Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois

I'm hoping you can help me. My condo association was sued by a resident because of a balcony accident. As a result, every unit owner was forced to have their balconies replaced. In the bylaws it states that out balconies are our personal property and responsibility. However they chose the contractor that would do the work. So now we are all stuck with a $3500 bill, for which we only have a short amount of time to pay. My personal situation is that I am unemployed and have not the funds to even pay a portion of this. I did inform them of my situation before the balcony replacement but said that the work had to be done. Now they have added this amount to my monthly fee and are trying to force me to pay it all at once. It just doesn't seem fair. What rights to I have in this situation?


Asked on 2/27/12, 12:05 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

I'll bet you 100:1 that the declaration says that even though the balconies are limited common elements that the individual owners are responsible for, still the association can for the benefit of the owners have this work done. This is the kind of thing that SHOULD have been done as an emergency special assessment, especially if as you say there is association liability at stake. If the association did not make arrangements for any kind of deferred payment plan, but everything else was legit, you'll have to try to work out a plan with them. If they refuse to work with you, you can try and see if anyone else is having the same problem and if enough are, to call for an owners' meeting to discuss the problem, which could result in some relief. Worst case is you may have to hire an attorney to help sort this out. Without more info, that's all the thoughts I have.

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Answered on 2/27/12, 12:47 pm


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