The Illinois Real Estate License Act (RELA) was included in an omnibus cleanup bill recently signed into law by Governor Pritzker. The bulk of the changes are global and apply to all professions regulated by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) and not just the real estate industry.

Those global changes include:

• Generally, throughout RELA pronouns are changed to be inclusive.
• Generally, throughout RELA, reference to renewal period is changed to current term or license or term of licensure, referring to the 2-year period or some other period from licensure until the expiration date or the renewal period (generally, 90 days prior to the expiration date of a license).
• Generally, provisions in RELA indicate IDFPR will not issue or renew a license if there are outstanding fines for licensing or unlicensed practice of real estate issues.
• There is now global language throughout the licensing acts regarding criminal convictions and requirement to report a “new” conviction.
• There is a global change to licensing acts regarding people who are allowed to serve on department boards.

There also were some minor, technical changes specific to RELA, but none were substantive. Illinois REALTORS® members can login to view those 2022 changes.