residence. It further provides that the governing documents may not require that more than a majority is comprised of unit owners who occupy their units as their primary residence. The main issue raised by this new legislation is the part that states, “… may provide that a majority of the board of managers, or such lesser number as may be specified in the declaration, must be comprised of unit owners occupying their unit as their primary residence …” If this section is made applicable to the Association through an amendment, the same amendment can also remove the lesser amount specified in the Declaration. “(a)(1) The election from among the unit owners of a board of manager s, the number of persons constituting such board, and that the terms of at least one-third of the members of the board shall expire annually and that all members of the board shall be elected at large; if there are multiple owners of a single unit, only one of the multiple owners shall be eligible to serve as a member of the board at any one time. A declaration first submitting property to the provisions of this Act, in accordance with Section 3 after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, or an amendment to the condominium instruments adopted in accordance with Section 27 after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly, may provide that a majority of the board of managers, or such lesser number as may be specified in the declaration, must be comprised of unit owners occupying their unit as their primary residence; provided that the condominium instruments may not require that more than a majority of the board shall be comprised of unit owners who occupy their unit as their principal residence;”
Effective Date: 1/1/2022
Domini Wood v. Evergreen Condominium Association, 2021 IL App (1st) 200687
The plaintiff unit owner was utilizing her condominium unit for short-term rentals through AIRBNB. The Board responded by imposing fines against her on the ground that short-term AIRBNB rentals were prohibited by the declaration. The Board relied on two provision in the declaration to justify its decision that short-term rentals were prohibited. First, the declaration stated “no Unit shall be leased, subleased or assigned for a period of less than thirty (30) days …” Thus, by using her condominium unit as a hotel, the plaintiff was violating the ban on short-term leases. Second, the declaration stated “[n]o industry, business, trade, occupation or profession of any kind, commercial, religious, educational or otherwise, designed for profit, altruism, exploration or otherwise shall be conducted, maintained, or permitted or any part of the Property.” The short-term rental of the condominium unit in exchange for money from guests who occupy the condominium unit on a transient basis is a commercial or business use of a condominium unit that violates Section 11(b). Court rules that appellate that prohibition in Declaration on short-term leases was because Owner was not entering into leases with guests. Instead, her rental of the Subject Unit through AIRBNB is a license, as defined by AIRBNB’s own terms of service, and a lease and a license are distinct le gal concepts. The key distinction between a lease and a license is a lease provides a renter with exclusive possession of
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