The Paid Assessment Letter Guide for Chicago Sellers
A paid assessment letter is a written statement from your condo association — usually issued through its management company — confirming that your assessments are paid current through your closing date and stating any amounts still owed, including fines, late fees, and special assessment balances. Every buyer's lender and every title company in Chicago requires one before they'll close, because under the Illinois Condominium Property Act, unpaid assessments are a lien on your unit (765 ILCS 605/9), and the title company has to insure that the buyer takes the unit free of it. No letter, no clear title, no closing.
The letter is cheap and slow: management companies typically charge somewhere in the range of $100 to $300 and take one to two weeks to produce it, with rush fees if you're in a hurry. I've closed 700+ transactions and $54 million in volume since 2014, a large share of them Chicago condos, and I order these letters for my sellers as part of seller-side representation that costs you nothing — the title company pays my fee.
Why One Letter Controls Your Closing
Condo assessments don't work like utility bills. Fall behind, and the claim doesn't just follow you — it attaches to the unit itself as a lien under Section 9 of the Condominium Property Act. A buyer who closes without proof your account is current can find the association's collection attorney pursuing the unit they just bought. Title companies won't insure around an unknown assessment balance, and the lender, whose collateral is the unit, takes the same position. The lien doesn't care that nobody told you about it.
The paid assessment letter (you'll also hear "assessment letter" or "closing letter") solves it. It states the monthly assessment, confirms account status through a specific date, lists special assessment balances, and flags the association's move-out and transfer charges. The title company uses it to pay the association out of your proceeds at closing.
The 22.1 Disclosure Package (765 ILCS 605/22.1)
The paid assessment letter travels with a bigger sibling. Section 22.1 of the Condominium Property Act says that when a unit owner who isn't the developer sells, the buyer can demand a package of association documents, which the seller must obtain from the board. In broad strokes, the package includes:
- The declaration, bylaws, and rules and regulations
- A statement of any liens and the unit's account, including unpaid assessments and other charges owed — this is the statutory cousin of the paid assessment letter
- Capital expenditures the association anticipates in the current and next two fiscal years
- The status and amount of reserves, and any amounts earmarked for specific projects
- The association's most recent financial statement and budget
- The status of pending lawsuits and judgments involving the association
- The association's insurance coverage
- A statement about whether improvements or alterations to the unit comply with the declaration
The statute gives the board 10 business days after a written request to produce the package, and it caps the fee: no more than $375 (adjusted annually for inflation), plus up to $100 for rush service completed within 72 hours. Both limits were tightened by Public Act 102-976, effective January 1, 2023.
Buyers' attorneys take the 22.1 package seriously, and they should. Pending facade litigation, a reserve balance of $11,000 for a 60-unit building, or a budget that hasn't balanced since 2019 are all things a buyer's lawyer will raise during attorney review — the same five-business-day window I cover in my Multi-Board 8.0 guide. As the seller, you want this package in hand before those clocks start, not during them.
Who Orders It, What It Costs, How Long It Takes
The seller — in practice, the seller's attorney — orders both the paid assessment letter and the 22.1 package. For professionally managed buildings, the order goes through the management company, often via a documents portal (HomeWiseDocs and CondoCerts are the ones I see most). Self-managed associations mean emailing whichever board member answers email — its own adventure.
| Item | Typical Cost | Typical Turnaround |
|---|---|---|
| Paid assessment letter | $100 – $300 | 7 – 14 days |
| 22.1 disclosure package | $200 – $500 (statutory cap: $375, inflation-adjusted) | 10 business days (statutory deadline) |
| Rush processing | +$100 – $200 per document | 1 – 3 business days |
Two notes on the money. First, these are seller costs in almost every contract I see, so build them into your net number — the net proceeds calculator on my home-selling page accounts for them. Second, rush fees are pure tax on disorganization. Order on day one and you'll never pay one.
Special Assessments: The Deal Killer Nobody Sees Coming
A special assessment is the association billing owners outside the regular budget — new roof, tuckpointing, elevator modernization. Discovered early, it's a negotiation item. Discovered ten days before closing, it's a crisis.
Here's the standard collision. The board approved a $14,000-per-unit facade assessment in March. The seller, who skims board minutes, lists in April without mentioning it. The paid assessment letter arrives two weeks before closing showing the balance. Now three fights start at once: the buyer wants the seller to pay all of it, the seller wants the buyer to assume the installments, and the lender — who just learned the building needs a facade — wants documentation, sometimes re-underwriting. I've watched closings slide 30 days and die outright on this exact fact pattern.
The contract typically makes the seller responsible for special assessments approved before closing unless the parties agree otherwise, so this usually becomes the seller's check to write or credit to give. The negotiable part is timing and structure — payoff at closing versus buyer assuming remaining installments. If the assessment is big enough that you'd be bringing money to closing, talk to me about options early; for sellers who are genuinely underwater, a short sale is sometimes the honest answer.
The rule: if your board has approved, discussed, or commissioned an engineer's report about a special assessment, that information belongs in your pricing and your disclosures on day one. It will surface either way. The only question is whether it surfaces while you control the story.
Right-of-First-Refusal Boards
Some declarations — disproportionately older buildings on the North Side and lakefront — give the association a right of first refusal: the board can step in and buy the unit on the same terms as your contract. Boards almost never exercise it. But the title company still requires a board waiver letter, and the declaration gives the board a window to decide — the length is declaration-specific, commonly up to 30 days.
That window sits directly on your closing timeline. A 30-day financed closing and a 30-day ROFR window do not coexist peacefully. If your declaration has one, your attorney should send the contract to the board for waiver the week attorney review ends, not the week of closing. Boards move at board speed.
Coordinating the Letter With Your Closing Date
Paid assessment letters are issued "through" a date and go stale. If the letter is paid-through June 30 and your closing slips to July 9, the title company will want an updated letter — sometimes a fresh fee, always fresh waiting. My office times the order so the letter lands about two weeks before closing with coverage past the closing date, and we calendar the update the moment anyone breathes the word "extension."
At closing, the letter drives three line items: the association payoff, the proration of the current month's assessment, and move-out or transfer fees. Clean letter, clean closing statement.
What to Request From Your HOA the Day You Decide to List
Before the listing goes live, send your management company one email asking for:
- Your account ledger and confirmation you're paid current
- Any approved, pending, or board-discussed special assessments, plus the last 12–24 months of board meeting minutes
- The current budget, most recent financial statement, and reserve balance
- The declaration, bylaws, and current rules — buyers' attorneys will ask
- Whether the declaration contains a right of first refusal, and the board's waiver procedure
- Any pending litigation involving the association
- Rental caps or leasing restrictions (it changes who can buy your unit)
- Move-out, transfer, and document fees, plus the portal used for document orders
That single email turns every section above from a surprise into a checklist item.
How My Office Handles This — Free, on the Seller Side
Ordering the letter and 22.1 package, chasing the management company, clearing ROFR waivers, and fighting over special assessment credits is the bulk of seller-side condo legal work — and it costs you nothing, because the title company pays my fee. Start with the net proceeds calculator to see your real walk-away number, association fees included. If you're the buyer in a condo deal, I review the 22.1 package and handle the whole closing for a $500 flat fee. Either way, the full menu is on my real estate services page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between a paid assessment letter and the 22.1 disclosure?
The paid assessment letter is a narrow statement of your account status — what's owed through closing. The 22.1 package is the broader statutory disclosure under 765 ILCS 605/22.1: governing documents, financials, reserves, litigation, insurance, and planned capital expenditures. Lenders and title companies need the letter; buyers and their attorneys want the package. Most sales need both.
Who pays the fees for the letter and the documents?
Almost always the seller — the statute puts the obligation on the selling unit owner. Budget a few hundred dollars total, more with rush fees.
What if my building is self-managed with no management company?
The board itself issues the letter and the 22.1 documents — usually the treasurer. Same legal obligation, slower service. I send written requests immediately after contract and tell self-managed sellers to warn the board the day they list.
Can a buyer walk away over a special assessment?
Often, yes — through attorney review or the condo document review rights in the contract, a buyer who learns of a significant special assessment can typically renegotiate or exit. That's why sellers should disclose and price the assessment up front instead of letting the letter announce it two weeks out.
Selling a condo in Chicago or the suburbs? Call me at (630) 839-9195 or book a free 30-minute consultation. Seller-side representation is completely free — title pays me, not you — and I'll order the assessment letter and 22.1 package the day we open the file, so your closing never waits on the management company.