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RELA Rewrite Hot Topic: Size of Names in Promotions
Illinois REALTORS®, through the legal hotline and other channels, has been fielding questions about the “new” advertising provisions in the recently amended Real Estate License Act (the Act), that became effective on Aug. 9, 2019.
The questions center on the size requirements for the sponsoring brokerage company name compared to a team or a licensee’s name in ads.
The Act requires that the licensee’s or team’s name be no larger than the sponsoring brokerage company name.
While, this provision is effective now, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) has assured Illinois REALTORS® that it will exercise its discretion in a manner that will allow licensees to plan for these required changes and bring their marketing materials into compliance without incurring major expense to their businesses.
Illinois REALTORS® suggests that licensees and companies review their marketing pieces, from business cards to billboards to websites and social media channels, assess needed changes and be diligent about planning to make any needed adjustments.
About the writer: Elizabeth A. (Betsy) Urbance, General Counsel and Vice President of Legal Services has served the association’s members as General Counsel since 2018 and prior to that she was Legal Hotline Attorney since 1994. Urbance is a 1984 graduate of Western Illinois University and received her law degree from the University of Missouri School of Law in 1987. She is licensed in both Illinois and Missouri.
