Current Issue: January 2012 (pdf)

Happy New Year
By IAR Chief Legal Counsel Steve Bochenek.
With the beginning of the 2012 New Year we celebrate new opportunities that will present themselves in the coming year. Our hope is that your brokerage company will be presented with new opportunities that will help your company prosper in 2012. So what does this have to do with the legal issues we typically discuss here?  Plenty, as you will see in the following paragraphs. In order for your company to be able to take advantage of new opportunities, you need to have people properly licensed under the Real Estate License Act of 2000 working for you. As you read this article, there are less than 85 days left for licensees to take a proficiency exam. The last day for taking the proficiency exam is March 15, 2012. Who needs to and why do you need to take the proficiency exam? Read more >

Three legal case studies are covered in this issue. Insurance company has duty to defend a Seller against Buyers’ claim that he made a negligent misrepresentation regarding basement water infiltration. 2) Tennessee court rules that real estate firm was not entitled to a commission where property was not shown until the day after the listing agreement expired. 3) Court finds that broker could be liable to Seller for not disclosing that the broker also had a listing agreement in place for the Buyer who had a contract to resell the property. Read more >

Real Estate Disciplines. Among the recent disciplinary actions taken by the Real Estate Division of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR): a real estate broker license was suspended for three months and fined $1,500 for depositing a $1,775 payment from a property owner into the licensee’s personal account. Read more >

Play Catch-Up with IAR Legal Webinars. Each month IAR legal counsel presents a one-hour webinar on hot topics of the day. IAR members can download the programs at www.illinoisrealtor.org/legal/webinars. (Note: Member login required for this exclusive IAR member benefit.) The next IAR Legal Webinar will be held January 17, 2012. In December IAR presented “A Look Back…and Forward” - a quick review of legislation, transition, record keeping, cases and what may be on the horizon for 2012, including the new authority of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) to investigate and prosecute the unauthorized practice of law.

RVOICE: IAR to Battle Home Rule. RVOICE has learned that five municipalities in Illinois (Clarendon Hills, Princeton, Elburn, Itasca and Prospect Heights) will seek to become home rule units. This will require a referendum in these five towns in the March 20, 2012 Primary Election. IAR is frequently wary of municipalities that seek to become home rule units because with that status, municipalities have huge powers to regulate housing, real estate transfers and new development. Also, home rule units are exempt from the state law regarding property tax caps. There may be additional municipalities that will seek home rule status in the March primary; municipalities have until the end of January to pass a resolution to put home rule on their ballots. In the coming months, IAR's Local Government Affairs Directors (GADs) will learn more about the motivations of these municipalities' desire to become home rule. Direct mail campaigns, funded by RVOICE, will provide information to REALTORS® and voters on the March referenda. Stay tuned! (RVOICE is the new name of the Illinois Association of REALTORS® Advocacy Program. This program, established in 2006, ensures that the interests of REALTORS® and property owners are well represented before state and local governments throughout Illinois. RVOICE commissions independent research, legal analyses, public opinion surveys and other information to help bring our industry and the rights of private property owners to the forefront of public policy debates.) Read more >

Online Only! D.R. Legal News and is published online only in a downloadable PDF format that is e-mailed to all IAR members who are the Designated REALTOR® (or D.R.) for their real estate office. Be sure to watch and open all e-mail from “IAR Communications” or the "Illinois Association of REALTORS."

The D.R. Legal News is e-mailed six times per year (January, March, May, July, September, November) to the Designated REALTOR® member of the Illinois Association of REALTORS®. For reprint permission, contact iarnews@iar.org.

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