Current Issue: May 2012 (pdf)

Life After Transition
By IAR Chief Legal Counsel Steve Bochenek.
By the time this article reaches you it will be May of 2012 and the transition period will have ended. Many of you will take a deep sigh of relief that you will no longer need to answer questions about how to transition. However, the end of the transition period does not mean the end of the questions and issues. There will be a number of loose ends that need to be dealt with by a brokerage company and its managing broker(s) in the post-transition era. For example, do all of your sponsored licensees have an active license beginning May 1, 2012?  What do I do if they do not have a license?  These are just a few of the simple questions that may arise and that you will have to deal with as a managing broker. This article is intended to address some of those questions that you may face in this post-transition period. Read more >

Four legal case studies are covered in this issue. 1) Court upholds Broker's commission under Exclusive Right to Sell Contract, 2) Cooperating broker who brought a cash offer for the full $17 million asking price was denied commission when Seller counter offered with a higher selling price, 3) E-mail message between Broker and owner constituted a valid brokerage agreement for a commercial real estate transaction under Connecticut law, and 4) Broker and Seller had duty to disclose the presence of frogs but not the presence of drug dealers and prostitutes.  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 placed on probation for one year and fined $1,500 for failing to timely refund fees and provide copies of documents and for inadvertently listing a property for which he did not have a listing. Read more >

IAR Legal Webinar: “Practicing in a Post-Transition Era.” 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.) In the April 26 webinar, Illinois Association of REALTORS® Chief Legal Counsel Steve Bochenek and Legal Hotline Attorney Betsy Urbance discussed post-transition questions that might arise beginning on May 1, 2012, such as: What to do if a listing agent failed to transition? I sent my information post-marked April 30, 2012 but I don't have my license back from IDFPR yet? My managing broker is a sole proprietor who did not transition to the managing broker license? 

RVOICE/RPAC Victories Abound in March 20 Primary. The Illinois REALTORS® Political Action Committee funded several "Opportunity Race" activities this election, reaching out to registered REALTORS® in support of targeted candidates in both state and local races. In the races where RPAC-supported candidates, there was: 86% win rate for the Illinois General Assembly;  70% win rate in local races; RVOICE also was very successful in its participation in several key referenda ballot questions with an 87.5% success rate! IAR opposed home rule referenda in five municipalities and supported sales tax referenda in two municipalities and one County (Morgan County). 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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