Category: Real Estate Development

Matters concerning builders, developers, condominiums and condominium development

Real Estate, Real Estate Development

Illinois Landlords Listen Up! Illinois Safe Homes Act Change January 2026

marcsherman

The New Year 2026 will bring a variety of changes to Illinois law. One of those will be effectivce January 1, 2026, when private Illinois housing providers will need to include a summary of the Illinois Safe Homes Act as the first page of all residential leases.

The Act was introduced back in 2006, with the goal of providing protections for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Illinois legislators passed the “Summary of Rights for the Illinois Safe Homes Act” (Public Act 103-1031). The mandatory summary to be provided by landlords must be included with new leases and lease renewals starting in 2026.

What does the Summary include? There is a summary of tenant rights and protections under the law, such as the right to terminate a lease early when the tenant is subject to a threat of domestic or sexual violence, without penalty. There is also a right to change or re-key locks to prevent further abuse. Eviction protections based on incidents of domestic or sexual violence are included in the Act and in the summary description. The prohibition on discrimination is also covered.

And the summary includes a list of free legal service providers.

Who should pay attention? Both landlords and those who represent landlords for leasing purposes should become familiar with the Act, the requirement to now attach the Summary of the Act to the front of the Lease, and the penalties for failure to comply.

Want to check out a copy of the Summary? Click here: https://dhr.illinois.gov/legal/summary-of-rights-for-safer-homes-act.html

Want to discuss the Illinois Safe Homes Act? Contact the Attorneys at Marc D Sherman & Colleagues, PC using this link: https://mshermanlaw.com/contact/

Real Estate, Real Estate Development

UPDATE FOR ILLINOIS CONTRACTORS: ILLINOIS NOW CREATES NEW POTENTIAL LIABILITY FOR SUBCONTRACTOR’S EMPLOYEE WAGES

marcsherman

General Contractors, and Trade Contractors who have subcontracts with others, should know that for private projects a new amendment to the Illinois Wage Payment And Collection Act (IWPCA) creates the potential for liability for the wages of their subcontractors’ employees beginning January 2025.

The Illinois legislature, with pressure from a variety of groups, adopted a new ‘wage protection act’ that is included as a new section of the IWPCA. 

While there is an exclusion for union signatory contracts (confirm with your attorney to ensure that the exclusion is applicable for you), all other contractors remain exposed.

Why is there a concern? There is now a potential that the Contractor will be held liable for wages and benefits of the employees of a subcontractor, or sub-subcontractor, even where the Contractor is not the employer and even where the Contractor paid the sub in full. Enforcement will be by the Illinois Dept. of Labor, rather than private action by employees. But the exposure is still a concern.

Real Estate, Real Estate Development

Do You Own Or Are You Purchasing A Home Or Two-Flat In Chicago? Get Assistance To Replace Lead Service Lines.

marcsherman

The Illinois State Bar Association Real Property Law Section suggest that attorneys remind their clients who now own or who are purchasing a Chicago home or two-flat that they may be able to apply to have the lead service lines (water pipes) removed from their property for free.

In May 2022, WTTW reported that “lead service lines connect more Chicago homes to water mains than in any other American city, in large part because officials required that lead pipes be used to funnel water to single-family homes and small apartment buildings for nearly a century.”

Lead piping is a significant concern for homeowners, because as federal officials report, there is no safe level of lead in drinking water. Lead is a neurotoxin. It has harmful effects, especially for children and pregnant women.

Mayor Lightfoot rolled out a September 2020 plan to start replacing lead service lines, using federal grant money to remove lead service lines in homes owned by low- and moderate-income Chicagoans. Lightfoot said that would be enough money to replace 650 lead service lines. Originally, eligibility was limited to households that earned less than 80% of the area’s median income and had tap water in their single-family home or two-flat with more than 15 parts per billion of lead. The Chicago program was expanded in July 2021, to include any household with children younger than 18 that earned less than less than 80% of the area’s median income, regardless of whether their home had an elevated level of lead in its drinking water.

Chicago officials have received at least 886 applications for the program, but as of the WTTW May 2022 reporting only 262 applications were approved, and recently WTTW reported that only a little more than 150 homes had the lead service pipes removed/replaced.

If you are interested in applying for program benefits, start here:

https://www.leadsafechicago.org/lead-service-line-replacement

Our blog posts are designed to help you follow up on items that can save you time, save you money and protect many aspects of your life and your business.

If you hear of other hints and helpful strategies that our clients and colleagues may benefit from, please send a note or a link to: mshermanlawoffice@icloud.com

Real Estate, Real Estate Development, Real Estate Sales and Purchases

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac New Considerations For Condominium Loans

marcsherman

Effective January 1, 2022, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that they will not purchase loans on condominium units in projects with significant deferred maintenance or unsafe conditions, where there is a failure to obtain a certificate of occupancy, where there is a failure to pass a regulatory inspection, where there has been an issuance of large special assessments, or where there is a failure to reserve 10% of the annual budget for maintenance and repairs. Residential condominium purchasers and their attorneys should be aware, so that additional information beyond the traditional information required by Section 22.1 of the Illinois Condominium Property Act can be obtained in order to allow the buyer’s lender to have the information needed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For Condominium Associations, this may also mean that the Association may need to review available information and conditions, and be prepared to generate the additional information.

Real Estate Development

Builder/Developers Face Copyright Suit Concerning Floor Plans

marcsherman

A family operating a collection of companies building single-family homes from their Indiana location found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit by a court-described intellectual property troll called Design Basics, LLC. The Seventh Circuit Federal Appellate Court explained that Design Basics has filed numerous suits seeking to enforce copyrights in single-family home floor plans – over 100 such infringement suits against home builders in recent years. The goal, however, was not entirely to protect expression but to extract payments through litigation.

In Design Basics LLC, et al. vs Kerstiens Homes & Designs, Inc., et al., decided June 16, 2021, the Court explained that the home design companies license their plans through Design Basics, who acts as a sort of plan broker intermediary between home builders and design firms. Design Basics promotes the copyright designs through publications and materials placed in home improvement stores and other means.

At the heart of the appeal was the two-issue question in this copyright infringement case: whether the builder copied the protected work and whether the copying constituted an improper appropriation (whether the degree to which the design similarity was an unlawful appropriation of Design Basic’s copyright). Continuing a line of cases declining to enforce infringement actions brought by Design Basics, the Court pointed out that the similarities in the home floor plan design asserted by Design Basics were in fact bound up in standard features and functions found in many homes. Design Basics tried to argue that the Kerstiens’ placement of a garage or a laundry room off of the garage, and three standard bedrooms on the second floor of the home, were protectible layouts.

As the Court explained: “Pick any ordinary neighborhood in the Chicagoland area…. The industry standard suburban single-family home is rife with common features for many reasons, but copyright infringement is not among them….’There are only so many ways to arrange a few bedrooms, a kitchen, some common areas, and an attached garage, so not every nook and cranny of an architectural floor plan enjoys copyright protection.’”

The take-away? While the Builders/Developers won an important victory, homebuilders and others are still cautioned to keep an eye out for potential infringement issues. Simply copying another’s distinct layout and design features in toto may result in an expensive lawsuit and potential liability. The award of attorney fees and costs was more than $518,000, and the suit took more than 5 years to the Seventh Circuit’s decision. How many builder/developers are willing or able to defend such a case?

Helpful hints, tools and strategies for our Clients:

Our blog posts are designed to help you follow up on items that can save you time, save you money and protect many aspects of your life and your business. If you hear of other hints and helpful strategies that our clients and colleagues may benefit from, please send a note or a link to: mshermanlawoffice@icloud.com