Board members are often approached by owners individually with questions or requests. When this happens, board members can feel like they have an obligation to respond in the moment and be of assistance to their neighbors. This can cause unwanted stress and make it difficult for board members to create separation between their role as a neighbor living in the community and their authority as a board member.

Board members need to draw boundaries in order to navigate owner communication about association business successfully. Here is a wonderful Q&A on why board members need to establish effective strategies for fielding owner communication and how to do it: read on...

Property tax bills are available online and due December 1st. Enter your address or PIN here to download your bill and/or pay online.

The Treasurer anticipates mailing these bills out in late October. If you have not yet received your tax bill, you can find the information online.

In condo communities, conflict can occur between residents or between a resident and the board. Additionally, a resident conflict can easily spill over to become a conflict between residents and the board. 

What’s the key to resolving differences? Learn more here. 

Occasionally, either because of changing times, demographics, or some other reason, a community may need to take a critical look at their governing documents, and may decide that an adjustment is called for.

Some common examples of changes that we've seen recently at HausFS that require amendments include:

• Changes to ownership percentages
• Adding or removing leasing restrictions
• Updating documents to align with current condominium law

Whatever the reason, there are specific steps to legally amending these key documents, and it’s important for both boards and residents to know what those steps are. 

Check out the necessary steps, here.

There are many potential points of conflict related to board members. 

One common pain point is recusing and excusing board members.

Board members have a fiduciary duty to their condominium association, and to its members. This means that, at all times, directors must put the interests of the association above their own personal interests. If a director cannot do so for any reason, they are obligated to recuse themselves from participating in the deliberation and decision regarding any topic in which they may have personal interest.

But often, individual directors and boards often hesitate to recuse or excuse when warranted, leading to conflict.

Another common pain point is board member qualifications. 

Under both the Illinois Condominium Property Act and the Illinois Common Interest Community Association Act, an individual must be a member of the association to qualify as a board member. However, conflict can quickly arise if it is learned that an elected board member is not an owner within the association.

Learn more about these common pain points, here.