Distribution of Rules & Regs -Illinois

So Im curious as to any laws governing the distribution of HOA Rules & Regulations. We have occassional situations where for what ever reason a home owner has lost or never received a copy of the HOA's Rules and Regs. In an effort to foster a community atmosphere it was suggested we distribute them to the resident directly in these cases. However it was noted that this may not be legal or is not legal and that the attourney must be the one to distribute them to the home owner.

I have a hard time understanding this if this ineed is the case and would like to get some insight or clarification on the subject. I've looked through the Illinois Statues and haven't seen anything specifically but am relatively new to this and thought I'd pose the question here.

Thanks!

Welcome to HOATalk, Chris. Along with Jeanne, I can't possibly imagine why your Rules & Regs can't be distributed by anyone. Who in the world told you that?

I do believe that easy access to them cuts down on violations and also helps ward off confusion & uncertainty among residents.

CC&R's and Articles of Incorporation are PUBLIC documents. The CC&R's are on file at the local courthouse in the records department. The by-laws or "Regs" usually do not need to be filed but often are with the CC&R's. Those are "Internal" documents of the HOA. Along with Archectual Control Committee (ACC) if you have one. The Articles of Incorporation are STATE level filed and should be free to view online.

It is not viewed as the responsibility of the HOA, lawyer, Real Estate agent, mortgage company, or the seller to be responsible for giving the buyer the documents. However, a few states do make it so the seller has to provide them at closing. The court considers them PUBLIC documents and the responsibility of the buyer to be informed. A fact many people are unaware of until AFTER they buy into a HOA.

As far as financials or other HOA documents... Think of it this way. A POTENTIAL buyer is NOT a HOA member. They are just someone walking down the street who thinks a house is "pretty". They have no right to internal HOA documents as non members. Just like renters are not HOA members. It is a courtesy of the HOA if they do release this information to those buyers are truly interested. It's a fine line there and up to your HOA to define.

The cost of providing the documents and in what form is on the HOA. It must consider that providing a copy of the documents may cost upwards to $10 or more with supplies (stamps, envelops, copy paper etc..) That comes out of the HOA overall budget. It is then up to the HOA if they want to charge for copies or give them for free. Otherwise there are copies available at the courthouse.

I sooo agree with you Steve. Why not make it easy for new neighbors and help them become a part of the community?

How are new naive HOA buyers supposed to know about the names of the docs that they should have?? How do perspective buyers know that some are "public" and many are not? How should they know where to look for them?

(Unless they're in a state that requires the seller, to, often via the title or escrow co., give the buyer the docs prior to the close of escrow.)

Melissa keeps repeating her above over & over in numerous posts as if it's silly to be genuinely welcoming to new owners!

How are you supposed to "follow the rules" if you don't know what they are?

I don't know what system you are talking about but in my HOA the only place to get the rules and regs is from the Board. They are not filed at the courthouse, we have no newsletter, no club house, no website, no place to post information. The members get to attend an annual meeting. You know what that means, once a year. That's it. I suspect there are other HOA's like mine. So where do I get the rules and regs? From a board member.

The CC&R's are filed at the courthouse. The Articles of Incorporation are filed with the Iowa Secretary of State. The bylaws and rules and regs remain with the board member who keeps all the HOA info. The CC&R's have expired but that has been discussed a number of times on this forum. Not getting into that again. Giving the rules and regs to people is the prudent thing to do as others have posted.

> It is not viewed as the responsibility of the HOA, lawyer, Real Estate agent, mortgage company, or the seller to be responsible for giving the buyer the documents.

As has been noted before, this is highly state-dependent. In many cases there IS a legal obligation for either the seller or HOA to provide this information.

The ONLY reason I can think of to be careful when distributing documents is to make sure you distribute the current version, in cases where multiple versions exist.

It almost comical that people are arguing over getting a copy of the rules to a new owner. Even a simple one page of paper with a link. If you have a problem with this, you are not fit to be an officer or board member. Period.