Real Estate Law

Real estate documents and thumbprints. House Bill 2269 (Evans, D-Chicago; Napoleon Harris III) extends the sunset date for requiring a thumbprint of the transferor in a Cook County residential real estate transaction from July 1, 2013 to July 1, 2018. Passed the House and on third reading in the Senate.

(Lang, D-Chicago) allows a recorder of deeds to establish and use a “Fraud Referral and Review Process” for deeds and instruments that the recorder reasonably believes are fraudulent, unlawfully altered, or intended to unlawfully cloud or transfer the title of any real property. It creates a list of 19 criteria for the recorder to consider in determining whether the document is fraudulent. If the recorder reasonably believes the document may be fraudulent after this review, the recorder must refer the instrument to an administrative law judge for review. The recorder must place a Notice of Referral in the Property Index identifying this document, document number, and the date of the referral. The recorder must also notify the last owner of record. The ALJ must schedule a hearing within 10 business days from receipt of the referral. If the ALJ believes by a preponderance of the evidence that the document is fraudulent, the ALJ must issue a judgment to that effect. The recorder must record that judgment with the notation stating that the fraudulent document may not affect the chain of title of the property in any way. Passed the House and in the Senate.

(McAsey) does three things to resolve the Act's ambiguity that allows condominium associations to recoup income lost during the lengthy foreclosure of a condominium unit. (1) Clarifies that this Act applies to a purchase at judicial foreclosure sale (other than by a mortgagee) and a purchase from a mortgagee that acquired title through a judicial foreclosure, a consent foreclosure, a common-law strict foreclosure, or the delivery of a deed in lieu of foreclosure. (2) Clarifies and caps the total amount the purchaser may be liable for—no more than the unit's unpaid regular monthly assessments for the nine-month period immediately preceding the judicial foreclosure. This cap includes attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the association during this nine-month period because of the nonpayment of these assessments. (3) Requires that the amount of this unpaid obligation must be included in certain notices in the Mortgage Foreclosure Article and the Condominium Property Act. On second reading in the House.