Real Estate Law

(Silverstein, D-Chicago) requires a public administrator in counties of more than one million residents to retain his or her records under the Local Records Act instead of depositing records of discharged cases with the circuit court clerk. Senate Bill 2536 was just introduced and has been sent to the Senate Committee on Assignments.

House Bill 506 (Currie, D-Chicago; Munoz, D-Chicago) authorizes county assessors to impose a tax lien and penalties against homeowners who have been granted one or more erroneous homestead exemptions. House Bill 506 allows the assessor to reach back at least three years and sometimes six years depending on how many erroneous homestead exemptions were claimed. The penalties increase proportionately with the number of erroneous exemptions claimed starting with payment of back taxes and for two or three erroneous homesteads interest ranging from 5% to 15% and penalties ranging from 25% to 40%. Once the tax lien is filed, the amounts, interest, and penalties are due and payable within 30 days after the mailing of the lien. House Bill 506 has passed the House and awaits a concurrence vote in the Senate on Monday.

(Silverstein, D-Chicago; Currie, D-Chicago) requires the mortgagee to respond to the mortgagor within 90 days if the mortgagor sends a bona fide written offer to purchase from a third party and requests in writing that the mortgagee approve the sale. A “short sale” is when the mortgaged real estate is being sold for less than the amount owed to the mortgagee on the mortgage note. Failure to accept the offer shall not impair or abrogate in any way the rights of the mortgage or affect the status of the foreclosure proceedings. The 90-day period shall not operate as a stay of the proceedings. It passed out of House Executive yesterday and is poised to be passed by the entire House this week.