Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

225 ILCS 454/10-30

(225 ILCS 454/10-30)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2030)

Sec. 10-30. Advertising.

(a) No advertising, whether in print, via the Internet, or through social media, digital forums, or any other media, shall be fraudulent, deceptive, inherently misleading, or
proven to be
misleading in practice. Advertising shall be considered misleading or untruthful if,
when taken as a whole,
there is a distinct and reasonable possibility that it will be misunderstood or
will deceive the
ordinary consumer.  Advertising shall
contain all information
necessary to communicate the information contained therein to the public in an accurate,
direct, and readily
comprehensible manner. Team names may not contain inherently misleading terms, such as "company", "realty", "real estate", "agency", "associates", "brokers", "properties", or "property".

(b) No blind advertisements may be used
by any licensee, in any media, except as provided for in this Section.

(c) A licensee shall disclose, in writing, to all parties in a transaction the licensee's
 status as a
licensee and any and all interest the licensee has or may have in the real
estate constituting the
subject matter thereof, directly or indirectly, according to the following
guidelines:

(1) On broker yard signs or in broker advertisements,

no disclosure of ownership is necessary.  However, the ownership shall be indicated on any property data form accessible to the consumer and disclosed to persons responding to any advertisement or any sign.  The term "broker owned" or "agent owned" is sufficient disclosure.

(2) A sponsored or inactive licensee selling or

leasing property, owned solely by the sponsored or inactive licensee, without utilizing brokerage services of their sponsoring broker or any other licensee, may advertise "By Owner".  For purposes of this Section, property is "solely owned" by a sponsored or inactive licensee if the licensee (i) has a 100% ownership interest alone, (ii) has ownership as a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, or (iii) holds a 100% beneficial interest in a land trust.  Sponsored or inactive licensees selling or leasing "By Owner" shall comply with the following if advertising by owner:

(A) On "By Owner" yard signs, the sponsored or

inactive licensee shall indicate "broker owned" or "agent owned."  "By Owner" advertisements used in any medium of advertising shall include the term "broker owned" or "agent owned."

(B) If a sponsored or inactive licensee runs

advertisements, for the purpose of purchasing or leasing real estate, the licensee shall disclose in the advertisements the licensee's status as a licensee.

(C) A sponsored or inactive licensee shall not

use the sponsoring broker's name or the sponsoring broker's company name in connection with the sale, lease, or advertisement of the property nor utilize the sponsoring broker's or company's name in connection with the sale, lease, or advertising of the property in a manner likely to create confusion among the public as to whether or not the services of a real estate company are being utilized or whether or not a real estate company has an ownership interest in the property.

(d) A sponsored licensee may not advertise under the licensee's own name.
Advertising in any media shall be
under the direct supervision of the sponsoring or designated managing broker and in the
sponsoring broker's
business name, which in the case of a franchise shall include the franchise
affiliation as well as the
name of the individual firm.
 This provision does not apply under the following circumstances:

(1) When a licensee enters into a brokerage agreement

relating to  real estate owned by the licensee, or real estate in which the licensee has an ownership interest, with another licensed broker; or

(2) When a licensee is selling or leasing real estate

owned by the licensee or buying or leasing real estate for their own use, after providing the appropriate written disclosure of ownership interest as required in paragraph (2) of subsection (c) of this Section.

(e) No licensee shall list the licensee's name or otherwise advertise in the licensee's own name to the
general public through any
medium of advertising as being in the real estate business without listing the sponsoring
broker's business name.

(f) The sponsoring broker's business name and the name of the licensee must
appear in all
advertisements, including business cards. In advertising that includes the sponsoring broker's name and a team name or individual broker's name, the sponsoring broker's business name shall be at least equal in size or larger than the team name or that of the individual.

(g) Those individuals licensed as a managing broker and designated with the Department as a designated managing broker by their sponsoring broker shall identify themselves to the public in advertising, except on "For Sale" or similar signs, as a designated managing broker.  No other individuals holding a managing broker's license may hold themselves out to the public or other licensees as a designated managing broker, but they may hold themselves out to be a managing broker.

(Source: P.A. 103-236, eff. 1-1-24.)