Chicago Northwest Side Preservation Ordinance
By Bob Floss, II
Real Estate Law,
May 2025
[For attorneys practicing outside of Chicago, please do not disregard this article.] Bob Floss reviews an extremely controversial ordinance now in effect in one ward of Chicago. Floss discusses why this topic is important to all attorneys in Illinois. The concept of government awarding tenants a right of first refusal is not new. The first Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) was introduced in Washington D.C. in 1980. The law gained some traction in the East Coast, expanding to Takoma Park, Maryland, in 1987, but remained isolated to those areas. Recent sentiment for housing as a human right has renewed interest in the law and sudden expansion.
Here Comes the Flood
By Bob Floss, II
Real Estate Law,
May 2025
It has been 56 years since George Harrison first wrote “Here Comes The Sun.” Had he been a real estate attorney, the verse would read, “Here Comes the Flood.” It is an unfortunate reality that every real estate attorney must face at some point in their career: a client who recently purchased or sold a home, and there is water in the basement. Two appellate court cases have offered some clarity for practitioners counseling their clients on the possibility of litigation.
False Bravado: How Estate Planning and Corporate Entities Can Be Undone by Municipal Violations
By Bob Floss, II
Real Estate Law,
December 2024
The articles examine the existence of a trust as a relationship or an entity, which will greatly affect the outcome of the trust. In the section titled “Proper Litigants,” we are given hypotheticals when a trust can sue or be sued as an entity or when the trustee of the trust would stand in place of the trust as the proper party.
Spot an error in your article? Contact Celeste Niemann at cniemann@isba.org. For information on obtaining a copy of an article, visit the ISBA Newsletters page.
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