JULY 2016 | VOLUME 20 | NUMBER 2

THE SOURCE FOR INFORMATION ON COMMUNITY ASSOCIATIONS, CONDOS, TOWNHOMES, CO-OPS & HOAS $8.95

by Nicholas Bartzen and Howard Dakoff, Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC

For more information, contact nbartzen@lplegal.com, 312.476.7581 or hdako@lplegal.com, 312.476.7556.

A Road Map to Handling Three Common Condominium Issues:

Document Requests, Insurance and Reasonable Accommodations, Oh My!
According to the Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, the saying what you dont account for the current and previous 10 years
know cant hurt you was originally written in the year 1576 by an English nov- within 30 business days upon a statement of a
proper purpose. In Oviedo et. al. v. 1270 S.
elist. With no disrespect or offense to classic English literature, when it comes to
Blue Island Condominium Assn. et. al, the
administration of condominium associations, the very opposite is true what court held that a unit owner making a request
you dont know actually can hurt you. under the Chicago Condominium Ordinance
must state a proper purpose for document
requests under the Chicago Condominium

T owards that end, below are three

common issues of which property
managers and board members must have
Pursuant to Section 19 of the Act, the
declaration, by-laws, rules and regulations,
meeting minutes for the previous seven years
knowledge. Lack of knowledge in these three and insurance policies must be made available
areas could result in unit owner unrest or, to association members within 30 days upon
worse, vulnerability to lawsuit. written request; certain other documents,
including contracts, leases, list of names,
1. Document Requests
addresses, weighted vote of unit owners, bal-
A situation that every property manager lots and proxies for the previous 12 months
and board member has seen, or will eventually and books and records of account for the
see, is a unit owner demanding to inspect current and previous 10 years must be made
association documents. It happens frequently available to association members within 30
and is understandable - after all, unit owners business days after submitting a written
are association members and have a right to request stating a proper purpose.
inspect association documents. Section 19(f) of the Act entitles associa-
The right to inspect documents is codi- tions to charge the requesting unit owner for
fied in Section 19 of the Illinois Condo- the actual costs to the association of retrieving
minium Property Act (Act) for condo- and making the records available, as well as
miniums in Illinois. For those condominiums the actual cost of any copies to the extent the
located in the City of Chicago, Section 13-72 owner requests them.
of the Chicago Municipal Code (commonly For those associations located in the City
referred to as the Chicago Condominium of Chicago, Section 13-72 entitles unit owners
Ordinance) also governs that right. to inspect (but not copy) books and records of
Ordinance even though the ordinance does
not expressly require a written statement of a
proper purpose.
Both statutes contain a remedy for the
unit owner who is wrongfully denied inspec-
tion of such records, which is the right to file a
lawsuit for inspection and recover reasonable
attorneys fees and costs for such a lawsuit.
While a unit owner cannot make unrea-
sonable demands for excessive documents
without stating a proper purpose (i.e. asking
the board to provide every receipt or proof of
expenditure for the previous 10 years), property
managers and boards must be cognizant of the
applicable statutes requirements to provide
inspection and copying of documents when
required. Association members have a right to
know how their money is being spent and what
obligations have been made on their behalf.
In sum, knowing what the unit owners
may request, how the requests must be made,
and the process by which a condominium
board considers the request is important to

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All material herein is copyrighted 2016.
CONDO LIFESTYLES
ensure the association is not exposed to liability.
2. Insurance Coverage for
Damages to Unit
Another situation with which property
managers and boards must be familiar is the
water leak that emanates from a common ele-
ment causing water damage to property
within a unit often damaging the drywall,
floors, built-in cabinetry, and/ or personal
property within a unit. Thereafter, unit owners
often demand that the association pay for the
cost of all repairs and replacements regardless
of what the association governing documents
or law requires.
While boards or property managers may
desire to show sympathy and pay for all dam-
ages, each must follow the provisions of their
governing document and applicable law to
avoid misspending funds.
Section 12 of the Act states that the Asso-
ciation is responsible for property insurance
on the common elements and units, including
limited common elements and, except as oth-
erwise determined by the board of directors,
the bare walls, floors, and ceiling of the unit.
This means that associations are generally
responsible to repair up to and including the
drywall and primer coat in a unit caused by a
leaking common element. Section 12
expressly excludes walls and floor coverings
from coverage, such as paint, wallpaper, car-
peting and hardwood floors, but does include
fixtures installed by the developer of the con-
dominium (such as kitchen cabinets).
Most condominium declarations provide
that a unit owner is responsible for the insur-
ance of personal property in their units
including improvements and betterments
installed by the unit owner (i.e. remodeled
unit improvements), and the maintenance and
decorating within the unit. This is a standard
provision which limits the scope of responsi-
bility of an association for water damage to a
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16 CONDO LIFESTYLES
unit even where such damage emanated from
a common element.
Thus, difficult as it may be to relay the
message to the unit owner whose remodeled
kitchen cabinets must be replaced or whose
carpeting is now ruined, it is generally the sole
responsibility of the unit owner to maintain,
repair, replace and insure personal property,
provided the board and management acted
responsibly in addressing the root cause of the
water infiltration.
The boards fiduciary duty to the associa-
tion often precludes it from spending associa-
tion funds to replace items damaged that are
rightfully the unit owners individual respon-
sibility. Due to the boards fiduciary duties to
all the unit owners, the board cannot spend
association common expense funds in a
manner that is not specified in the association
governing documents or as provided by law.
Fiduciary duties require board members
to act in a manner reasonably related to the
exercise of such duties and the failure to do so
could result in liability for individual members.
3. Reasonable Accommodation
Requests Must be Considered
Promptly
Federal law applies to situations where a
person with a disability requests a reasonable
accommodation to modify the association
premises or the rules and regulations. This
includes any occupant of an association (unit
owners and/or occupants). The Federal Fair
Housing Amendments Act (FFHA) requires
an accommodation for persons with handi-
caps if the accommodation (1) is reasonable,
(2) is necessary, and (3) affords the handi-
capped individual an equal opportunity to use
and enjoy housing.
The FFHA prohibits housing discrimina-
tion against people with disabilities due to a
refusal to (i) make reasonable accommodation
in rules, policies, practices, or services or (ii)
04.16 No part of the publication may be reproduced whatsoever without written consent from the publisher.
allow a disabled person to modify common
element property when such accommodations
are necessary to afford disabled persons equal
opportunity to use and enjoy their housing.
The FFHA does not require that all
requests be accommodated; the FFHA does
require reasonable requests be accommodated
when made by a qualified individual. Thus, an
association is not obligated to do everything
humanly possible to accommodate a disabled
person. The cost (to the association) and ben-
efit (to the requesting individual) merit consid-
eration as well. Moreover, the association is not
required to reasonably accommodate handi-
capped guests or visitors of unit owners who
do not reside in the association.
Section 100.203 of the Code of Federal
Regulations provides that when a disabled
person is entitled to a reasonable accommoda-
tion to modify existing premises, the cost of
such modification must be paid for by the
requesting occupant or unit owner, not the
association. Therefore, for example, if a resi-
dent who uses a wheelchair requests a lift be
installed to a common element swimming
pool, the board may grant the request and
require the cost for the modification be paid
by the requesting occupant or unit owner.
Lastly, the request for reasonable accom-
modation must be reviewed and decided
upon by the association in a timely manner.
Should the association ignore or wrongfully
deny a proper reasonable accommodation
request, the association opens itself to liability
from an occupant or unit owner bringing a
failure-to-accommodate claim. Accordingly,
boards are best served by consulting with
their legal counsel to ensure a reasonable
accommodation request is proper and if so,
reviewing and deciding upon the request
within thirty (30) days of receipt of all the
requisite information. Y
All material herein is copyrighted 2016.