Last year I became disabled and applied to the board for approval for a companion dog. Upon approval, I signed an agreement that restricted the dog from certain areas and reiterated the dog could not be a nuisance to neighbors. I installed …
Q Earlier this month when the Chicagoland area experienced the polar vortex, I had both my windows in the living room and the glass door to my terrace crack due to the extreme cold. I informed the manager who then called a glass company, …
The headline of a recent Walpole, Massachusetts newspaper article reads: “Fight between Walpole selectmen cuts meeting short.” The first sentence of the article stated, “Selectmen came to verbal blows on Tuesday night, prompting other boar…
I Love Lucy is one of the most beloved sitcoms in all of television history. In one episode, after Little Ricky is born, the baby is screaming and screaming, keeping awake the next door tenant, Mrs. Trumbull. Mrs. Trumbull complains to lan…
Few things can raise one's blood pressure like signing a big contract. That can be especially true for board members or managers signing sometimes mammoth contracts on behalf of a co-op or condo association, obligating their neighbors, fri…
Much like corporations and charity organizations, condos, co-ops and HOAs across the nation are helmed by groups of residents who volunteer to serve their communities, and who are elected to their post by their neighbors. This is of course…
A quote often attributed to the Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck in the mid-1800s says something to the effect that laws are like sausages—it's better not to see either of them being made. It's a clever quip, and it's not entirely inac…
A group of unit owners in my building formed a committee in reaction to some rules the board had made. We are worried we might get into a lawsuit with the board, and we want to know if the association’s insurance would cover us against this…
Ask people to list the household chores they dislike most, and chances are, doing laundry will consistently rank among the top ten. The need and appreciation for clean clothes gets overshadowed by the hassle of having to constantly wash an…
The Windy City has always been known for its fantastic, innovative architecture—much of it displayed in residential buildings. But while a lot of people appreciate the grandeur of a building like the Public Library or the Wrigley Building,…