Category Archives: Article

A recent order from the City of Chicago Commissioner of Health has given a big boost to Chicago condominium associations seeking to enforce mark usage within the association common elements. The Executive Order (full text here) effectively expands the required use of masks to not only public places but also within the common or shared spaces of residential multi-unit buildings.

Emotional support dogs (“Assistance Animals”) in “no-dog” buildings continue to raise sticky legal issues for community association boards and managers. As you will recall, the Illinois Assistance Animal Integrity Act (or “Act,” full text linked here) became effective on January 1, 2020. The Act mandates that if a community association receives an accommodation request for an Assistance Animal, the board must generally accommodate the request even in “no dog / no pet” buildings. The board may require the requesting resident to present “reliable documentation of the disability and disability-related need for the animal” provided by an individual or entity with a “therapeutic relationship” with the resident (if the disability-related need is not readily apparent or known to the board). With the Act now effective, there is little that a board can do to stand in the way of a resident keeping a dog in a no-dog building if the resident follows the Act processes.

Memorial Day weekend, which marks the beginning of pool season in the Chicagoland area, has now come and gone. This year, however, the “new normal” of the COVID-19 virus has forced many boards to re-examine whether or not the pool should open at all in 2020. The guidance for associations is scattered and inconsistent, leading […]

Authorized and Essential Employee Letter and Acknowledgement form. Link to document – Download

Early in summer 2019, City of Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) introduced a proposal to add a new section to Chapter 13-72 of Chicago’s Municipal Code to increase the percentage of unit owners required to sell and “deconvert” an entire condominium property in Chicago to 85% of the total unit ownership. Remember, “deconversion” means […]

From time to time, a board member or property manager may contact us stating that their association wants to update its declaration or bylaws and wondering what it would cost. Before I can answer that question, I explain that there are two (2) basic types of common amendments to an association’s declaration and bylaws, which […]