Is condo rule about renting to ‘nonfamily’ common?
Q. My condominium association has a lease restriction in the bylaws.
It states that unit owners can only rent their unit out to a “nonfamily member” once during the course of their ownership of the unit. It further states that an owner can rent their unit out to “family members” (related by blood or marriage) as often as they want.
Therefore, once I rent the unit out to a “nonfamily member,” I cannot rent it out to another “nonfamily member.” Is this something that is typical of most condominium associations?
A. I agree with your conclusion, based on your description of the lease restriction — an owner can lease to a nonfamily member only once during the owner’s ownership of the unit. However, there is not a limit on the number of times the owner may lease to a “family member.” I have seen such language in a lease restriction. While a “family member” exception to a lease restriction is common, the restriction that allows an owner to lease once to a “nonfamily member” is not common. More typical, and consistent with secondary mortgage market guidelines, is a restriction on the number of units that can be leased at any one time.
Q. What constitutes electronic voting? Our condominium association declaration and bylaws do not provide for electronic voting. The board recently considered amending them to include it, but ultimately decided to do nothing. Now we are approaching our annual election of directors, and the voting instructions allow for ballots to be emailed to the property manager. Would this be considered electronic voting? If so, since there is no provision for it in the governing documents, would emailed votes then be considered invalid?
A. The Illinois Condominium Property Act (“Act”) provides that “if a rule adopted at least 120 days before a board election or the declaration or bylaws provide for balloting as set forth in this subparagraph, unit owners may not vote by proxy in board elections, but may vote only (i) by submitting an association-issued ballot in person at the election meeting; or (ii) by any acceptable technological means as defined in Section 2 of this Act.”
This allows the board of directors to adopt rules that provide for electronic voting in lieu of proxies. The authorization does not need to be in the declaration or bylaws.
The Act states that “acceptable technological means” includes, “without limitation, electronic transmission over the internet or other network, whether by direct connection, intranet, telecopier, electronic mail and any generally available technology that, by rule of the association, is deemed to provide reasonable security, reliability, identification, and verifiability.”
The Act states that “electronic transmission” means “any form of communication, not directly involving the physical transmission of paper, that creates a record that may be retained, retrieved, and reviewed by a recipient and that may be directly reproduced in paper form by the recipient through an automated process.”
Permitting an election ballot to be emailed to the association would be considered “electronic voting,” and would require the board to have adopted the rule described above to be valid. Otherwise, an emailed election ballot is not valid.
Q. Our townhouse association has sent “Owner Decision Forms,” not ballots, to all homeowners regarding a proposed amendment to our declaration. Most homeowners have returned theirs. My question is are the unreturned “Owner Decision Forms” counted as yes or no votes?
A. I cannot speak to the process described in the governing documents for your association. However, if an owner does not affirmatively “approve” the amendment, it is a “no.” Any unreturned “Owner Decision Form” is a “no.”
• David M. Bendoff is an attorney with Kovitz Shifrin Nesbit in the Chicago suburbs. 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.