Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
I have a condo/ town home with garage. HOA is 2 people . Other owner holds all board positions. For the last 10 years other owner rented out garage to a hoarder. The hoarder blocked all common access in garage . The hoarder also attached his belongings to rafters. We have no drywall. Would the HOA be owed rental for other owner renting common access and actual structure of common garbage. ? Other owner was also defrauding HUD..... her disabled sister lived ther with HUD voucher, she rented garage spaces common access and structure, she also had her siblings use basement as storage unit and some lady named Bella also rented a room . She also refused to file income tAxes with HOA. I filed a complaint with HUD as well as IRS. The big question is did the HOA earn income from rental of structure and common areas. I have multiple pictures with belongings screwed to rafters and stuff in rafters reAching ceiling. Using garage as storage is against condo declaration. How should I proceed. Jennifer
1 Answer from Attorneys
This is probably too complex for this forum. First, I can't tell how many units there are - two? Three? If this is a condo state law requires more board members. Many smaller condos don't have enough people and usually have to have more owners on the board even though only own owner per unit is supposed to be on a board. So there are a lot of questions just from the point of view of the "HOA" structure. Most condo declarations allow the board to rent common elements as long as they don't interfere with owner use, but usually that is for things like cable tv or some other concession, like a laundry room. Not for non-owners or non-occupants. So if the "hoarder" is neither an owner or occupant, this 'rental' may be wrong. As to the "basement" if it is a common area that is questionable too. And an association is required to file tax returns showing income and expense, and many other things. And my guess is that the condo insurance does not include "D&O" liability insurance (basically insurance protecting the directors and officers from negligent acts but not from intentional misfeasance). So how should you proceed? See an attorney who handles condo matters, and be prepared for a fight. If you can't gain control of the board through being elected to it and/or with legal assistance and it continues to act in ways that violate the declaration, that could result in the necessity of a lawsuit.