Recipes under the Law
Owner-Occupant Board “
Members. One new ingredient spices up the recipe for the structureofanassociation’sboardofdirectors/ managers. Effective January 1, 2022, SB636 (Public Act 102- 0162) amends Section 18(a)(1) of the Illinois Condominium Property Act (the “Condo Act”), 765 ILCS 605/18, to provide that a new association (or an existing association by an amendment to its declaration after the effective date) may adopt a new board structure whereby a majority, or a lessor amount, of board members must reside on the property. This change prohibits an association from requiring more than a majority of the board be owner occupants. This amendment was carefully crafted to simply change the structure of the board without creating two classes of membership, which is prohibited by the Condo Act. Under the amendment, every unit owner is still qualified to be a board member, whether or not they are a resident. When cooking up the structure of the board, the association just needs to ensure that the board as a whole contains a majority, or such lesser number as the declaration or amendment provides, of owner- occupant members.
Energy Policy Statement.
Another recipe change amends the Homeowners’ Energy Policy Statement Act, 765 ILCS 165. Effective July 1, 2021, HB644 (Public Act 102-0161) specifically excludes from the requirements of the Act any building that has a shared roof and is subject to a condo, homeowner, or common interest community association. The amendment also changes the cooking time from 120 to 90 days for a condo, homeowner, or common interest community association to adopt an energy policy statement after receiving a request for such a policy or an application to install a solar energy system from a member. It also reduces the cooking time from 90 to 75 days after the submission of an owner’s application for the installation or use of a solar energy system for the association to process and approve or deny the application.
12 | COMMON INTEREST®
Removing Unlawful Restrictive Covenants.
Although it may be difficult to believe, there are some older associations with ingredients in their governing documents that prohibit ownership on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. In the past, in order to remove such unlawful restrictions, an association was required to follow its regular amendment recipe. This will change as of January 1, 2022, thanks to HB0058 (Public Act 102- 0110), which adds a new recipe to remove such unlawful restrictions in The Counties Code, 55 ILCS 5/3-5048. This new recipe allows the board of a condo, homeowner, master, or common interest community association or a cooperative to cook up a restrictive covenant modification to remove such unlawful restriction ingredient from their governing documents by a majority vote of the board without a vote of the owners.
The recipe for a restrictive covenant modification requires a complete copy of the original instrument containing the unlawful restriction with the language of the unlawful restriction stricken and a petition to modify it; the recipe in §3-5048(c)(2) sets forth exactly what the petition must include. The board must file the restrictive covenant modification with the Recorder (now part of the County Clerk’s Office in Cook County) who then sends it to the State’s Attorney. Within 30 days of receipt, the State’s Attorney must make a determination as to whether the restrictive covenant modification is proper and if so, send it back to the Recorder, who must then record the modification, which will remove the unlawful restriction ingredient from the association’s governing documents. The fee for recording such a modification cannot exceed $10. Once it receives the recorded copy, the board must give notice and a copy of the restrictive covenant modification to all owners within 21 days.
The new recipe also provides for involvement by owners who can submit a written request to the board to remove an unlawful restriction ingredient from their governing
• Winter 2021 • A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter
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