Z.A. from Illinois writes:
Dear Mister Condo,
I live in Cook County Illinois. I am currently the President of our Board. The parking spaces in our building are deeded, and 24/26 spaces are currently owned by Unit Owners. However, the Developer was unable to sell all of the garage spaces, even though he already sold all the Units. The bank just foreclosed on the remaining two garage spaces and has stated that they will try to sell the garage spaces to someone outside our building. We would like to create a rule that requires the sale, exchange, or leasing of any garage space must be to a Unit Owner, and not to anyone outside our building. Would you recommend we do this with a simple Rule/Regulation, or do we need to amend our Declaration for this? Thanks in advance.
Mister Condo replies:
Z.A., I am not sure you can do this at all! Since I am neither an attorney nor an expert in Illinois condo law, I need to refer you to someone who can help. There are various stages of a condo. Developer Transition sounds like the one you are in right now. If the bank owns the land, you may not have the jurisdiction to make a rule over their land. You may need to purchase the land from the bank before making any rules about how the spaces will be used. Frankly, I am surprised one or more of the 24 existing unit owners hasn’t pounced on the available spaces seeing as parking is at such a premium in your region. I would recommend that the association consider purchasing the spaces from the bank and speak with your association attorney about what to do with them. My guess is they will provide income for the association over time. Good luck!