Condominium Associations may be subject to an owner petition and owner vote to set them aside if the total budget, plus the increase or special assessment would result in the budget being 115 percent of the prior year’s total budget. This is not to say that Condominium Owners must approve a special assessment, as the Illinois Condominium Property Act was amended to prohibit that, but owners may petition and vote to reject a major increase. Further, some declarations for any type of Association may have a provision that requires owner approval for certain expenditures that exceed a threshold amount or are for the purposes of adding on to or improving the common elements. Declarations will say specifically whether an owner vote is required for certain types of expenditures and the Board should be careful to comply with those requirements. Failure to do so may render the expenditure invalid.

When mother knows best

handling permission requests. Alternatively, if the Governing Documents are silent on the time in which a Board must review a request, it is recommended that it should be completed within a reasonable time frame that is no longer than until the next meeting as this helps to move owners’ requests along and keeps communities running smoothly.

Finally, a key consideration for Boards is how to deny a request. This depends greatly on a community’s specific Governing Documents, but the key word remains reasonableness. Boards are vested with great discretion in how they manage the affairs of the Association and, though that discretion often will not be set aside if a court is called to intervene, it is possible for Board decisions to be challenged. The function of the Board is to act reasonably and exercise its discretion so that decisions are not likely to be overturned if challenged. The key concept in tandem is reliance on professional guidance where appropriate.

Boards are not presumed under Illinois law to have specialized professional knowledge in technical areas, including architecture, engineering and law. Boards may be presented with permission requests for additions, alterations or changes to the property that involve the structural integrity of the building, encroachments into the commons or accessibility requests. Many of these may require the evaluation of a qualified professional to answer technical questions. For instance, will removing this wall compromise the support given to the upstairs unit? Will installing this type of pool change the grading in the yard and cause excess runoff to adjoining buildings? Does the owner have the legal right to construct a gazebo adjacent to the unit? These are all questions that may require professional input.

A Board would be reasonable to reject a permission request, for example, if a qualified professional concludes that granting the request will pose major problems for other units or the common elements.

What about Master Associations?

A common question from Boards is what they must do when a permission request is given to them. Generally, covenants and rules may contain a specific timeline in which the Board must receive, review and rule on a request. Some declarations state that an ignored request is automatically deemed approved, though this is a less common term. If a declaration or rule states that the Board must act in a certain time, then the Board must act and lack of upcoming meetings, delays or other intervening factors are not necessarily an excuse for the Board if the Governing Documents have an automatic approval provision. Boards should be careful to know what their Governing Documents provide and work with their managers and committees to implement a procedure for

42 | COMMON INTEREST®

Some properties are subject to Master Associations and Condominium Associations, both with specific covenants. Usually, the Governing Documents will specify which Association is responsible for giving permission for various types of changes an owner may want to make. However, the lesson we learned as children remains true: Asking the other if Mother says “no” will only get you in trouble!

• Summer 2017 • A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter