Effective January 1, 2015, Section 18.4 of the Illinois Condominium Property Act will finally be amended to allow association boards to deliver notice of meetings or board action via email. Up until this new legislation, association boards have been obligated to follow the notice requirements set out in their condominium declaration. Given that the condominium concept has been legal in Illinois since 1963, most condominium declarations drafted over the past 50 plus years have mandated regular mail as the method of formal notice. This amendment comes as welcome news to associations, big and small, looking for simpler and more cost effective ways to provide formal notice of meetings, especially in the wake of the recent Palm appellate court decision. Owners and boards should note the following:
1. The amendment is not automatically adopted by all condominiums. Pursuant to Section 18.4(s), the association board must first properly adopt a board rule that authorizes the delivery of notice via email. Therefore, the previous requirement for formal notice will still control until the condominium board adopts or amends the rules and regulations consistent with Section 18.4(h) of the Act. This, however, is not as rigorous of a task compared to amending the declaration.
2. Owners must also opt-in to authorize email notification. After a valid rule is passed, unit owners must then send written authorization to the board opting in to the email notification and provide the board with the email address where notices should be delivered. Therefore, unit owners who do not use email can simply continue to receive notices in the same manner as before.
Please contact Rudolph Kaplan LLC for any questions regarding your condominium association or updating your rules and regulations.