A number of proposed bills that would have an adverse effect on condominium associations have been at least temporarily set aside this year in the Illinois Legislature, although some of their language could be retrieved and included in other potential laws.

"These bills were sent to the Rules Committee on first reading, [which] usually is the end until another session," commented Sheli Lulkin, president of the Association of Sheridan Condominium/Co-op Owners (ASCO), which has been an opponent of the legislation. However, Rep. Harry Osterman (D-Chicago), who represents the district in which ASCO's member organizations are located) "has warned us that the words included could be tacked on to another bill that is being more successful," she said.

The three laws that are no longer pending as written in this legislative session are:

HB4168, which would have made it no longer possible for condo associations to use eviction to collect delinquent assessments.

HB4156, which would have charged condominium associations for the licensing of property managers. Licensing itself is also off the table for now.

SB2064, which would have compelled associations to keep on file some very personal information about unit owners in the event they were to pursue eviction.

Another proposed statute, HB5189 is still under consideration in the Legislature. It would guarantee that unit owners in condominium associations who currently lease their units to others could continue to do so even if their associations decided to ban rentals in the future.

If adopted, it would result in changes to the Illinois Condominium Property and the Illinois Not for Profit Corporation Acts that are, according to attorney Michael Kim of the Chicago law firm of Michael Kim & Associates and the general counsel for ASCO, "very problematic and unfair to condominium associations, common interest communities and homeowner associations and other such similar associations."

The language of HB5189 has generated near universal opposition from interest groups representing associations. "ASCO is not alone in this fight," noted Lulkin. "Every major condo group, including the statewide organization ACTHA, is fighting this bill and the Chicago Bar Association Committee on Real Property is with us too."

Kim contacted Osterman after he analyzed the law and recommended that it be rejected and asked the representative to secure the support of his colleagues in the effort to defeat the bill. He offered these reasons for opposing the law.

HB5189 would:

••Result in the creation of a distinct class of association that would be prevented from limiting or banning the rental of units if they had not already enacted rental restrictions at the time of the law's effect.

••Establish separate classes of unit ownership within an association, which is now barred by the Condo Act, in that owners who were leasing their units when the law became effective could not be prevented from continuing to lease their units, while those who were not could be prohibited from doing so.

••Deny the now lawful right of associations to enact amendments that would prohibit leasing as they now can do under existing law and their own governing documents.

••Overturn the Illinois Appellate Court ruling in Apple II vs. Worth Bank & Trust, which found the right of associations to restrict leasing to be legally acceptable.

••Allow the Legislature to excessively interfere in the affairs of associations, which courts have said are mini-democracies that know best what the needs of their respective communities are and how to attend to them.

Kim summed up the collective aversion to HB5189 by noting that it is "a terribly flawed proposal which would do more harm than any possible good."

Freelance writer David Mack can be reached by e-mail at speed14@urbancom.net.>