Kipling Estates Homeowners Association Nailed With Lawsuit By Angry Shorewood Property Owner: Here's Why

SHOREWOOD, IL — There is tension building inside one of Shorewood's nicest subdivisions, Kipling Estates near Seil Road and Mound Road, where property owner Michael Urgero is fed up with the Courtyards of Kipling Estates Homeowners Association and Bay Property Services.

According to Urgero's newly filed lawsuit at the Will County Courthouse, the association has adopted rules and guidelines that are silent on a homeowner's rights to contest substantial increases in assessments such as these.

"Homeowners are currently being coerced into loan agreements and payment plans tied to the disputed assessment without any ability to evaluate its necessity, legality or accuracy," argues the plaintiff's lawyer, Nicholas Navarro of Mueller, Lawson & Frobish, located on Joliet's Infantry Drive. "The Association is pressuring homeowners to secure funding for outside repairs even though outdoor building maintenance, such as driveways, siding and roofs would fall under the responsibility of the association rather than each individual homeowner who is not expected to engage in regular maintenance of these areas."

The lawsuit notes that Bay Property Services is the property management company retained by the Kipling Estates Homeowners Association to administer community operations, including billing, assessment collection, payment processing and enforcement of board directives.

Urgero is one of the homeowners who lives within the Courtyard of Kipling Estates.

According to the website for Kipling Estates, there are around 850 homesites, offering a mix of townhomes and single-family homes. Ed Mattox of Kipling Group built the Shorewood subdivision located along Wynstone Drive. Within Kipling Estates are eight different neighborhoods, including the Courtyards Kipling Estates neighborhood that features 122 townhomes. The Courtyards of Kipling neighborhood is managed by Bay Property Services, based in Mokena.

"The Association, through the Board and Bay, has announced and attempted to impose what it refers to as a 'siding casualty repair assessment' upon homeowners within the community," the lawsuit noted. "This assessment is being enforced as a special assessment in substance, as homeowners are being assigned individualized assessment balances, billing deadlines, loan options, interest obligations and threatened with late fees and potential lien enforcement. The anticipated special assessment causes the total assessments payable to exceed 115 percent of the total amount payable to the previous year in violation" of Illinois code."

Urgero's lawsuit noted that on Dec. 24, "Bay Property Services issued written notice to homeowners announcing the initiation of the assessment, payment deadlines, auto-draft withdrawal obligations, loan programs through Alliance Bank, and potential late fee imposition."

The Joliet law firm for Urgero informed Will County's judges that it "issued a formal written demand requesting that the defendants cease all assessment efforts, halt planned construction actions and provide documentation demonstrating legal justification and cost basis for the assessment. The defendants ignored the demand."

The lawsuit wants Will County's judges to determine whether the Courtyard of Kipling Estates Homeowners Association and Bay Services has the legal authority to impose the siding casualty repair assessment without taking a homeowner vote, disclosing the financial basis for the assessment and "transparency regarding contractual obligation," revealing the actual contract for the work to be completed including the final cost for the project and procedural compliance with governing documents and state law.

"Plaintiff respectfully requests this honorable court enter an order declaring the assessment void and unenforceable, award reasonable attorneys fees as prescribed by statute, and grant all further relief deemed just and proper," Mueller, Lawson & Frobish declared.