Illinois Association Board Meetings and Member Record Access

Take the common interest community rules first. Section 1-30(a) requires the board to meet at least 4 times annually. Section 1-40(a) requires notice of any membership meeting detailing the time, place and purpose, given no less than 10 and no more than 30 days before the meeting through a prescribed delivery method. Twenty percent of the membership is a quorum unless the community instruments set a lower figure, and the membership must hold an annual meeting at which the board may be elected. Special meetings of the board may be called by the president, by 25% of the board members, or by any method the community instruments prescribe, and special meetings of the membership by the president, the board, 20% of the membership, or a method the instruments prescribe.

Board meeting notice in a common interest community is 48 hours, given by a prescribed delivery method or by posting copies in entranceways, elevators or other conspicuous places in the common areas. Where there is no common entranceway for 7 or more units, the board may designate one or more locations in the proximity of those units for posting. Money meetings get more warning: notice of a board meeting to adopt the proposed annual budget, regular assessments, or a separate or special assessment must go to members through a prescribed delivery method within 10 to 60 days before the meeting.

Openness is the default and the exceptions are enumerated. Under 765 ILCS 160/1-40(b)(5) meetings of the board are open to any unit owner, and the board may close a portion of a noticed meeting or meet separately only to discuss pending or probable litigation, third party contracts or the appointment, employment, engagement or dismissal of an employee, independent contractor, agent or provider, to interview such a person, to discuss violations of the rules and regulations, to discuss a member's unpaid share of common expenses, or to consult with the association's legal counsel. Any vote on those matters must be taken at a meeting or portion open to members. Section 1-40(b)(6) then requires the board to reserve a portion of its meeting for member comments, while leaving the duration and the meeting order for that period to the board's sole discretion.

Condominiums run on 765 ILCS 605/18(a)(9), which carries the same six closed-session grounds and the same rule that any vote on them takes place in an open portion, plus three things the common interest community text does not spell out. Board members may participate by telephonic means or any acceptable technological means where all participants can communicate with each other, and that participation counts as attendance and presence in person. Any unit owner may record the proceedings of open board meetings by tape, film or other means, subject to reasonable board rules governing the right. Notice of every board meeting must reach every board member at least 48 hours in advance unless waived under 765 ILCS 605/18.8(a), must be posted in entranceways, elevators or other conspicuous places at least 48 hours in advance with the same alternative where 7 or more units lack a common entranceway, and must also go to each unit owner who has authorized the association to conduct business by acceptable technological means.

The records lists differ in content as well as timing. A condominium board must keep at the association's principal office the declaration, bylaws and plats of survey with all amendments, the rules, the articles of incorporation and amendments, minutes of all association and board meetings for the immediately preceding 7 years, all current insurance policies, all contracts, leases and agreements then in effect, a current list of members entitled to vote with names, addresses, email addresses, telephone numbers and weighted vote, ballots and proxies for all matters voted on in the immediately preceding 12 months, the books and records for the current and 10 immediately preceding fiscal years including itemized and detailed records of all receipts, expenditures and accounts, and any reserve study.

Access splits into two tiers in a condominium. Items (1) through (6), (9) and (10) are open to any member in person or by agent at any reasonable time at the principal office, on a written request stating with particularity the records sought, and failure to make them available within 10 business days of receipt is deemed a denial. The member list and the ballots, items (7) and (8), are available only for a purpose that relates to the association, the board may require a written certification that the records will not be used for any commercial purpose or any purpose unrelated to the association, and a false certification can be fined under 765 ILCS 605/18.4(l). Commercial purpose is defined in Section 19(d-5) as use of the record or information derived from it in any form for sale, resale, or solicitation or advertisement for sales or services. A board that has adopted a secret ballot election process is not deemed to have denied a ballot request if it supplies the ballots without identifying unit numbers within the 10 business days.

Costs fall on the requesting member in a condominium, and the measure is actual cost. Section 19(f) lets the association charge the actual cost of retrieving and making the records available for inspection, and the actual cost of reproducing any copies requested. Section 19(g) lists what the board need not produce absent a court order: documents on the appointment, employment, discipline or dismissal of employees, documents on pending actions and on threatened or likely actions in a court or administrative tribunal, documents on common expenses or charges owed by a member other than the requester, and documents provided in connection with the lease, sale or transfer of another member's unit. Section 19(h) makes the whole scheme mandatory, voiding any contrary provision of a condominium instrument as against public policy and deeming the required provisions incorporated where an instrument omits them.

A common interest community association's records duty in 765 ILCS 160/1-30(i) is shorter and slower. The board must maintain and make available for examination and copying at convenient hours on weekdays, to any member, their mortgagees and their authorized agents or attorneys, the recorded declaration, other community instruments, recorded covenants and bylaws with amendments, articles of incorporation or organization, annual reports and rules; detailed and accurate records in chronological order of receipts and expenditures affecting the common areas, itemizing maintenance and repair expenses, together with copies of all contracts, leases and other agreements; minutes of all board meetings, kept for not less than 7 years; ballots and proxies for board elections and other member votes, kept for not less than one year and released only with a written statement of a proper purpose; other records inspectable under Section 107.75 of the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986, again with a written statement of proper purpose; and any reserve study. Before the board is organized, the developer must maintain and make available the governing documents.

Missing the production deadline is itself the violation, and each Act says so in terms. In a condominium, failure to make all requested records available within 10 business days of receipt of the member's written request is deemed a denial under 765 ILCS 605/19(b), and any member who prevails in an enforcement action to compel examination of the general records is entitled to recover reasonable attorney's fees and costs from the association. For the member list and ballots under Section 19(e) the fee award is conditional: the court must find that the board acted in bad faith in denying the request.

In a common interest community, 765 ILCS 160/1-30(i)(2) treats failure to provide the record or to respond within 30 days as a denial by the board, 1-30(i)(3) lets the board charge a reasonable fee for the cost of retrieving and copying records properly requested, and 1-30(i)(4) awards reasonable attorney's fees and costs to a member who prevails only where the court also finds the failure was due to the acts or omissions of the board of managers or the board of directors. That extra finding is the practical difference between the two Acts, so a common interest community member should document each unanswered request and the date it was delivered.

Protect the request itself. Both statutes require the request to be in writing, and the condominium provision requires it to state with particularity the records sought, so a broad demand for everything invites a partial response that restarts the argument. Cite the subdivision numbers of 765 ILCS 605/19(a) you want. Expect and budget for the charge: actual retrieval and reproduction cost in a condominium, a reasonable fee in a common interest community.

Procedural failures at meetings are attacked differently, because neither Act sets a penalty for a late notice or a closed vote. The record of the failure is the remedy. Ask for the minutes, which a condominium must keep for the preceding 7 years and a common interest community for not less than 7 years, and check whether the vote appears in the open portion as 765 ILCS 605/18(a)(9) and 765 ILCS 160/1-40(b)(5) require. Then use the association's written complaint policy under 765 ILCS 615/35, which must produce a written determination marked final within 180 days, and if the answer is adverse file with the Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson within 30 days under 765 ILCS 615/40, a route that is subject to appropriation and scheduled for repeal on January 1, 2029. Otherwise the forum is the circuit court of the county where the property is located.