A. Pursuant to Section 18.4(a) of the Condominium Act, the association’s declaration and bylaws, and applicable law, condominium boards of directors have a fiduciary obligation to maintain, repair and replace the common elements. As such, boards are well served to retain appropriate professionals to advise the board on the condition of its common element components and building infrastructure. The most common step a condominium board will take when dealing with aging infrastructure is to retain an engineer to perform a reserve study of the building infrastructure to assess the remaining useful life of the common element components. The reserve study is a guide for the board to understand the need for future repairs, and contains estimates for the funding of those future repairs. Section 9(c) of the Condominium Act requires condominium budgets in Illinois provide a reasonable reserve for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance, repair and replacement of the common elements.
