[condo][IL] Advice on how to handle a financially negligent board
I’m sure many people have issues with their Board and I’m hoping someone can shed some light on what can be done about a Board that seems to be financially negligent. I live in a 96 unit condo in Chicago and the financials weren’t great when I moved here, but it seems manageable but the more I learn the worse it gets. I fear we might be a case that could get blacklisted with the Fannie Mae updated rules.
I recently attended a board meeting and brought up our lack of finances according to the reserve study. My board says the reserve study is just a guideline, acting like they know the building better, saying we don’t need to follow it, and that the $1.2 million that we are expected to need in the next 5 years isn’t an actual necessity. We have a loan for a roof that had to be fixed that is eating into our funds and our reserves will hit 0 this year. It’s projected to be below 0 but the property manager doesn’t want the point that out.
I thought of joining the board but the other board members would just vote against me all the time, and I would have to deal with them more, as well as a property manager that came out and said he has too many properties to be able to give us the necessary attention and that he will try to do better. I can’t deal with all the stress of negligence.
The accountant of the building doesn’t even live here and rents his place out so he doesn’t even feel the buildings issues when things go wrong from all the maintenance deferrals.
At the last board meeting I asked what the board had planned because the reserve study said we need 150,000 in reserves for 2026 and we are only putting in 75,000. The accountant got defensive and said they had already done the budget for 2026 before they got the reserve study so they haven’t changed anything this year. I have to ask them about 2027 at the budget meeting because the property manager said owners shouldn’t talk until the board meeting is finished (which took 2 hours) and the accountant said budget will be talked about at the budget meeting in October. So I was basically shut down from even talking about it.
I’ve only lived here a year and when I spoke up two of the board members basically said new owners as not knowing what is going or what has happened, but I think it’s pretty obvious that for decades, the board has under managed funds. Everything they said new owners don’t know I already knew from looking at finances in the year I’ve been here. The accountant even said the rooftop loan was from previous board negligence, but that’s when the property manager stopped everything and told owners to wait until after the meeting to talk. I feel like our reserves going down to 0 this year speaks for itself but no other owner even spoke up about this. I felt alone and stressed that financial negligence is going to cost me and other owners more money in the long run.
Sorry if this sounded a bit erratic and emotional. I’m not a great speaker, but the board has members that are too good at talking if that makes sense.
Does anyone have any advice? Buying this condo might be the worst decision I’ve ever made and I’m just alone and sad.