Condo board members should control president who makes all decisions
Q. The president of our condominium association, that has a three-member board, runs the association like it is their personal fiefdom. They make all the decisions, without any meeting, and the members of the board are not involved in any of this. Is this proper?
A. No, this is not proper. Most decisions of the board need to be made by the board, at an open board meeting, where owners may attend. Decisions of the board typically require approval by a majority of the board when a quorum of the board is present. Note too that all of the board members have exposure to liability for the decisions that are being made unilaterally by the president. The rest of the board members need to step up and control the actions of the president, or remove this person as president.
Q. The declaration of condominium for our association limits the number of units that can be leased at any one time to 20% of the units. We have units of various sizes with different percentages of ownership. Is the percent of units that can be leased based on the unit’s percentage of ownership in the common elements?
A. No. The 20% cap on the number of units that can be leased at any one time is based on the raw number of units. The cap on units that can be leased is not based on unit percentages of ownership in the common elements.
Q. One of the unit owners in our association owns a corporation. The corporation uses the unit address as its place of business. The owner does not see customers at the unit. He does receive mail, and an occasional package addressed to the business. The association’s declaration prohibits the business use of units. Would the owner’s identifying the unit as the business address violate the declaration?
A. Initially, a declaration that prohibits the business use of units often has an exception for receiving mail/phone calls mail at the unit. The purpose of a “no business use of a unit” covenant is to avoid overuse of common elements by business invitees and frequent/voluminous package delivery.
The limited purpose for which the owner is using the unit related to his business would not violate the declaration.
As an aside, I have neighbors who receive so many package deliveries per day, you would think they are running a business. No, it just stuff they buy online.
Q. A group of owners in our association have stopped paying assessments because they are not happy about recent decisions of the board, and about maintenance of the common elements. Are these owners allowed to withhold payment of assessments and, if not, what can the association do?
A. Owners may not withhold assessments in protest of board decisions. The board can pursue its remedies to collect unpaid assessments from these owners. This would include the filing of an eviction suit for nonpayment of assessments. The association would be entitled to seek recovery of its attorney’s fees from the owners here,
Q. My spouse and I each own separate units in our condominium association. Can we both serve on the board at one time?
A. The Illinois Condominium Property Act (Section 18(a)(1)) provides that “if there are multiple owners of a single unit, only one of the multiple owners shall be eligible to serve as a member of the board at any one time.” Since you and your spouse each own separate units, you both would be eligible to serve as a member of the board at the same time.
• 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.