One of our clients recently experienced some serious water backing up in the plumbing in several units.  As it turns out, they were in dire need of a sewer rodding to clean out the grease and debris that will gradually build up and stop water from flowing successfully to the sewers.  The bill for the service was almost $2,000!

Rodding the lines from your building out to the street should be done at least on an annual basis.  The cost is generally a few hundred dollars.  Regular maintenance of your plumbing systems can help your association avoid a major expense (and other potential water related damage) down the road.  Need a good plumber? See Plumbing in our Vendor Listings.

Haus Financial Services recently embarked on a major project to help a condominium association on the south side of Chicago.  The 27-unit building has 20 units in foreclosure.  We are working with attorney Ebony Wilkerson of Peace of Mind Properties and the Board to take possession of the abandoned units and rent them out to recover seriously delinquent funds.

Ashley Gross from Chicago Public Radio (WBEZ 91.5) is covering the process.  Please keep an ear on the radio and an eye on Ashley's blog to follow our progress.

Per changes to the IL Condo Act (effective in January), any owner who is more than 60 days delinquent in paying assessments does not need to be counted toward quorum requirements for any meeting called to review and adopt an amendment to the Declaration or By-Laws.

If your association is having difficulty achieving the necessary quorum to vote on an amendment to your governing docs due to absentee or non-participating owners and those owners are more than 60 days delinquent, you may remove their percentages from the total in order to calculate the new quorum requirement.

An example:

Percentage required to establish a quorum: 50%

One unit owns 20% and is 60 days delinquent.

New percentage required to establish a quorum: 50% of 80%, or 40%

The delinquent owner can still vote at the meeting if they do show up, however.  Keep in mind that this change is specifically in regards to voting on an amendment.

As the "boiler buddy" for my association, I'm responsible for handling the regular maintenance of the boiler that supplies heat to three of the four units in our building.  This includes annual maintenance required before the boiler is switched on for the season.

When I first handled this task last year, we were newly turned over from the developer, who had supplied the information for the company that had previously performed maintenance on our boiler. When I called the company to schedule an appointment, I found that they were booked for several weeks out, which meant that we wouldn't be able to start up the boiler (safely) until close to December!  Fortunately, I located another great company who was able to fit us in sooner due to a cancellation.

Though it seems that summer is just leaving us, it's crucial to begin making calls for your boiler servicing now so that you are up and running when the cold of winter comes.  It'll be here before we know it! Brrrr.....

The short answer to this question is: Only owners can serve on the Board.  But what constitutes an owner?  In order to be a legal owner in a condominium association, the owner's name must appear on the warranty deed for the property. 

In the event the unit owner is a corporation, partnership, trust or other legal entity other than a natural person or persons, then any director or officer, beneficiary or manager may serve as a member of the Board.

Spouses and other family members who reside in a unit cannot serve on the Board unless their name appears on the deed to the property.  This prevents any individual who does not have a legal stake in the property from making decisions about its operation.

Unsure whether your Board members are, in fact, deeded owners?  You can search for this information on the Cook County Recorder of Deeds' website by owner name or Property Index Number (PIN).  The Warranty Deed document will list all owners who are on the deed for the property.