At any given time, there are dozens of housing-related bills—both major and not-so-major—being debated by lawmakers in Chicago, Springfield, and Washington, DC. This legislation can have a huge impact condo residents, boards, and those wh…

 Property managers in Illinois have until October 1, 2012 to prove that they have  met licensing requirements enabling them to perform the services of a community  association manager.    Discussed for many years in the state legisl…

For some Chicagoans, planning daily errands and activities can be as tricky as mountaineering. These folks live with disabilities, are elderly, or for whatever reason have had their mobility compromised—even temporarily. For them, getti…

Q What obligation do individual board members have to review monthly financial  reports as prepared by the management company? Only our board treasurer  receives the statements and my requests to include copies of monthly balance  sheets,…

Q Our annual meeting was conducted this past week during which three of the  present board members were up for reelection—the president, treasurer (her fiancée) and a board member. All three were re-elected and a fourth elected since  the…

 Formerly a working class neighborhood heavily populated by factory workers and  their families, Wrigleyville is the nickname of the neighborhood surrounding  the Chicago Cubs iconic baseball stadium Wrigley Field, but the area is more  co…

 In an online forum, Sharon complains about her upstairs neighbor and begs for  advice. It seems that her neighbor had installed a washing machine in the unit,  even though there was one already downstairs for the residents of her six-unit…

By and large, a board and management company can expect payment from residents for monthly fees to be received on time and in full. These all-important funds keep day-to-day operations moving forward without delay. There are situations,…

You’ve got the perfect couple looking into buying a condo in your building. And they love everything about the unit. But here’s the catch—they also love everything about another building’s unit. They can’t decide which to buy. …

This is about the easiest decision—the closest thing to a no-brainer—a board of directors will ever need to consider: what to do with vacant space. Install storage lockers. If you already have storage lockers, install more stor…