The building blocks of all homeowner’s associations are the community's respective bylaws, administrative documents and house rules. Equally important are legal documents that define critical information and other action items, such as ter…
Q I live in a condo in which the majority of the residents are older or active adult age. However, it seems that there are several families with children with which we are having problems related to noise complaints. For the past year or …
Sometimes insurance and the terms that accompany it can feel like a completely foreign language. It can be mystifying and overwhelming, whether for individual condo residents or the board members who oversee the community as a whole. The i…
Say you’re in bed, and you hear what sounds like the shower going. It's late, and you're tired, so you pay it no mind. You wake up at 4 a.m. to get a glass of water and find half the rooms in your apartment flooded— you forgot to turn the …
Of all the stages of co-op life, the initial application and approval process, especially the interview, is certainly the most harrowing. Many people fear that just one wrong word will mean the difference between acceptance and rejection. …
It's a truism that's been phrased many ways by many wise people: “A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” That's the case in any number of situations, but it's especially applicable to the administration…
One of the biggest problems that can cause the downfall of any condo or co-op is a lack of funds, or more specifically, not enough money to keep operations running smoothly and to make the necessary repairs to keep everything up to par. …
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…
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, …
My condo board rarely enforces rules, especially with respect to certain unit owners. Some are now renting, and I would like my family to be able to do so also. It is really bizarre because the board members, who are adamant about no renter…