Illinois Condominium Property Act Imposes Additional Step on Foreclosure Sale Purchasers

Earlier this year, the Illinois Appellate Court held that a lender who bid at a foreclosure sale was liable for over $70,000.00 in condominium assessments even though more than $40,000.00 of the total amount due the condominium association was accrued before the lender took title or possession of the property. The Illinois Supreme Court agreed to review the case and issued its opinion confirming the ruling of the appellate court on December 3, 2015.

The Illinois Condominium Property Act creates a lien in favor of a condominium association upon the failure or refusal of a unit owner to pay common assessments.¹ Section 9(g)(3) of the Act, states that the purchaser of a condominium unit at a judicial foreclosure sale shall have the duty to pay the unit’s proportionate share of the common expenses for the unit assessed from and after the first day of the month after the date of the foreclosure sale.² The payment of post foreclosure sale assessments confirms the extinguishment of a condominium association’s lien.³ For example, if a condominium unit is purchased at a foreclosure sale on December 7, 2015, the purchaser is responsible for the monthly assessments for that unit beginning January 1, 2016.

Merely naming a condominium association in a foreclosure complaint is no longer sufficient to terminate an association’s lien for unpaid assessments. The payment of post foreclosure sale condominium assessments formally approves and makes certain a condominium association’s lien is extinguished. An association’s lien will not be extinguished, despite naming the association in a foreclosure complaint, if the post foreclosure sale assessments are not paid.

In order to avoid liability for the entirety of a prior owner’s past due assessments, it is important for a foreclosure sale purchaser to pay post foreclosure sale condominium assessments timely and as soon as possible. Failure to do so could be a very costly.

Go here to view the Illinois Supreme Court opinion in its entirety.


¹ See 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(1)
² 765 ILCS 605/9(g)(3)
³ Id.