Below is a summary of activities of this section from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. While past activity is no guarantee of future activity, it may give a idea of what to expect this year.
Section Stats
Newsletters
Issues: 11
CLE
Live Programs: 4
Discussions
Posts: 1,164
Legislation
Bills Reviewed: 142
Continuing Legal Education
Section members receive discounts on section-sponsored CLE programs. During the 2024–25 bar year, the Section sponsored the following programs:
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Co-Sponsor LIVE WEB - Navigating Restrictions and Transparency Requirements of Foreign Investments in U.S. Land - Part 2 (09/27/2024)
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Sponsor LIVE - Real Estate Law Update - Fall 2024 (11/07/2024)
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Sponsor LIVE WEB - All About Real Estate Transactions: New 8.0 Contract, Post-Closing Agreements, Surveys, and Associations (04/29/2025)
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Co-Sponsor LIVE WEB - Understanding the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (06/11/2025)
ISBA Central Discussions
ISBA Central communities allows section members to pose questions, answer questions, and share information with fellow section members. Members of the section get free access to the section’s community. Joining any section also grants you access to the Transactional and Litigation communities. Below are the total number of discussion posts during the 2024–25 bar year.
Real Estate Law
- Community members: 2,263
- Total discussion posts: 1,164
Transactional
- Community members: 24,715
- Total discussion posts: 406
Litigation
- Community members: 24,710
- Total discussion posts: 1,251
Legislation
The Section Council reviewed 142 bills that may affect their members’ practice area. Highlights of the most recent legislative session include:
- House Bill 3566 amends the Eviction Article of the Code of Civil Procedure. Requires dismissal of a complaint in its entirety against all defendants if the complaint names a defendant who is a minor at the time of filing. Provides that such an action shall be immediately sealed. Provides that, in addition to any other remedies available to the minor, a minor willfully and wantonly named as a defendant in violation of the Act is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees, actual damages, and liquidated damages in the amount of $1,000. Provides that nothing in the Act prohibits a party from refiling an action against any defendants who otherwise may be properly named. Provides that, upon dismissing the case, the court may not waive any fees associated with refiling the action against defendants otherwise properly named. Drop date Aug. 19, 2025; effective Jan. 1, 2026.
- Senate Bill 1443 amends the Mortgage Act to provide that the Act does not abrogate the Illinois common law that the payment in full of a debt secured by a mortgage extinguishes the lien. Provides that payment in full of a debt secured by a mortgage pursuant to a payoff statement, as defined in the Mortgage Certificate of Release Act, issued by or on behalf of the holder of the indebtedness extinguishes the lien of the mortgage. Drop date Aug. 19, 2025; effective immediately.
- Senate Bill 1523 amends the Counties Code. Requires every recorder to establish a fraud referral and review process to review deeds and instruments and requires every county to establish and maintain a property fraud alert system. Provides a private right of action to a rightful property owner affected by a person knowingly filing or causing to be filed a deed or instrument that is recorded in the grantor's index or the grantee's index that is fraudulent, unlawfully altered, or intended to unlawfully cloud or transfer the title of any real property.