Effective January 1, 2012, a new Chicago ordinance that was passed last May finally went into effect. The goal of the ordinance is to protect buyer of new condominium conversions, as well as tenants of buildings that are in the condominium conversion process. Developers must obtain a license for residential real estate development from the city. If a developer is recording the condominium declaration after January 1, 2012, the developer must provide a Condominium Disclosure Summary in a format approved by the city. This summary shall include various details about the condominium development, such as 1) a description of the property’s amenities; 2) financial information regarding assessments, budget, reserves, and operating expenses; 3) a description of applicable warranties; 4) parking information; 5) information about the building’s or unit’s infrastructure, such as appliances, HVAC, hot water heaters, elevators, masonry, and security systems; 6) restrictions such as limits on rentals, sales, or use… read more →
Last week, the Attorney General announced that nearly 200,000 homeowners of African American or Latino descent would be entitled to partake in a $335,000 settlement from Countrywide Home Loans. Countrywide was sued for discriminatory lending practices, and the Attorney General stated that between 2004 and 2008, Countrywide was charging African-American and Latino homebuyers more fees and higher interest rates than similarly situated white applicants. In other words, if a white applicant and a black or Latino applicant had identical income and credit scores, the black or Latino applicant paid a higher interest rate and incurred greater closing costs than the white applicant. Countrywide was the largest mortgage lender in Illinois between 2004 and 2007. Once the settlement is approved by a judge, almost 15,000 Illinois homebuyers of African-American and Latino heritgage will be entitled to compensation from Countywide. How much compensation can they expect? According to the Illinois Attorney General, that depends on… read more →
A recent case, A.P. Properties v. Rattner , 2011 IL App (2d) 110061 (October 27, 2011) Lake Co. demonstrates how cutthroat the tax deed business can be. On the one hand, you have companies that buy taxes at real estate tax sales, with the hope that they will end up owning the property for a fraction of its actual value. On the other hand, you have homeowners and lenders, trying to redeem the taxes to save the property before the redemption period expires. And then occasionally, you have companies that reap their profits from buying properties just before the redemption period expires, when homeowners are desparate to salvage some of the value of their home. The defendants in this case fall in the latter category. The plaintiff, A. P. Properties, was in the business of buying taxes at tax sales, and they sued the defendants because in two instances, the defendants bought real… read more →
A recent case, Picerno v. 1400 Museum Park Condominium Association, 2011 IL App (1st) 103505 (October 28, 2011) Cook Co., 5th Div., caught by interest: In 2008, related family members purchased neighboring units at the end of the hall in a condominium building. Their doors faced each other, and they shared a common wall. They decided that they would like to install a new door in the hallway, separating off their two units from all of the other units. The association objected. Eventually, the association set forth a proposal which delineated the requirements that the unit owners must agree to in order to install the door and separate their portion of the hallway. Because of the costs involved, the unit owners did not agree, and the matter ended up in court. While the trial court agreed with the plaintiff unit owners, the appellate court sided with the condominium association, stating that 1) the… read more →
If you live in Cook County, your second installment 2010 property taxes were due earlier this week (on Tuesday, November 1). Hopefully you’ve already paid the bill. As a senior, you might have assumed that your senior exemption showed up automatically on your tax bill, as it has in the past. But beware — the legislation made some changes last year, and senior exemptions are no longer automatic! If you are over 65, you should make sure you get the benefit of the senior exemption if you’re a homeowner! The Cook County Assessor’s office states that 55,000 seniors did not apply for their exemption this year. That’s a windfall for the county, but a lot of extra money out of each senior citizen’s pocket! If you are eligible for a senior exemption or a senior freeze exemption, you can still apply! You will have to complete a Certificate of Error and… read more →
A recent case, Nadhir v. Solomon, 2011 IL App (1st) 110851 (September 20, 2011) Cook Co., 2d Div., came down hard on Evanston landlords. In that case, the three plaintiffs had rented an apartment in Evanston from the defendant landlords. The landlord claimed the property had been heavily damaged when they walked through it with the tenants at the end of the lease. The tenants stated that the unit was in good condition and that the landlord had not raised any complaints at the walk-through. After the lease ended, the landlord did not return the security deposit. Evanston City Ordinance requires the landlord to provide a a written list of damages to the tenant, showing the cost of repair of each item separately, and stating what amount is being deducted from the tenant’s security deposit. This notice must be provided within 21 days after the lease ends. In this case, the… read more →
A recent case, The Reserve at Woodstock v. The City of Woodstock, 2011 IL App (2d) 100676 (September 28,2011) makes it clear that if cities have an agreement with landowners, they must honor it and not try to subvert it. Reserve (the developer) owned property in Woodstock which was subject to an Annexation Agreement. Pursuant to that agreement, the developer submitted a plan to develop the property into multiple single-family residential lots. Not only did the the City of Woodstock deny the proposed subdivision, but it further rezoned the land and disconnected it from the City of Woodstock. The developer sued. The court found that the developer had a vested right in having its plat approved under the prior zoning rules. Furthermore, the court found that the City of Woodstock was unfair and failed to act in good faith by not honoring the Annexation Agreement. Furthermore, Woodstock delayed the process so the… read more →
So you own real estate in Cook County, and you missed the deadline for filing an appeal on your real estate taxes with the Assessor’s office. You thought you didn’t have to worry, because you could always file with the Board of Review. Oops — you missed that too. Or maybe you filed your appeal on time, and it was based on a clear factual error, and for some reason your appeal was denied anyway. What could you do? You didn’t want to take a chance that your taxes would be sold by the county, so you even went ahead and paid the tax bill. Not to worry — you still may be able to get your money back, but now you will have to file a Certificate of Error. This is a mechanism available to Cook County property owners whereby a property owner can ask Cook County to correct an incorrect… read more →
There is yet another program to assist Illinois homeowners facing foreclosure. Just announced this week, the new program is known as the Illinois Hardest Hit program. It aims to help about 15,000 Illinois families. The federal goverment is funding the program with $345 million. In order for your family to qualify, you must meet the following criteria: 1) You must have had at least a 25% drop in your household income, either due to unemployment or reduced employment (i.e. not being able to work as many hours as you are available), through no fault of your own. 2) Regardless, your family income can be slightly higher than the average income in your area, but no greater than 120% of the median income in your area. 3) The subject property must be in Illinois. 4) The property must be your primary and only residence. Additionally, if there are other people named on… read more →
If you purchased a property at a tax sale, make sure you give all required notices, or you could be denied your tax deed when the time comes! That’s exactly what happened in In re Application of the County Treasurer and Ex Officio County Collector of Cook County, Illinois v. OneWest Bank, 2011 IL App (1st) 101966 (August 25, 2011) Cook Co., 4th Div. In that case, a homeowner owned a two-flat in the southwest side of Chicago. She failed to pay $1383 in real estate taxes. Ridge TP, LLC purchased the homeowner’s taxes at public auction. However, when it came time to petition for the tax deed, the court denied Ridge TP, LLC. The court determined that the proposed tax deed purchaser had not sent the notice of redemption period properly, nor had they exercised proper due diligence in serving notices. Specifically, the proposed tax deed purchaser had not… read more →