How associations can regulate sound from hardwood flooring

Q. I live in a 12-unit older condominium building with six units on the ground floor and six units on the second floor. As units are sold and upgraded, carpeting is often removed and replaced with hard-surface flooring. This has made noise transmission much worse for the first-floor units. Are there any laws requiring upper-floor units to have carpet? Can an association make that a rule?

A. There is no Illinois law that requires upper-floor condominium units to have carpeting. However, depending on the association's governing documents, an association may regulate flooring in upper-floor units.

Neither the Illinois Condominium Property Act nor most municipal building codes require carpeting in condominium units. That said, many condominium declarations contain provisions that may include:

• Require a certain percentage of flooring (often 80%) to be carpeted, excluding kitchens and bathrooms.

• Require hard-surface flooring to include approved sound-deadening underlayment.

• Prohibit alterations that unreasonably increase noise transmitted to neighboring units.

If the declaration contains such provisions, the board can generally enforce them.

If the declaration is silent, a requirement that all upper-floor units install carpet would likely be considered a new use restriction rather than a mere rule governing the property. Illinois courts tend to scrutinize association rules that impose new restrictions on an owner's use of his or her unit.

A board is generally on firmer legal ground when it adopts reasonable rules that:

• Establish minimum sound-insulation standards.

• Require architectural approval before flooring is replaced.

• Require acoustical underlayment meeting specified sound ratings, such as IIC and STC standards.

• Require owners to correct flooring installations that create an unreasonable noise nuisance.

These approaches can provide effective noise control while still permitting hardwood, engineered wood, luxury vinyl plank and similar flooring materials.

If you are a first-floor owner and the upstairs flooring was recently installed, review your declaration, bylaws, and architectural rules. Determine whether the owner obtained any required approval before installing the flooring and whether the installation complies with applicable acoustical standards. If the noise is excessive, consider whether it may constitute a nuisance under the declaration.

Q. I live in a small common-interest community. In years past, the board would email meeting minutes to owners about 30 days after each meeting. About three to five years ago, that practice stopped. I asked the board to resume sending the minutes but was told they are not required to do so. Is the board correct?

A. Generally, yes.

Illinois law does not currently require meeting minutes to be prepared, approved, or distributed within a specific time frame. Likewise, associations are not generally required to email or proactively distribute board meeting minutes to owners.

However, once approved, board meeting minutes must be made available for owner examination and copying in accordance with applicable record-inspection requirements.

As a best practice, boards typically approve the minutes of a meeting at their next regularly scheduled board meeting. Depending on the association's meeting schedule, that may occur the following month, the next quarter, or at some later date.

Many associations voluntarily post approved meeting minutes on an association website or owner portal. In fact, legislation has been proposed in Illinois that would require associations to maintain a website through which owners could access certain association records, including board meeting minutes. Owners should monitor the status of that legislation, as it could affect association record-access requirements in the future.

In the meantime, while the board may not be required to email minutes, owners retain the right to examine and copy approved minutes as provided by law and the association's governing documents.

• Matthew Moodhe 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.