Master & Sub Associations

Under a scenerio where there is a master association that has rules & regulations to keep the specefic outside appearences of balcony sliding doors the same across all buildings - is it the master association that enforces their rules or is the sub association supposed to? Can a sub association chose to not enforce an umbrella rule & regulation?

Under normal circumstances, the sub association would take down measurements and confirm these things with the owner before the process begins to avoid problems. Unfortunately, years and many owners ago, someone replaces their sliding door and it's different. Now, a new owner (who had nothing to do with it), inherited this problem. The umbrella board would like to enforce their rule and make the owner pay and change their door out in the next few weeks and they are asking the sub association to enforce it on the owner. My question is, what happens if the owner choses to sue? Which association is liable? For fines, is it the master or sub that invoices?

Where is the restriction on sliding doors: in the master CC&Rs or in the sub-association CC&Rs?

How are the community's boards organized: a single board with members from both the master and sub-associations, or separate boards for the master and sub-associations?

How are you insured: a single policy for the entire community or separate policies for the master and sub-associations?

That should tell you who is responsible for enforcement and where the liability falls (double-check with your insurer, though). You may need to consider what happens if the sub-association fails to enforce: does the responsibility fall onto the master? DO the CC&Rs address this?

I can understand why the new owner would be upset. Two comments: One, if the new owner received an estoppel letter stating that there were no outstanding violations, then the association is stuck - the best you could do would be to note the violation and maybe come to an agreement that the door needs to be brought into compliance when it is replaced. Two, when I asked our attorney about a similar situation in my community, he said that buyers are responsible for understanding the CC&Rs and the association could enforce the restriction even after several years of non-enforcement. (Note: my state is very much a caveat emptor state, and my CC&Rs contain a statement saying that failure to enforce any provision of the CC&Rs does not preclude enforcement in the future. So take my second point and the lawyer's opinion with a grain of salt - your state and CC&Rs may say otherwise.)

First, you could have one master association and six sub associations under the master. Each of them conceivably have their own management company.

Typically, the management company for the master association will handle any compliance issue on their own. Any grievance would be handle through the master association board.

RA = Residential Association (a.k.a. Sub Association)
UA = Umbrella Association (a.k.a. Master Association)

HOAtalk.com only allows pdf files under 200 kbyte to be attached? I converted what the OP provided at his/her link as a pdf file.

I cannot at present locate ILCPA 18.5 (7) at https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=2200&ChapterID=62 . Can you please quote verbatim what you found in the statute?

I will say one of the problems with the scenario described is that the current owner may have had disclosed to him by the HOA at the time of purchase that the unit had no violations. If so, it's not fair to tag the current owner for this violation.