Board can take action to remove bird feeder
Q. A homeowner in our association refuses to follow our rule that prohibits feeding of the birds or wild animals. She keeps a large dish of seed and food on the common area next to her patio, and bird feeders are attached to her patio railing. This all attracts birds, squirrels and other wildlife that leave the area full of waste. We are going to initiate our rules violation procedures. If the board finds that she has violated the rule, can we demand she remove the feeders?
A. The board should issue the owner a notice of violation and provide her with an opportunity for a hearing with respect to the violation. If the board then finds the violation has occurred, the board could levy a fine and then advise the owner to remove the feeders by a specific deadline or the board will remove them. If the deadline passes, and the owner does not comply, the board can employ "self help" and remove the offending feeders from the common area as permitted by your declaration.
Q. A board member stood up at a board meeting and shouted "I resign" after an argument with another board member. He then abruptly walked out of the meeting, only to return to the meeting a short time later like nothing happened. The meeting ended in an argument over whether this person was still on the board. Was the board member's verbal resignation valid?
A. The verbal resignation was not sufficient. A director may resign at any time by written notice delivered to the board, or to the president or secretary. The written resignation is effective when delivered, unless the notice of resignation specifies a future effective date.
Q. The 2014 budget for our association included a line item to replace our existing boiler with an identical boiler. However, the actual cost to replace the boiler was 50 percent more than the amount budgeted. Did the board have to obtain owner approval for this increase in the actual cost of the boiler?
A. Budgets are planning tools for the board. However, actual expenses can be higher or lower than contemplated for a particular budgeted item. In general, a board can spend more than is budgeted for a particular item. To keep from operating at a deficit, the board would generally have to spend less in another budget category, or adopt a special assessment for the shortfall.
Q. The board of our condominium association is in the process of adopting rules that would permit owners to consent to receiving notices from the association by email. I think this is great, but I am concerned about whether other owners will be entitled to obtain my email address from the association. That would be unacceptable to me. Can I prevent the board from making my email address available to other owners, yet still receive notices from the association by email?
A. Good news! While an owner can consent to receive notice by email, and provide their email address to the association, that email address does not have to be provided to other owners. That is, owners who provide the association with email addresses where notice can be sent by the association, can designate another address to be provided to other owners when the law requires such information to be provided to an owner. The Illinois Condominium Property Act authorizes each unit owner to designate an electronic address or a U.S. Postal Service address, or both, as the unit owner's address on any list of unit owners that an association is required to provide upon request pursuant to any provision of the law or any condominium instrument. The board would have to adopt appropriate rules to implement all this.
• 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.