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BlackTechLogy: Condo liens are another reason homeowners should sign up for Property Fraud Alert Notifications with their county's official website
This post is part of a series entitled “BlackTechLogy.” Click here for the archived posts.
I don’t quite remember when I logged into my official county’s website to sign up for “Property Fraud Alert Notifications.” I just remember hearing of a scam about people stealing other property owner’s deeds and how easy it was to do with inattentive homeowners. Outside of that biannual property tax bill, far too few homeowners pay attention to their property records.
This scam conversation happened several years ago. I signed up and completely forgot I’d done so until last month when I received an email with the subject line “Property Fraud Alert Notification.” My eyes widened when I saw a lien on my unit, mainly because I only vaguely knew what a condo lien was.
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I opened the email link to see what happened and glared at my screen. I recognized the amount immediately. Although my condo board’s Treasurer and Registered Agent had credited my account for paying a few thousand dollars in past-due bills while a horrendous property management company left us with $12,017.60 in unpaid bills, some board members were upset that I started using my condo assessments to pay portions of late bills instead of paying the property management company.
I refused to stop until we parted ways with this company, especially after seeing a bright orange gas shut-off sign on our lobby window and our communal lights shut off for several hours. The property manager lied about the lights and claimed it was a “power outage.” Meanwhile, I did some research and found out that our association’s electricity account had a warning that if we didn’t pay the current balance due by end of day, the electricity company would turn our power off.
I took a screenshot and forwarded it along to several owners. As far as I was concerned, this was a breach of contract with the board members and the Community Association Manager. Assessments are supposed to be used to pay for utilities and budgeted repairs, not hidden with no explanation about why.
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But because there's an ongoing rivalry with me and two board members, who I filed discrimination complaints against for being racist and sexist, my bill-paying decision was all the excuse they needed to seek revenge for my state complaints. Even though both of them knew a third board member credited me for all bills paid that the property management company was ignoring, the other board members chose to demote him from the role as Treasurer and illegally remove him from the Secretary of State site altogether under our LLC. I was livid. This was a really good guy who was getting ganged up on for defending me, and I never respond well to bullying.
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I'd already spoken to two of three attorneys I knew beforehand — and had worked with privately — to see if these antics were worth going to court over: the lien, the bills, the board member illegally removed and those two being terrible people. I could fight against the false ledger by arguing unjust enrichment (the board wanting to keep all the money I paid for bills and still collect assessment funds without refunding bill payments) and slander of title (a false statement that is published to a third party, such as a county recorder, and causes financial harm, such as blocking a sale or refinancing).
Them being terrible? Another story entirely.
I was fully prepared to fight for unjust enrichment. The lien, however, caught me off guard. It shouldn’t have. Here’s why. I wasn’t aware that the Illinois Condominium Act gives a green light to condo boards putting a lien on your property even without a judgment first. It would be up to the owners to fight the lien in court to get a lien removal. Our association had never gone that far in the past. We worked out assessment disputes quietly without liens. These two board members chose to play dirty and act like they had no idea about the prior credit. I put my boxing gloves on and was ready to fight it out in court!
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