Illinois Condo Board Roles & Responsibilities
What each board position actually does, how many people you need, and how to keep a volunteer board functioning as members rotate out year after year — including where board composition is actually set by state law versus your own bylaws.
Illinois at a Glance
Most HOA boards have three to five members, elected by the membership for terms set in the bylaws — often one to two years, frequently staggered so the entire board doesn't turn over at once. Your specific bylaws define much of the exact structure, but in some states, part of that structure — minimum board size, owner-eligibility, or officer requirements — is actually set by statute, not left to the association to decide.
⚠ Common mistake: Assuming Illinois's minimum board size comes from HOA law. It comes from general nonprofit corporation law, which applies only if your association is incorporated as a nonprofit, so check your articles of incorporation.
Dillo ExplainsIn everyday terms…
Illinois requires condo board members to be owners, allows only one owner per unit on the board, and caps each term at two years.
President
Runs board meetings, is usually the primary point of contact with homeowners and outside parties (attorneys, vendors, the county), and typically has authority to sign on the association's behalf for routine matters. The president does not unilaterally make board decisions — actions still require a board vote — but does set the agenda and keep meetings moving.
Secretary
Keeps official records: meeting minutes, the membership roll, and official correspondence. In a self-managed HOA, the secretary is often the person who ends up being the institutional memory of the association — the one who can answer "wait, when did we actually vote on that?" This role matters more than it sounds like it should, because undocumented decisions are one of the most common sources of later disputes.
Treasurer
Handles dues collection, financial reporting, and the annual budget process. Many associations require some form of annual budget, and increasingly a reserve study projecting future major expenses. The treasurer role is also the one most commonly outsourced even in an otherwise self-managed association — hiring an accountant or bookkeeper for the mechanics while the treasurer sets policy and reviews the numbers is common and often worth the cost.
Illinois — Officer RequirementsHOA/condo statute
The bylaws must provide for electing a president and a secretary from among the board members. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, one person may hold two or more offices only if the bylaws allow it.
Minimum board size and who can serve
Whether your association has a statutory floor on board size, and whether some or all of the directors must be owners, depends on your state. Where a rule exists, it usually comes from one of two places: a law written specifically for homeowners or condominium associations, or general nonprofit corporation law, which applies only because the association is incorporated as a nonprofit. The badge on each rule below shows which one applies in Illinois.
Illinois — Minimum Board SizeGeneral corporate law
The Condominium Property Act leaves the number of board members to the bylaws. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, at least 3 directors.
Illinois — Owner/Member RequirementHOA/condo statute
Board members must be elected from among the unit owners.
Illinois — Other Eligibility Rules
If a unit has more than one owner, only one of them may serve on the board at a time.
Dillo's TakePsst… here's what this actually means…
If you co-own your unit, only one of you can be on the board at a time.
Term limits
Some states cap how long a single director term can run. A cap on one term is different from a limit on how many terms in a row someone can serve: a term cap alone doesn't stop a director from being re-elected. That takes a separate consecutive-term limit. Check both rows in the reference below for Illinois.
Illinois — Term LimitsHOA/condo statute
No board member or officer may be elected for a term of more than 2 years.
Conflict-of-interest disclosure
If a board member stands to personally benefit from a contract or decision the board is voting on, several states require a specific disclosure process before that vote can happen — not just a general "act in good faith" expectation. Some states wrote this rule directly into their HOA or condominium statute; others expressly import the state's general nonprofit corporation conflict-of-interest rules instead of creating a separate one.
Illinois — Conflict-of-Interest RuleGeneral corporate law
If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, the approval of a transaction in which a director has an interest turns on whether the material facts of that interest were disclosed to or known by the board, among other conditions.
⚠ Common mistake: Treating a conflict of interest casually because "everyone already knows" a board member has a stake in a vendor contract. In states with a statutory disclosure requirement, informal awareness isn't the same as a documented disclosure — skipping the formal step can make the contract itself challengeable later, regardless of whether the board's decision was actually reasonable.
Additional roles on larger boards
Associations with five or more board members sometimes add a vice president (covers for the president, sometimes chairs a specific committee like ARC) and an at-large member with no fixed portfolio, available to take on whatever the board needs — chairing a violations committee, leading a specific project, or simply providing another vote and perspective.
Can one person hold two roles?
It depends mostly on your bylaws, and in some states on the statute itself. Very small associations sometimes explicitly allow combining roles out of necessity. Others prohibit certain combinations — most commonly, keeping treasurer separate from any role with check-signing authority, as a basic financial control. Check your specific bylaws, and the state reference below, before assuming either way.
The real challenge: surviving turnover
The hardest part of running a self-managed board usually isn't any single role — it's what happens when the person who understood how everything worked rotates off the board and nobody wrote it down. A self-managed HOA has no institutional memory beyond what the current board happens to remember or document. The associations that handle this well share one habit: they write things down as they happen, not from memory afterward — meeting minutes the same day, a violation logged when it's observed, a decision recorded the moment it's made.
State-by-State Quick Reference
Select your state below for its actual board-composition rules. Every field is tagged with where the rule comes from — a statute written for HOAs or condominiums, general nonprofit corporate law that happens to apply, or your own governing documents — because those aren't the same thing, even when the resulting number looks identical.
| Scope / governing statute | Illinois's Condominium Property Act (765 ILCS 605) applies to property whose owners submit it to the act by recording a declaration. It requires board members to be unit owners, allows only one owner per unit on the board, caps terms at 2 years, and requires the president and secretary to be board members. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, the Illinois General Not For Profit Corporation Act also applies. |
| Minimum board size General corporate law | The Condominium Property Act leaves the number of board members to the bylaws. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, at least 3 directors. |
| Owner/member requirement HOA/condo statute | Board members must be elected from among the unit owners. |
| Other eligibility rules | If a unit has more than one owner, only one of them may serve on the board at a time. |
| Officer requirements HOA/condo statute | The bylaws must provide for electing a president and a secretary from among the board members. If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, one person may hold two or more offices only if the bylaws allow it. |
| Max individual term HOA/condo statute | No board member or officer may be elected for a term of more than 2 years. |
| Consecutive-term limit | Board members and officers may be re-elected. |
| Conflict-of-interest disclosure General corporate law | If the association is incorporated as a nonprofit, the approval of a transaction in which a director has an interest turns on whether the material facts of that interest were disclosed to or known by the board, among other conditions. |
| Citation | 765 ILCS 605/18; 805 ILCS 105/108.05; 105/108.10; 105/108.50; 105/108.60 |
Read the law
What Illinois's law actually says about board composition, in its own words, with links to the full text where available:
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765 ILCS 605/3
- Governing Statute / Scope: “they shall do so by recording a declaration, duly executed and acknowledged, expressly stating such intent”
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765 ILCS 605/18(a)(1)
- Minimum Board Size: “the election from among the unit owners of a board of managers, the number of persons constituting such board”
- Owner/Member Eligibility Requirement: “the election from among the unit owners of a board of managers”
- Additional Eligibility Rules: “if there are multiple owners of a single unit, only one of the multiple owners shall be eligible to serve as a member of the board at any one time”
- Required Officer Positions: “Election of a president from among the board of managers”
- Required Officer Positions: “Election of a secretary from among the board of managers”
- Maximum Individual Term: “no member of the board or officer shall be elected for a term of more than 2 years, but that officers and board members may succeed themselves”
- Consecutive Term Limit: “officers and board members may succeed themselves”
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805 ILCS 105/108.10(a)
- Minimum Board Size: “The board of directors of a corporation shall consist of three or more directors.”
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805 ILCS 105/108.50(a)
- Required Officer Positions: “If the bylaws so provide, any two or more offices may be held by the same person.”
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805 ILCS 105/108.60
- Conflict of Interest Rule: “the material facts of the transaction and the director's interest or relationship were disclosed or known to the board”
Making the transition easier
Formtabulous keeps your association's records — elections, violations, ARC requests, homeowner communication — in one place that survives board turnover, instead of scattered across whoever's personal inbox happened to handle it.
See how it works →Illinois — Common Questions
This article is general information about how HOA boards typically operate and is not legal advice. The specific roles, terms, and requirements for your association are set by your bylaws and, in some states, statute — consult the governing documents and, where needed, a qualified attorney for your specific situation.