The law is specifically drafted to be neutral as to the reasons or circumstances surrounding a delinquency. It likewise doesn’t make any distinction as to the identity of the unit owner who is delinquent, even board members. Regardless of the circumstance of the delinquency or the identity of the individual who is delinquent, boards are required in all cases to take actions to collect the delinquency.
Returning to the football field, a delinquency means a yellow flag must be thrown. When payment obligations are breached, it is tremendously important for board members to be prepared and know the rules. The best thing a board can do is collaborate with its professional management and legal counsel to decide upon set policy and procedures that are to be enacted at the time the delinquency occurs. Some of the variables that must be considered in enacting such a policy include the following:
• Timing: Consider the length of time prior to sending the initial legal notice starting the process.
• Costs: It is well known that all fees associated with the collection process become part of the delinquent unit owners’ common expenses and must be paid along with other fees.
• Late fees: What late fees should be imposed and when?
• Foreclosures/Bankruptcies: Boards should be aware that the presence of a pending foreclosure on the delinquent owners’ units or the filing of a bankruptcy by the delinquent unit owner can adjust the timing and degree of recovery in a collection matter.
Other considerations to be discussed include coordinating with managing agents to ensure that there is an effective line of communication between the agent and the association’s legal counsel that will allow for charges to be timely added to the relevant ledger and updates on timing for court appearances and administering evictions and other court orders. A comprehensive policy will take account of all these aspects of the collection process.
The role of legal counsel in handling the collection of delinquent assessments is key. Not only is it important that a consistent policy is followed, but effective and consistent communication relative to the status of collection matters and ensuring responsiveness of the board and management is essential. Talking through the processes involved in collecting assessments goes a long way towards ensuring the boards meet the moment.
To this end, it is incredibly important as part of any delinquency policy enacted by a board to ensure that boards are kept up to date on the status of all collection actions. When collection actions are impacted by foreclosures, pending sales of units in collections, bankruptcies, deaths of unit owners, partial payment attempts, or repair obligations, boards must be prepared to make decisions and take actions ensuring that all delinquency actions are handled in a timely and effective manner. Again, utilizing the experience and expertise of a board’s professionals is
24 | COMMON INTEREST® • Fall 2025 • A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter
a must on these matters, but boards must have sufficient knowledge of the reasons for variations that routinely occur when delinquencies take place.
The collection remedies in Illinois for condominium properties may be the most effective in the United States as to the legal options available to associations to recover what is owed. The most common vehicle utilized by boards is to obtain an Order of Possession in which the association steps into the shoes of a landlord and rents the relevant unit out to a tenant for the express purpose of applying rent proceeds to the unit-owner’s delinquency. To be clear: it is unusual to have a clear-cut statutory procedure that ends up with the unit owner evicted and the association turning into a temporary landlord to make up what is owed. But that procedure protects the association, allowing for an incentive for the existing unit owner to keep up with their assessment obligation (lest they be evicted from a unit) while establishing a reliable remedy to make the associations financially whole
Boards need to be fully prepared to include within its delinquency policies a set procedure and outline for costs and steps associated with renting out units. Lease forms, compliance with relevant municipal codes for leasing, and costs associated with rental units must all be considered.
This fall, when seeing yellow flags tossed onto the field signifying another penalty, let’s remember that the game officials are bound to act when a foul is observed — it is their job. Boards similarly must keep their fiduciary duties to the unit ownership paramount in applying delinquency policies.
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