How to control Condo commandos?

we have had a real problem these passed few years at our Association of 139 units. We are 17 individual condo buildings with our individual building condo declarations.

embodied in our declarations (all buildings) is the requirement to maintain the "common elements") which encompance mowing, snow & garbage removal, a park area and certain areas of the private roads are common. An Association was formed to address these common needs, and was to be represented by 1 building representative from each building. Officers were to be elected from the general membership --including all 17 building owners.

Two years ago, we worked hard to eject people who only had their objectives in mind. Stating they do not have to conform to State Statues (Illinois). They were replaced with community minded individuals. the ejected individuals immediately started harrassing the legally elected individuals. recuited and placed on the Board individuals illegally elected Started calling improper meetings, Harrassing letters passed around the complex about the elected individuals. After months of trying
to manage the Association's affairs a committee formed and filed a complaint agains the three leading individuals, as individuals, not as board members to
desist activaties they were disrupting the running of the Association.

They then called another improperly called meeting and hired an attorney to represent these individuals and then voted that the Association should pay for this attorney's
charges. our by-laws require 2/3 vote of the 139 units
for this to be legal. To make a long story short after months of legal hassle, the Judge decided to not hear the case. This let loose on the Association more harassing and finally with no other recourse, the legally elected
Officers resigned and this runaway board placed in the losing candidates in office. We were required to pay the legal fees.

This action deprived the members of any representation,
and 42 of the 139 units withdrew from the association, now this "Board" is harassing these withdrawn units ( with more units planning to withdraw) Costs are going up and we have no recourse .

Does anyone have any help or information for us in the State of Illinois?

Looking forward to your input.

JeannieD

I am in Illinois, and frankly....there has to be more to the story. The State of Illinois has very strict and clear condo laws.

3 individuals out of 17 cannot run a Board. So even if they remained, I fail to see how big of an impact they could actually make with 14 other people to answer to. As well, you can only sue them individually if their acts were 'willful and wanton' and showed deliberate disregard. It's hard to prove the difference between stupidity and spite. Perhaps this is why the attorney fees got paid.

You can visit the State's website if you have not already and can view a full text of the condo law. You don't mention what county you are in, but perhaps a call to your state representative or local Community Development Director can help as well.

Best of Luck,
Lisa

1) Get an attorney
2) Get 2/3 of owners signatures to do what needs done or mulitiple things if needed
3) Attend meeting and present written document to board
4) Get results/next year elect a new board

Good Luck

Although the concensus of many on this website that HOA/condo managers are not so good, it seems to me if you hire an established, qualified management company knowedgeable on who supposed to do what, managers, board members, property owners, vendors, persuant to your state statutes on condominiums and pursuant to your governing documents. A good manager should be nuetral to the parties and familiar with state law and skilled at handling and resolving conflict in an Association, and to refer to other experts as needed. That is the manager's job. Ideally, a strong manager can assist in getting the community on the same page. Yes, there are some good managers that do care out there. You can find one. As in Nevada, NRS 116 (Nevada Revised Statutes)defines exactly what a board members resposibility is and scope of authority. Also, if you are a non-profit corporation organized in the State of Illinois, check with the Illinois Secretary of State and read your original Articles of Organization filed with the SOS. READ YOUR BY-LAWS prepared initially by the developer/declarant and any amendments. By-laws tell you exactly how many Board members there should be,powers they have, duties responsible for, scope of authority, a time limit of term to serve. Determine the PURPOSE of being organized, be sure it IS organized, TO BE IN COMPLIANCE WITH YOUR SECRETARY OF STATE and your state's applicable condo statutes and your documents. Does your state's department of business and industry real estate division have a complaint form or Ombudsman's office to call or visit? Maybe you can find out about an Arbitrator vs. and attorney to mediate before things get way out of hand. Your documents (Declaration of CC&R's should state what happens in the event of needing an attorney, arbitrator, alternative dispute resolution or however your dcouments or state statute defines it). Contact a qualified CPA that handles Condominiums year end tax filings for some advice on an audit and/or budget for operating expenses and reserves. Go to a similar commmunity liek yours (that looks well maintained) and ask them candidly how they do things a possibly ask them for a recommendation for management. You should do your homework before you offer others specific details on your complaint and if I were you, I'd be prepared to document and back up what you do say. Try not to feed the fire.

Thanks, but all these have been done. No resolve. these guys are people unlike I have ever done,
We elected a "good" board, let's suffice that it was UNBELIEVABLE THE RESULTS. Didn't work.
Thanks for the e-mail Any other suggestions are appreciated.

Jeannie, you said "This violation of all our rights really must be addressed by a body with the authority to resolve." The best body to resolve the problems you listed is your HOA members at a members meeting. Any Board member or attorney knowing and flagrantly violating your HOA documents and statutes should be removed.

Review my prior notes, we know this and you cannot realize what we can't do.
Remove them? How? We elected a decent Board Officers on 9/11/04. This group lost. They immediately started, by going to the election chairman's home and going thru the ballots and
tried to "force" another election.

Following is a very brief outline of their actions.

Election Chairman (one of the supporters) mail to out of town owners resumes of their candidates
omitting the Officers resumes that won inspite the ommission.

Sept 21st Regular board meeting as had been on schedule by previous board. This group disrupted
the meeting by yelling, threating etc and they had hired an attorney present, for them, he didn't object to their actions.

Sept 28, Called all their supporters at home around 6pm to announce a regular board meeting as this was "supposed" to be held on the 4th Tuesday of the month. Their attorney was present. They then fired all the newly elected officers and appointed the losing candidates to office. Tried to create a human rights issue (they had laid the scene the past couple of days) stating the "new elected president created. The legally elected officers received a letter from their attorney stating they had been dismissed over difference.

Oct 24th New officers(elected Sept 11) held regular board meeting results the same as the Sept 21 meeting. Their lawyer also stated (he was present)
(this is documented) the board did not have to follow the State Statues, but close to it. As is customary, at the end of the meeting (the new elected Sept 11 officers ) stated their would be no regular board meeting until January, as customary,
because of the holidays.

the newly elected President (he is a business man and capable) Sent out to all owners as notice of the
next meeting in January along with the minutes.

Sent out illegal notices of a "Special Meeting)
on Nov 23rd. Also the losing candidates mailed out slamming statements about the new officers.

Sept 11 elected President wrote a letter to all owners re-affirming no meetings until January.

Nov 23rd The meeting was held anyway,most of the members that attended were not on the board was appointed" to be Building Reps if they e "their" side. (not the legal procedure)they then fired all the Officers as not "good for the Association" Put in the losing canditates as Officers.

Mid Dec 2004, Officers and concerned owners officers filed a complaint against the three leaders (the losing canidates) to restrain them from disruption of the Association.

Mid Dec. Letter from their attorney telling the elected officers were dismissed and to turn over the checks, papers etc.

Jan 4th the called another Special Meeting to discuss these charges. their "board members"
and voted the Association to pay their legal fees.

following that meeting they had their "board members
including the three the lawsuit named sign a form making them defendants and board members

Not to go on and on the Judge declared their Special meeting improper and business conducted at
these meetings were void. Stating the board would handle all the meetings (stepped right into that she apparently didn't know the defendants and the
board they had set up was their selected Board"

April 26th 2005 they held a Kangerroo Court and dismissed the Sept 11th Officers, voting for this removal was the three defendant's and hand picked
"board members) Appointing the losing canditates
of Sept new officers, and voting for (the judge I hope was unaware of these facts)and voting for the suit to be dismissed as the board members decided.
Then voted for The association to pay their legal bills including the rental of the hall fees for their improperly held special meetings. The judge had ordered (in January)that the board in addition to conducting meetings were to have the power to authorize all bills.

Lots of stuff will skip

July the Judge decided to dismiss the case. The
elected Officers resigned and these people took over.

We are 17 different buildings that are condo with
own declarations started in 1972. When all buildings were sold, we 17 buildings formed an
association that would have one rep from each building, and officers would be elected by the 17
building members(139) to handle commonly held property and expenses. Not giving up any of our rights etc. That we retained the right to make
our individual building decision.

42 units withdrew form the association, the rest of us remain in as we need 66% of each individual building to withdraw, need mostly 1 more vote to withdraw.

Suffice to say we.
Filed an ARDC against the attorney (no results)
we filed a complaint with the states attorney
(we have money we can't tract the expenditure)
He wouldn't go ahead unless we had an audit.
Since this group holds the board positions we
can't get authorization for an audit.

At the Sept 26, 2006 meeting the board was very abusive to a building rep they didn't like(well it was me) I know the State Statues, our building declarationand by-laws like the back of my hand.
actually the whole meeting was spent yelling at me the president blasting me trying to get me ousted as
a board member. (didn't fly.

I have written the ARDC for the attorney (with assistance from experts in field) I finally
wrote a letter to all association owners and it
preciptated the withdrawal of a building. A a greater awareness amoung the owners. No one wants to tangle with these individuals. as they have witnessed this and are afraid of these Condo Cammandos. They sent out 13 different proposals
for amendments of our by-laws. All were illegal.
I wrote a letter to owners referencing the State
Statute, Declaration of violation. With this action all the amendments were never mentioned again. One amendment they retained and the board voted to approve I know I can quash.

As you can see this is a mess, and we are blocked at
every turn. Where can we go to for help.

What can we do?? I'm hoping someone out there can
give us a place to go (laws don't matter to these
cammandos.) Thanks for all the input, but felt I needed to put more information out there for you.

Thanks again JeannieD

Refer to my comments to RogerB. We are not a Master Association. Our moving is out of the question, although we are at our "winter home" in Florida . Plus "up there" we have a beautiful home one of two townhouses that are on a beautiful recreation river. I'ved lived in this complex

I will take under advisement for a receiver.
That's an avenue we haven't pursued.

Thanks much, jeannied

Hi,

Only one individual knows the laws etc. He is a great manipulater. the others are just angry people that fly by the seat of their.

The one individual recuited their attorney ( I have assumed that since the ARDC report he is no longer their attorney, there has been no activity on his
account that we can find.

They really want to get rid of me, as I know all the documents better than him. The rest of the group are just power, ego, individuals.

This not by any means just my fight, but we are frustrated by no governing body we can turn with
our problems.

Thanks for reading, JeannieD