On August 12 Governor Rauner signed a bill into law sponsored by State Senator Pamela Althoff (R-McHenry) that makes a number of changes to the Condominium and Common Interest Community Ombudsperson Act.

“The Act contained many problems causing the program to be ineffective,” said Sen. Althoff. “It also put unnecessary burdens on the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. This law looks to clean that up and ensures the program will be available without glitches.”

House Bill 4658 includes the following changes to the Act:

• Delays the effective date of the Act from July 1, 2016 to January 1, 2017 and delays the repeal of the Act from July 1, 2021 to July 1, 2022.
• Places the Ombudsperson in the Division of Real Estate rather than the Division of Professional Regulation within the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
• The Department will name rather than employ an Ombudsperson.
• Neither the Department nor the Ombudsperson shall have any authority to consider matters that may constitute grounds for charges or complaints under the Illinois Human Rights Act or that are properly brought before the Department of Human Rights or the Illinois Human Rights Commission.
• Information collected by the Department under this Act is confidential and shall not be disclosed.
• Repeals the requirement that all associations register with the Department.

More information regarding the new law can be found here.