Percentage of owners, units is different
Q. I am hoping you can help me out, as I am pretty confused. Various provisions of our condominium declaration require some percentage of the owners to approve different matters. When the declaration requires approval of three-fourths of the owners, for example, does this mean the matter needs to be approved by owners of three-fourths of the units by number?
A. Consistent with the Illinois Condominium Property Act, most condominium declarations include language that says something like any specified percentage of the "unit owners" is defined as such a percentage "in the aggregate in interest of such undivided ownership property."
This means the percentage stated is the percentage of ownership of the common elements; it does not mean the owners of that percentage of the units. In your example, a provision requiring approval by three-fourths of the owners means people owning three-fourths of the total percentage of ownership in the common elements. It does not mean owners of three-fourths of the units.
That said, there is an exception. When 30 percent or fewer of the units, by number, possess more than 50 percent in the aggregate of the votes in the association, any specified percentage vote requires the specified percentage by number of units rather than by percentage of interest in the common elements allocated to units. This is intended to prevent a small number of units from making decisions affecting all owners.
Q. I am interested in becoming a community association manager in Illinois. Where can I get information on the manager licensing requirements?
A. Manager licensing in Illinois is handled by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. There is a plethora of information available at its website. Here is the web address: www.idfpr.com/profs/cam.asp.
Q. What is the difference between a "board of managers" and "board of directors" in associations?
A. Both terms reference the group of people elected by the members of the association as the governing body of the association. Board of managers is typically used when the association is an unincorporated association. Board of directors is typically used when the association has been incorporated as an Illinois nonprofit corporation.
Q. I live in a common interest community association. The annual meeting was supposed to be held several months ago. There has been no indication from the board that it has any intention of scheduling the annual meeting anytime soon. Is there a remedy here for the owners?
A. This is addressed in Section 1-25(g) of the Illinois Common Interest Community Association Act.
That section provides that if no election is held to elect board members within the time period specified in the bylaws, or within a reasonable amount of time thereafter not to exceed 90 days, then 20% of the members may bring an action (a lawsuit) to compel compliance with the election requirements specified in the bylaws.
If the court finds that an election was not held to elect members of the board within the required period due to the bad faith acts or omissions of the board, the members who brought the suit are entitled to recover their reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the association. If the relevant notice requirements have been met and an election is not held solely due to a lack of a quorum, then this all does not apply.
Before instituting such time consuming and expensive litigation, I would suggest first issuing a letter to the board demanding that an annual meeting be called by a certain date. The letter should also describe the remedy available to the owners, and the ability of the owners to recover attorney's fees, should the annual meeting not be held.
• 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.