The housing affordability crisis isn’t exactly breaking news; over the past 25 years, stagnant wages and spiralling prices for even modest one- or two-bedroom condo units have raised the bar to homeownership well beyond the reach of most fi…

Residential co-ops have played a small but historically meaningful role in Chicago’s housing landscape since the late 1800s. While cities like New York developed large cooperative housing sectors relatively quickly around the same time, Chi…

The Windy City has hundreds of green roofs covering millions of square feet. While Chicago doesn’t have a law mandating green roof conversions by a specific deadline, it does have policies encouraging both existing and new construction to i…

For community associations, property managers, and building owners, financial stability depends on more than simply keeping up with day-to-day operations. It requires thoughtful, proactive planning for the future, particularly for major rep…

Q. “We live in a co-op, and one of our neighbors seems to have a constant flow of different strangers entering and leaving their apartment while they are absent. I cannot imagine that the board knows this is going on, and our house rules …

Keeping a building dry is both an interior and exterior challenge. All buildings, regardless of materials and construction, are at risk of water infiltration and moisture build-up in basements, walls, ceilings, window wells and roof materia…

Over the past few decades, ideas and technologies for improving energy efficiency, reducing ecological impact, and providing additional amenities to residents in multifamily buildings have surged. Near the front of that pack has been the ‘g…

Most municipalities in the U.S. have laws on their books governing how exterior building façades must be inspected, maintained and repaired. While such legislation is occasionally enacted at the state level, generally these laws are a local…

Q. Does binding alternative dispute resolution (ADR) override condo governing docs? If the ADR changes the shared common ground expenses, do the members of the association have to vote on the changes? Do the condo docs have to be changed …

Q. I would like to know if the board has the authority to alter meeting minutes provided to shareholders, especially when questions raised during the meetings are left unanswered and omitted from the minutes. Are there any regulations tha…