Illinois HOA Meeting Requirements: Notice, Quorum, and Budgets

Illinois HOA meeting requirements come from two statutes: the Condominium Property Act (765 ILCS 605) governs condo associations, and the Common Interest Community Association Act (765 ILCS 160) governs townhome, single-family, and other planned communities that aren’t condominiums. Both laws set minimum standards for notice, quorum, voting, open meetings, and record-keeping, but the specifics differ. Which one applies to you decides which numbers you follow.

Figuring Out Which Statute Governs Your Association

If you live in a condominium, the Condominium Property Act controls. If you live in a townhome development, single-family planned community, or any other common interest community that isn’t a condominium, the Common Interest Community Association Act (CICAA) applies. The two acts share a general shape but set different quorum thresholds, different budget-meeting notice windows, and different rules on proxies. Everything below flags the split where it matters.

Notice Rules for Each Type of Meeting

Illinois law treats three kinds of meetings differently: membership meetings, regular board meetings, and budget or assessment meetings. Notice defects can invalidate what the board decided, so this is where most problems begin.

Membership Meetings

Under both acts, written notice of a membership meeting must be mailed or delivered no fewer than 10 and no more than 30 days before the meeting. The notice has to state the time, place, and purpose.¹² If owners will vote on a specific issue, that item must be identified. A notice that just says “membership meeting” without disclosing what’s on the ballot doesn’t meet the statute.

Board Meetings

Regular board meetings require at least 48 hours’ notice. Under the Condominium Property Act, notice must be posted in entranceways, elevators, or other visible common areas at least 48 hours ahead. It also has to go electronically to any owner who authorized electronic communication, and by mail or delivery to others if the condo instruments require it.¹ The CICAA follows the same 48-hour rule, with the board choosing between a prescribed delivery method and posting in conspicuous common areas.²

Budget and Assessment Meetings

Longer notice applies when the board meets to adopt the annual budget, set regular assessments, or levy a special assessment. Under the Condominium Property Act, owners must receive notice of the meeting the same way they’d get notice of a membership meeting, meaning 10 to 30 days in advance. Separately, every owner must receive a copy of the proposed annual budget at least 25 days before the board adopts it, with a breakdown showing what portion goes to reserves, capital expenditures, repairs, or property taxes.¹ Under the CICAA, the notice window widens to 10 to 60 days.²

Electronic Notice

Both acts allow notices and other association business to be handled electronically. Under Section 18.8 of the Condominium Property Act, any notice, vote, consent, or approval required by the act or the condo instruments can go through “acceptable technological means.” There’s a limit: an owner who hasn’t given written authorization to receive electronic communications must be dealt with by traditional methods, and the association bears the cost.³

How Often Meetings Have to Happen

The Condominium Property Act requires at least one annual membership meeting, and one purpose of that meeting must be electing board members.¹ The CICAA also mandates an annual membership meeting, and adds a requirement that the board itself meet at least four times per year.²

Owners can also force a special meeting. Under the Condominium Property Act, the president, the board, or owners holding 20% of the association’s votes can call one.¹ That 20% figure returns in budget disputes, described below.

Quorum, Proxies, and Voting

Nothing gets decided without a quorum, and the two acts don’t agree on the number. Under the CICAA, 20% of the membership makes a quorum, unless the community instruments set a lower threshold.² The Condominium Property Act sets no fixed statutory quorum; the association’s bylaws define it. The act does define “majority” as owners holding more than 50% of the aggregate ownership interest in the common elements, which controls whenever a vote requires majority approval.¹

Both acts allow voting by proxy, in person, or by association-issued mail-in ballot. The CICAA also explicitly authorizes electronic voting if the board adopts appropriate rules, but prohibits proxy voting in board elections, so members must vote by ballot or electronic means when choosing directors. Proxies under the CICAA expire 11 months after execution unless the community instruments or the proxy itself say otherwise.

Under Section 18.8 of the Condominium Property Act, votes can be cast by any acceptable technological means, so long as the association keeps a record of each electronic vote for the same period it would keep a paper ballot.³ Board members may participate in board meetings by phone or other technology if everyone in the meeting can hear and communicate with each other, and that remote participation counts as attendance in person.¹

Open Meetings and What Can Be Discussed in Closed Session

Board meetings must be open to unit owners under both acts. Under the CICAA, the board also has to reserve a portion of each board meeting for member comments.²

A board can close part of a noticed meeting, or meet separately, only for reasons the statute spells out. Under the Condominium Property Act those are: pending or likely litigation; discussing whether to hire, engage, or dismiss an employee, contractor, or service provider; interviewing such a person; discussing a specific owner’s rule violations; discussing a specific owner’s delinquent common expense payments; and consulting with the association’s attorney.

Even when discussion happens behind closed doors, any vote on the matter has to occur during the open portion of the meeting.¹ Deliberating privately and then announcing a decision without an open vote is one of the more common ways boards break the rule.

Budgets, Special Assessments, and the 115% Rule

Illinois gives condo owners a specific tool when the board pushes spending up. Under the Condominium Property Act, if the board adopts a budget or special assessment that exceeds 115% of the prior year’s budget (including regular and separately billed assessments), owners holding 20% of the votes can petition the board within 21 days. The board then must call a membership meeting within 30 days of receiving the petition so owners can vote on the increase.¹

The board can bypass the 115% limit and skip owner approval for emergency assessments, but the statute defines “emergency” narrowly: an immediate danger to the structural integrity of the common elements, or to the life, health, safety, or property of unit owners. Expenditures mandated by law also qualify. Routine maintenance and cosmetic upgrades don’t.¹

Records Owners Can Inspect

The Condominium Property Act requires the board to keep meeting minutes for the preceding seven years, plus ballots and proxies for all matters voted on by members during the preceding 12 months. Any unit owner can request to inspect or copy these records. The association has 10 business days from receiving a written request to make them available; failure to do so is treated as a denial under the statute, which opens the door to court action.⁴

Financial records, including budgets and expenditure reports, are also open to owner inspection. When owners request copies, the association can charge the actual cost of retrieving and reproducing the records, and nothing more. Administrative fees and inflated copying charges aren’t permitted.⁴

What Owners Can Do When the Rules Aren’t Followed

The Condominium Property Act allows, but doesn’t require, associations to include mediation or arbitration provisions in their declarations or bylaws. Mandatory alternative dispute resolution is capped: it can only cover disputes worth $10,000 or less, or disputes arising from violations of the declaration, bylaws, or rules. Collection of assessments is excluded. Anything else can go to mediation or arbitration only if both sides agree.⁵

When informal resolution fails, Illinois courts can enforce the statute and the association’s governing documents, including notice requirements, open meeting rules, and record-keeping obligations. The 10-business-day records deadline is often an owner’s most practical starting point: a board that stonewalls creates a documented denial that supports a later court case.

Illinois also maintains a Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson within the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, but the boundary matters. The office educates owners, boards, and associations and publishes informational materials.⁶ It cannot hear, mediate, or resolve disputes between owners and associations, cannot enforce laws or regulations, and doesn’t provide legal advice. For actual intervention, the route is the ADR process the governing documents allow, or court.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 605/18 – Contents of Bylaws
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 160/1-40 – Governance and Operations
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 605/18.8 – Use of Technology
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 605/19 – Records of the Association; Availability for Examination
5
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 765 ILCS 605/32 – Alternate Dispute Resolution; Mediation; Arbitration
6
Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Illinois Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson