a lower real estate tax bill than if there had not been an appeal.

• 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.