Now that the long-awaited practice changes are finally here, Your Illinois REALTORS® is here to provide you updates and answer new questions that you have about the required written buyer broker agreements with your clients and the removal of offers of compensation from the MLS went into effect Aug. 17. 

Please feel free to call our legal hotline and frequently visit our special webpage – The Way Forward. To help you explain the changes to others, also feel free to personalize and share on your social media channels the open letter to consumers published in newspapers throughout the state.

In the months leading up to the new practice rules, Illinois REALTORS® has provided members with informational sessions and created a special webpage, The Way Forward, populated with key resources you need. Even more importantly, Illinois REALTORS® has updated the forms you need to work with your clients now.

Your Illinois REALTORS® legal team has updated more than a dozen forms you need for your buyers and sellers and many also have been translated into Spanish for your clients. You can find both versions at www.IllinoisRealtors.org/TheWayForward. Legal forms are a members-only benefit so you will need to log in to download.

Get started with the Guidance for Revised Brokerage Agreements and another download, Additional Forms + Explanations. Both break down the key changes to the forms.

You will want to check The Way Forward page frequently to find the latest resources. Three of the newest forms are:

Compensation Disclosure Statement to Buyer – contains the required “fully negotiable” language that can be used to amend any buyer brokerage agreements that are currently in effect.

• This should be all you need if the brokerage agreement does not refer to the MLS in the cooperating compensation section.
• If the cooperating compensation section does mention the MLS, amend the agreement to remove that section or sign a new agreement.
• If a purchase contract is pending prior to Aug. 17, you should be able to close with no further action but consult with your managing broker and your company attorney to be sure.

Affirmation to Seller’s Broker of Buyer’s Representation Agreement – this is a very simple disclosure for a buyer broker to provide any listing broker who asks for a copy of your buyer representation agreement, assuring the listing broker that you have the required written agreement with your buyer client.

Compensation Disclosure Statement to Seller – contains the required “fully negotiable” language that can be used to amend any listing agreements that are currently in effect.

• This should be all you need if the listing agreement does not refer to the MLS in the cooperating compensation section.
• If the cooperating compensation section does mention the MLS, amend the agreement to remove that section or sign a new agreement.
• If a purchase contract is pending prior to Aug. 17, you should be able to close with no further action but consult with your managing broker and your company attorney to be sure.

Class action attorneys have begun sending litigation claim notices to recent homebuyers and sellers. If you get any questions from consumers or clients, send them to realestatecommissionlitigation.com

In an advocacy win for Illinois REALTORS®, your state association collaborated with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and state lawmakers to amend the Real Estate License Law to require written brokerage agreements—one of the rules of the NAR settlement.

Illinois REALTORS® has long provided and encouraged the use of these written agreements to protect everyone in the transaction. Now it will be required under the license law.

The bill was unanimously supported in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker this month. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2025, and includes these license law changes:

• All real estate licensees will be required to use written brokerage agreements when they act as agents for all types of real estate brokerage business, including with buyers in residential sales transactions, as required by the NAR settlement.
• Brokers seeking to upgrade their licenses will only be required to take Illinois-specific exams to obtain their managing broker licenses.
• Mandatory Core Continuing Education (CE) Hours will increase from four to six hours, including two hours of mandatory Fair Housing-related courses.
• Added language to emphasize and support independent contractor relationships for licensees conducting brokerage business when that is the nature of the agreements between the sponsoring brokers and the licensees.

Homebuyers who are working with a REALTOR® will be required to have a written agreement detailing the work the broker will do for them, the rate of compensation and how it will be paid. (Illinois REALTORS® has long provided and encouraged the use of these written agreements to protect everyone in the transaction).

Real estate agents will stop including shared compensation information on the MLS. Shared compensation will still be allowed, it just cannot be communicated on the MLS platform. Instead, brokers will communicate this information, in writing, privately or on their own websites. The amount of compensation will remain negotiable, as it’s always been.