This year, several forms were created or amended in response to practice changes stemming from the NAR settlement agreement. Based on feedback over the past several months and with new Illinois laws, including the amended Illinois Real Estate License Act, taking effect on January 1st, 2025, the following forms have been created, revised or are forthcoming.
CAR Purchase and Sale Contracts (Revised)
CAR is one of the few local associations in the area to still produce purchase and sale contracts specific to the market it serves. Our members can now download the following revised contracts:
- Residential Purchase and Sale Contract
- Condominium Purchase and Sale Contract
- Multi-Family Purchase and Sale Contract
- Cooperative Purchase and Sale Contract
- Deeded Parking Purchase and Sale Contract
- Vacant Land Purchase and Sale Contract
Global changes included:
- New optional paragraph for Seller Payment of Buyer Brokerage Compensation. This term is currently available to the buyer as a separate, optional addendum to the contract. With this revision and change, this optional term will now be available within the contract if the parties wish to use it.
- Reorganized paragraphs and increased font size. As forms are revised or created, they will be drafted with a minimum ten-point font. With the increase in font size, many key terms of the contract fell off the first page. For most CAR contracts, Fixtures and Personal Property have been moved to page two, and Closing and Possession have been moved up. This allowed for all key contract terms to be on the 1st page of the contract: Purchase Price, Closing Cost Credits (Optional), Home Warranty (Optional), Seller Paid Compensation (Optional), Earnest Money, Closing Date, and the fill-in-the-blanks of the Mortgage Contingency.
- New personal property options for smart home equipment: smart doorbells, smart locks, smart thermostats.
Date Available: Available Now
Disclosure of Potential Flooding in Rental and Lease Agreements (New)
An Amendment to the Illinois Landlord Tenant Act will go into effect on January 1st, 2025, requiring a landlord to make certain disclosures before a lease is signed, and again within the lease, disclosing whether the property is located in a floodplain and how many times it has flooded within the last 10 years. Additionally, there is a similar requirement for leased units in a “lower level” which is defined as any garden-level unit, basement unit, or first-floor unit, to disclose whether the property has flooded at all within the last 10 years, and then how many times.
Because the amended Act requires both a disclosure prior to lease signing and then disclosure again within the lease, this new disclosure was created so a landlord can provide disclosure to their tenant prior to the signing of a lease.
Date Available: Available Now
Exclusive and Non-Exclusive Tenant Representation Agreements (Exclusive: Revised; Non-Exclusive: New)
With the amended Illinois Real Estate License Act going into effect on January 1st, 2025 requiring written brokerage agreements for all transaction types, including disclosure of compensation, the Exclusive Tenant Representation Agreement was revised and a new Non-Exclusive version was also created.
Brokerages may use either form depending on their business model and services offered. Both forms were drafted to conform with our new formatting standards and to align with similar changes made to our Buyer Representation Agreements earlier this year in response to the NAR settlement.
Date Available: Available Now
Termination of Right to Sell Listing Agreement and Termination of Buyer-Broker Representation Agreement (New)
In our revised listing and buyer representation agreements published over the summer, the termination paragraphs were rewritten with expanded options and clarifying language for both parties.
These two new termination documents provide a written agreement or notice should a party wish to exercise any of its termination options within the brokerage agreement.
Date Available: Available Now
Lead-Based Paint Disclosure – Seller/Buyer (Revised)
Illinois REALTORS® has made minor updates to the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure for Sellers/Buyers.
Those minor changes are:
- A footnote was added concerning the purchaser’s agent’s acknowledgment. This is important, especially when the seller is unrepresented. In that event, the purchaser’s agent must inform the unrepresented seller of their requirement to complete the Lead-Based Paint Disclosure.
- The footnote states, “Only required if the purchaser’s agent receives compensation from the seller.” Our recommended best practice is that the purchaser’s agent signs the disclosure to confirm that they have made sure that their purchaser client has received the disclosure form, the pamphlet, and if applicable, any records concerning lead-based paint.
Date Available: Available Now
2025 Chicago Residential Lease (Revised)
We will send out a notice once the 2025 Chicago Residential Lease is available. We are in communication with the city to stress the importance of a timely release of the 2025 Security Deposit Interest Rate and corresponding bilingual summary for this document by the New Year Holiday. The City has released this required document as early as December 31st to as late as January 6th in prior years.
Changes to the 2025 Chicago Residential Lease
- NEW DISCLOSURE: An Amendment to the Illinois Landlord Tenant Act will go into effect on January 1st, 2025, requiring a landlord to make certain disclosures before a lease is signed, and again within the lease, disclosing whether the property is located in a floodplain and how many times it has flooded within the last 10 years. Additionally, there is a similar requirement for leased units in a “lower level” which is defined as any garden-level unit, basement unit, or first-floor unit, to disclose whether the property has flooded at all within the last 10 years, and then how many times. Because the amended Act requires both a disclosure prior to lease signing and then disclosure again within the lease, the lease has been amended to include the required language from the amended Act.
- Portions of the Security Deposit paragraph were updated to mirror language in the Chicago Residential Landlord and Tenant Ordinance (RLTO).
- The use of premises was updated to the occupants listed on the lease, not in the application.
- Window A/C units and a quantity were added to the personal property owned by the Landlord.
- Slight updates to Notices and Tenant’s Personal Property.
A separate notice will be sent once the 2025 Chicago Residential Lease is published and available. If you or your clients have questions on how to complete a lease in early 2025 if the city has not yet released the required Security Deposit Interest Rate Summary Sheet, please consult an attorney for proper guidance.
Date Available: Expected Early January 2025. Subject to the City of Chicago.
Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 8.0 (Revised)
In addition to the CAR-specific purchase and sale agreements, CAR members also have access to the Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract. A new version 8.0 will be available in February 2025.
A reminder that the associations that participate in the Multi-Board Contract span from the City, to the far collar-counties, to downstate Illinois. The contract is drafted for many different property types and markets, including markets where attorneys are not commonly used in a transaction.
High-Level Changes to the Contract Include:
- Reformatting and paragraph layout changes.
- Addition of Seller Payment of Buyer Brokerage Compensation within the contract.
- Expanded options to Personal Property.
- Revisions to the Financing Contingency, specifically the notice options within this paragraph.
- Reorganized and expanded Inspection and As-is Options.
- Revisions to the Seller Representations paragraph.
- Re-write to the Cancellation of Prior Real Estate Contact paragraph with expanded options.
- New paragraph for Alternative Energy (solar panels).
Toolkit of available Addendums:
- Amendment Notice and Response Form
- Appraisal Addendum
- Intent to Escalate
- Multi-Unit Addendum
- Mutual Cancellation Agreement/Release of Earnest Money
- Repair Agreement
- Reverse Contingency Addendum
- Short Sale Addendum
Date Available: February 1st, 2025
Please note that all forms that are currently available can be downloaded from the member-exclusive Chicago REALTORS® Forms Library. It may take several weeks for forms to update in other e-signature platforms such as MRED, DocuSign, DotLoop, etc.