Deficiencies in Illinois Condo Act cited : SearchChicago Homes : Condo watch: "The Condominium Advisory Council, in preparation of submitting recommendations to the governor and Illinois Legislature regarding changes to the Illinois Condominium Act, held a series of hearings across the metropolitan area seeking input from the public.
At one on Chicago's Far North Side, about 30 interested individuals affiliated with condominium associations as board members, unit owners, managers and consultants provided their thoughts and suggestions on amending the act. What follows is a summary of the remarks made by these various contributors."
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It's mainly a list of processes that, in their view, need to be refined. But how about this one: "••An office of ombudsman should be established at the state level to hear unit owner complaints against boards. Other than lawsuits, which are too expensive, the only apparent recourse, voting improperly acting board members out of office, is inadequate. The new state ombudsman could be funded by a yearly fee paid by all associations. As an alternative, it was suggested that a separate court be created for condo associations where unit owners could bring complaints against boards." And this one is just completely bonkers: "••Several people spoke against manager licensing, which they contended would be an added financial burden for associations with no assurance that management would improve." So we should just continue along with anybody setting him or herself up as a property manager, without even the minimal credential of a professional license? We don't even let people sell hot dogs or give haircuts without a license. These people are handling (and too often mishandling) millions of dollars of other people's money, and regulating their lives.
2 comments:
Sounds like all the "interested individuals" were fronts for CAI. Look at the suggestions
Alternatives to lawsuits - in any sunbelt state, the HOAs have no qualms about filing lawsuits whatsoever. It is the publication of these lawsuits, the absurdity of the claims, and the nature of the HOA attorneys attempts to financially ruin those who won't pay up and shut up that is revealing the problems in these HOAs. The industry isn't interested in "harmonious" HOAs. THe industry is interested in suppressing publication of exactly how nasty these places are. After all disclosure "harms property values". In other words, making sure that you couldn't possibly know it before you purchase.
The opposition to manager licensing - another CAI favorite. Let's see, they believe they are entitled to interpret restrictive covenants and assess fines even though contract interpretation is a matter of law; they handle (and divert) millions of dollars of homeowner's money without oversight; they report people to credit agencies to extort fees under the auspices of being "agents" of the Board; they exert all-too-much control over the individual properties of members; and they claim to have absolutely no obligation to the members themselves. How about licensing as a mechanism for setting standards and getting rid of unscrupulous management companies. Who was the banker? First Associations Bank owned by Sen Carona who also owns the largest empire of management companies across the US? Please identify the "bankers".
How about that penalties against management companies refusing to turn over records to new management companies? What about penalties against management companies that refuse to provide them to residents?
Recover delinquent amounts following foreclosure? Absolutely not. Those delinquent amounts are often primarily attorney fees that HOA agents entangled with the assessments. The HOA rarely pays these fees and they shouldn't be in the business of opening up their residents' bank accounts to unscrupulous management companies and HOA attorneys. The HOA should be prohibited from recovering such fees and if they were prohibited they would think twice (or the agents would) about creating "debt" out of thin air with the expectation of extracting it by threatening the homeowners with foreclosure.
Forcible entry and detainer? Those delinquent "assessments" are entangled with attorney fees which were created out of thin air in the first place using the threat of the power to foreclose.
Looks like the only people invited to participate were CAI members. The chair of the council is Jordan Shifrin whose firm's primary business is advertised as "association collection services" - no bias there and he is a fellow in CAI's "College of Community Association Lawyers". These hearings were nothing but an attempt to give the appearance of "public" support for more despotic CAI legislation in Illinois.
I agree with anonymous. And the arguments against licensing are particularly scary. Our very best property manager was prone to saying things like, "The FAA allows homeowners to have satellite dishes as long as they obey your rules about where to place them." And she was licensed. I shudder to think of what we'd have to deal with if property managers did not have licenses.
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