Common Interest Community Association Act (765 ILCS 160) — Plain-English Summary

The Act

• §1-1
  Short title

  This Article may be cited as the Common Interest Community Association Act. It is the statute for Illinois HOAs, townhomes, and similar non-condo communities…
• §1-10
  Applicability

  Unless the Act says otherwise, it applies to every common interest community association in Illinois. Small-association opt-outs and partial exemptions are i…
• §1-15
  Construction, interpretation, and validity of community instruments

  Defined terms mean what §1-5 says unless the context requires otherwise. Every association must define 'member' and its relationship to the units in its comm…
• §1-20
  Amendments to the declaration, bylaws, or operating agreement

  No amendment of the declaration, bylaws, or operating agreement is valid until it is set out in an amendment and recorded. It is effective on recordation unl…
• §1-25
  Board of managers or directors — duties, elections, and voting

  A board election from among the members must be held at least once every 24 months. Board members serve without compensation unless the instruments say other…
• §1-30
  Board duties and obligations; records

  The board meets at least 4 times a year. A contract with a current board member, or with an entity in which the member or immediate family has a 25 percent i…
• §1-35
  Member powers, duties, and obligations

  Lease terms are deemed to include the Act, the instruments, and the rules. After this Act took effect, the owner must deliver a copy of a new lease (or a mem…
• §1-40
  Meetings

  Member-meeting notice: not less than 10 nor more than 30 days, with time, place, and purpose, by a prescribed delivery method. Membership quorum defaults to …
• §1-45
  Finances

  Each member gets the proposed annual budget at least 30 days and not more than 60 days before the board adopts it, with reserves, capital work, and real-esta…
• §1-47
  Successor developers

  An assignment of a developer's interest is not effective until it is in writing and recorded.
• §1-5
  Definitions

  Defines common interest community, association, board, unit, common areas, common expenses, community instruments, and acceptable technological means. A comm…
• §1-50
  Administration of property prior to election of the initial board

  Until the first owner-elected board is in place, the developer administers the property. This section sets the turnover election and what must be handed over.
• §1-55
  Fidelity insurance

  An association with 30 or more units must obtain and maintain fidelity insurance covering persons who control or disburse association funds, in an amount cov…
• §1-60
  Errors, omissions, and inconsistencies

  The board may correct errors, omissions, and inconsistencies in the community instruments on the terms this section sets, without a full owner-amendment vote…
• §1-65
  Management company

  A management company holding reserve funds must keep a separate account for each association, unless the contract and the instruments expressly allow a diffe…
• §1-70
  Display of American flag or military flag

  An association may not prohibit display of the American flag or a military flag. Reasonable rules on placement, size, and manner are allowed.
• §1-71
  Heating and cooling standards

  The same seasonal heating and cooling standards that §18.11 of the Condominium Property Act imposes on building-wide systems, applied to common interest comm…
• §1-73
  Law enforcement and firefighter vehicles

  An association may not define or treat a marked law-enforcement or firefighter vehicle assigned to an officer or firefighter who lives there as a banned comm…
• §1-75
  Exemptions for small common interest communities

  An association organized under the General Not For Profit Corporation Act that has 10 units or fewer, or annual budgeted assessments of $100,000 or less, is …
• §1-80
  Compliance

  A common interest community association had to be in full compliance with this Act no later than 1 January 2012.
• §1-85
  Use of technology

  Notices, signatures, votes, consents, and approvals may be done by acceptable technological means if a record is kept. A person who does not authorize electr…
• §1-90
  Compliance with the Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson Act

  Every common interest community association, except those exempt from this Act under §1-75, must comply with the Ombudsperson Act (765 ILCS 615). That sectio…