Adrienne Levatino was appointed by Kreg Allison , the Director of the Division of Real Estate for the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, as the Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson as of January 1, 2017.

The mission of the CCIC Ombudsperson is to provide information to unit owners, condominium and common interest community associations and their respective boards in order that they all may better understand their rights and obligations under the Condominium Property Act and the Common Interest Community Association Act.

The Role of the Ombudsperson is under the Division of Real Estate for the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation .

What does the CCIC Ombudsperson do?

The role is to educate unit owners , associations, and their respective boards. There are two publications available for this purpose provided on the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s website.

The other role is to respond to relevant inquiries by providing educational materials and directing citizens to relevant resources.

What does the CCIC Ombudsperson not do?

The Ombudsperson does not provide legal advice or advocate services; The Ombudsperson does not enforce any laws to regulations, including the regulation of registration of profession, associations, companies, or people. The Ombudsperson does not hear, mediate, or resolve issues between unit owners and associations, complaints of discrimination, complaints about community association managers also known as CAMS.

What has been happening ?

During the period beginning January 1, 2017 and ending June 11, 2018, the Ombudsperson received 140 written inquiries. Of the persons submitting inquiries, 118 provided his or her address and 136 identified their “status” (attorney, board member, unit owner or “other”). The vast majority of those submitting inquiries (83%) were unit owners, while only 13 (approximately 9%) were individuals who identified themselves as board members. Among those who submitted written inquiries, only 118 (84%) identified the municipality within which they resided. Of these, 39 (33%) lived in an association within the City of Chicago.

The Ombudsperson was able to identify a specific subject for 128 inquiries. More than onethird of the inquiries raised governance issues—whether a board provided adequate notice of meetings, whether the board improperly conducted business in closed session and other claimed instances of lack of adherence to the Condominium Property Act or an association’s governance documents, for instance. Ten percent of the inquiries, most of which were received shortly following the effective date of the Act, questioned whether or when their association needed to have a written complaint process or whether or when associations were required to register with the Department. The Ombudsperson received nine inquiries concerning deconversion, nine questions relating to the imposition or collection of regular or special assessments, eight inquiries regarding the maintenance or availability of association records and eight questions related to the adoption or enforcement of rules.

The Ombudsperson role is not a full-time position and the Ombudsperson also serves as the Associate General Counsel in the Department’s Division of Real Estate. The Ombudspersonhas no additional staff. Approximately thirty-five percent of her time is devoted to serving as Ombudsperson.

The ombudsperson Adrienne M .Levatino’s office is located at 100 West Randolph, 9th floor, Chicago, Ilinois, 6060.1

The website is http://www.odfpr.com/CCICO/ You may reach her at : 1 (888) 473-4858.