Illinois HOA & condo lawsuits, liens and foreclosures: the numbers
Illinois on the map
15 of the 828 communities with court records (rings, coloured by their most common case type) and 589 of the 13,216 with recorded liens (dots, coloured by liens in the last five years) have an address or ZIP in the record and are drawn here; the rest have no location in any record and are not on the map, but stay searchable. Click a pin for the community's report, or open the full-screen map.
Liens & court cases
HOA Spy indexes 34,361 Illinois homeowner and condominium associations. 828 of them appear in 1,140 court records — 0 from county and state trial courts, 535 from appellate courts and 605 from federal dockets. The county lien indexes we collect list 45,196 association liens and 319 foreclosure filings (lis pendens) against owners. Illinois ranks 10th of the 15 states with the most court records on HOA Spy. Every number on this page is computed from official court and county records; data as of 2026-10-02.
The facts
- The records are spread thin: 644 of the 828 communities with a court record appear in exactly one case, and the ten most-litigated together hold only 6% of the records.
- It cuts both ways: associations were the plaintiff in 413 records and the defendant in 426.
- The busiest year on file was 2018, with 59 records. The last full year, 2025, had 22 — down 27% on 2020 (30).
- Appellate cases make up 47% of the records (535): decisions of the state's appellate courts. Next come Other cases (208).
- HOA Spy indexes no Illinois trial court yet, so these are appellate decisions (535) and federal dockets (605) only — the county-court suits where most HOA litigation happens are not counted here.
- 99 records are fair-housing, disability-accommodation or other civil-rights suits — the kind of case a buyer with a service animal or an accessibility request should know about.
- The recorder indexes for Cook County list 45,196 association liens and 319 lis pendens (foreclosure filings) since 1985; 1,434 communities filed at least one lien in the last five years.
- Lien filings peaked in 2009 (3,963 in one year); 2025 saw 480, up 21% on 2020 (398).
- RIVER CITY CONDO ASSOC alone has 438 liens on file (2005–2018).
What the cases are about
Each court record is labelled by its nature of suit the way the map colours it. Illinois's 1,140 records break down as:
Appellate: decisions of the state's appellate courts · Other: dockets that carry no nature of suit or one outside these groups (county civil dockets often say only "civil") · Insurance: coverage disputes with an insurer · Civil Rights: fair-housing, disability-accommodation and other civil-rights claims · Foreclosure: the association foreclosing its lien, or named in a lender's foreclosure · Labor: employment and labor claims · Collections: assessment, debt and contract claims · Property: property and condominium disputes · Tax: tax matters
Who is suing whom
The side comes from the role the court recorded for the association where the docket gives one, otherwise from which side of the “v.” the association's name sits. Appeals, petitions and association-versus-association captions stay undetermined.
Filings by year
court records · 2026 is partial
The oldest records on file date from 1936. Years reflect the filing date on the docket (the decision date for appellate opinions); records with no date are left out. Coverage grows as courts are added, so part of any rise is HOA Spy reaching more dockets — see the sources below.
Where the cases are
| County | Court records | Communities |
|---|---|---|
| Cook County | 500 | 326 |
| Dupage County | 28 | 19 |
| Kane County | 10 | 7 |
| Mchenry County | 1 | 1 |
| County not recorded | 601 | 475 |
The county is the community's own (from its registration or ZIP), not the court's. Courts with the most Illinois records: District Court, N.D. Illinois (590); Appellate Court of Illinois (470); Illinois Supreme Court (65); District Court, C.D. Illinois (7); United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois (5); District Court, E.D. Illinois (2); District Court, S.D. Illinois (1).
Associations with the most court records
| Community | County | Records | Most common | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CITICORP HOMEOWNERS | Cook | 14 | Foreclosure | 1987 |
| Sienna Court Condominium Association | 9 | Appellate | 2019 | |
| LAKE HOLIDAY PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC | 8 | Appellate | 2013 | |
| 2800 LAKE SHORE DRIVE CONDOMINIUM ASSOC | Cook | 7 | Appellate | 2014 |
| STATE PARKWAY CONDOMINIUM ASSOC | Cook | 7 | Other | 2023 |
| 1618 Sheridan Road Condominium Association | 6 | Appellate | 2024 | |
| 175 EAST DELAWARE PLACE HOMEOWNERS ASSOC. | Cook | 6 | Other | 2020 |
| CITICORP HOMEOWNERS SERVICE | 6 | Foreclosure | 1987 | |
| SIENA OLD ORCHARD CONDO ASSN | Cook | 6 | Appellate | 2019 |
| 1324 W. Pratt Condominium Association | 5 | Appellate | 2013 |
A long record is not by itself a verdict on a community: a large association collecting assessments through the courts can have hundreds of small-claims entries. Open the profile to see what the cases are and who brought them.
Liens and foreclosure filings
From the official-records indexes of Cook County (Cook County Clerk recordings index). A claim of lien is recorded when an association says an owner owes it money; a lis pendens is recorded when it actually files the foreclosure suit. Communities elsewhere in Illinois are not covered: no lien shown there means not checked, not clean.
claims of lienlis pendens · 2026 is partial
Communities with the most liens on file
| Community | County | Liens | Lis pendens | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIVER CITY CONDO ASSOC | Cook | 438 | 0 | 2005–2018 |
| 155 HARBOR DR CONDO ASN | Cook | 190 | 0 | 1985–1995 |
| IMPERIAL TOWERS CONDO ASSOCIATION | Cook | 182 | 0 | 1993–2018 |
| SIXTY THIRTY CONDOMINIUM ASSOC | Cook | 166 | 0 | 2004–2020 |
| HILLDALE CONDO ASSN | Cook | 162 | 1 | 1996–2025 |
| SHEFFIELD MANOR CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION | Cook | 158 | 0 | 2000–2011 |
| NEWPORT CONDO ASSN | Cook | 148 | 5 | 2000–2025 |
| 4343 CLARENDON CONDO ASN | Cook | 144 | 0 | 1985–1995 |
| WINDHAVEN CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION | Cook | 142 | 0 | 1996–2016 |
| METROPOLITAN CONDO ASSN | Cook | 141 | 0 | 2002–2011 |
Communities with the most foreclosure filings
| Community | County | Lis pendens | Liens |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOREST GLEN CONDO ASSN INC | Cook | 16 | 22 |
| ENCLAVE AT GALEWOOD CROSSINGS MASTER ASSN | Cook | 7 | 21 |
| HILLSIDE CONDO ASSN | Cook | 6 | 56 |
| NEWPORT CONDO ASSN | Cook | 5 | 148 |
| TIMBERS IN PALOS CONDO ASSN | Cook | 5 | 6 |
| WEST PARK PLACE CONDOMINIUM ASSOC | Cook | 5 | 3 |
| 6555 S GREENWOOD CONDO ASSN | Cook | 3 | 0 |
| APPLE KNOLL IND CONDO 3 | Cook | 3 | 0 |
| HERITAGE RESIDENCES CONDOMINIUM ASSN INCORPORATED | Cook | 3 | 3 |
| NARRAGANSETT CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION | Cook | 3 | 16 |
How Illinois compares
The states with the most court records on HOA Spy. The share column is the part of each state's indexed communities that appear in at least one case; it depends on which courts are indexed there as much as on the communities themselves.
| # | State | Court records | Communities in court | Share | Most common | Liens on file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | 48,999 | 13,601 | 13.0% | Other | 460,412 |
| 2 | Texas | 41,271 | 7,195 | 40.2% | Collections | not collected |
| 3 | Maryland | 15,879 | 1,572 | 59.7% | Collections | not collected |
| 4 | Pennsylvania | 12,849 | 1,896 | 18.8% | Other | not collected |
| 5 | Connecticut | 4,852 | 1,605 | 31.4% | Foreclosure | not collected |
| 6 | Virginia | 4,786 | 275 | 3.8% | Collections | not collected |
| 7 | New York | 2,204 | 1,429 | 9.4% | Appellate | 26,537 |
| 8 | Alaska | 2,165 | 565 | 45.8% | Other | not collected |
| 9 | Nevada | 1,258 | 672 | 30.4% | Property | not collected |
| 10 | Illinois | 1,140 | 828 | 2.4% | Appellate | 45,196 |
| 11 | California | 1,032 | 832 | 24.7% | Appellate | not collected |
| 12 | Louisiana | 934 | 501 | 50.0% | Appellate | not collected |
| 13 | Washington | 852 | 545 | 3.3% | Appellate | not collected |
| 14 | Georgia | 809 | 565 | 18.0% | Appellate | not collected |
| 15 | Hawaii | 728 | 387 | 16.8% | Appellate | not collected |
Where this data comes from
- Federal dockets and state appellate opinions: CourtListener (RECAP archive and bulk data, snapshot 2026-09-30)
- Cook liens: Cook County Clerk — Recordings System (CRS), Advanced Search by party name, 1985-2026 (48,647 documents) — party-name sweep: liens naming an association on either side, foreclosures it filed; complete back to 1985-10-01; 44,084 records shaped from the results row (first parties only, no address); lender foreclosures naming an association not collected
- Local inventories: City of Chicago — House Share Prohibited Buildings List (condo/co-op associations) (1006); DuPage County IL GIS — Subdivisions (condominium & townhome… (2,725 records)
- IRS roster: IRS Exempt Organizations Business Master File (116 records)
- Not collected: SOS corporate bulk — paid
- Not collected: Cook County recorder bulk indexes 2011-2015 (historic) — checked 2026-09-28: PIN, document type, date and amount only — no party names, so a lis pendens cannot be tied to an association; series ended March 2015
Most HOA litigation happens in state trial courts, which have no national index; HOA Spy reads the portals it can. A Illinois community outside the indexed courts can have cases this page does not count. Names are matched conservatively, so an ambiguous match is left out rather than guessed. Sources & methodology.
Questions people ask
- How many HOA lawsuits are filed in Illinois each year?
- In 2025, the last full year, 22 court records naming a Illinois community association were filed in the courts HOA Spy indexes; the five-year average is 25 a year. The busiest year on file is 2018 with 59.
- Which Illinois associations have the most court cases?
- By records on file: CITICORP HOMEOWNERS (14); Sienna Court Condominium Association (9); LAKE HOLIDAY PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION INC (8).
- How many HOA liens and foreclosures are recorded in Illinois?
- In Cook County — the only Illinois recorder index collected so far — 45,196 association liens and 319 lis pendens are on file; 480 liens were recorded in 2025.
- Do Illinois HOAs sue homeowners more than they get sued?
- In the records with a known side, the association was the plaintiff 413 times and the defendant 426 times. Suits brought by associations are typically assessment collection and lien enforcement; suits against them typically come from owners, insurers or lenders.
- How do I check a specific Illinois HOA?
- Search it by name on HOA Spy: the report lists every lien, case and complaint on file with a link to the official record, and says which sources were checked. Communities with records also have a profile page under the Illinois directory. Data as of 2026-10-02.