September 30, 2025
Are Your Restrictive Covenants Clear? Preventing Commercial Use in Residential Condos When condominium unit owners purchase their homes, they often assume they have broad discretion over how they use their units. However, condominium living is subject to numerous restrictions, set forth in a condominium association’s declarations, bylaws, rules, and regulations (altogether known as restrictive covenants) and the Illinois Condominium Property…
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September 15, 2025
Illinois HOA Fence Disputes: Can a Court Require a Fence to be Removed Under the HOA’s Restrictive Covenants? Disputes over the installation of fences are some of the most common disputes faced by homeowners associations. In many Illinois HOAs, the restrictive covenants will completely ban the installation of fences. In other cases, the deed restrictions only permit certain types of…
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September 10, 2025
Illinois Court Ruling Clarifies How Limited Common Elements Must Be Defined When a unit owner builds a deck without approval, most HOA boards anticipate that the judicial system will favor the association. Condominium association governing documents generally provide that any alterations and improvements to the limited common elements be approved by the board. But what happens when the board’s interpretation…
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March 6, 2025
Navigating the complexities of reviewing and responding to requests for an emotional support animal can be challenging enough but the difficulty in responding to the requests can be further heightened in community associations that prohibit certain animals or prohibit the presence of animals altogether. How can a community association respond to a request for an emotional support animal while also…
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February 6, 2025
A condominium association’s governing documents contain restrictive covenants that can help preserve property values, protect shared resources, and ensure a harmonious living environment. A condominium association should enforce these restrictive covenants uniformly to ensure there is no disparate treatment of unit owners. Board of Directors of Plum Creek Condominium Ass’n v. Oleg Lorman, 2013 IL App (1st) 121198-U, revolves around…
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December 20, 2024
Each condominium association has governing documents which set forth the contractual relationship between the association and the unit owners. One of those governing documents is the condominium bylaws. A condo association’s board of directors is obligated to enforce the declaration and the bylaws to ensure that each member of the condominium association is abiding by the governing documents. Failure to…
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