The following has been taken from the Illinois Real Estate License Act of December 31, 1999 as well as the Rules and Regulations
“Blind advertisement” means any real estate advertisement that does not include the sponsoring broker’s business name and that is used by any licensee regarding the sale or lease of real estate, including his or her own, licensed activities, or the hiring of any licensee under this Act. The broker’s business name in the case of a franchise shall include the franchise affiliation as well as the name of the individual firm.
“Medium of advertising” means any method of communication intended to influence the general public to use or purchase a particular good or service or real estate.
Section 10-30. Advertising.
No advertising shall be fraudulent, deceptive, inherently misleading, or proven to be misleading in practice. It 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 purchaser, seller, lessee, lessor, or owner. Advertising shall contain all information necessary to communicate the information contained therein to the public in a direct and readily comprehensible manner.
No blind advertisements may be used by any licensee except as provided for in this Section.
A licensee shall disclose, in writing, to all parties in a transaction his or her 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:
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 and disclosed to persons responding to any advertisement or any sign. The term “broker owned” or “agent owned” is sufficient disclosure.
A sponsored or inoperative licensee selling or leasing property, owned solely by the sponsored or inoperative 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 inoperative licensee if he or she (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 inoperative licensees selling or leasing “By Owner” shall comply with the following if advertising by owner:
On “By Owner” yard signs, the sponsored or inoperative 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.”
If a sponsored or inoperative licensee runs advertisements, for the purpose of purchasing or leasing real estate, he or she shall disclose in the advertisements his or her status as a licensee.
A sponsored or inoperative 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.
A sponsored licensee may not advertise under his or her own name. Advertising shall be under the direct supervision of the sponsoring or 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:
When a licensee enters into a brokerage agreement relating to his or her own real estate, or real estate in which he or she has an ownership interest, with another licensed broker; or
When a licensee is selling or leasing his or her own real estate or buying or leasing real estate for himself or herself, after providing the appropriate written disclosure of his or her ownership interest as required in paragraph (2) of subsection (c) of this Section.
No licensee shall list his or her name under the heading or title “Real Estate” in the telephone directory or otherwise advertise in his or her own name to the general public through any medium of advertising as being in the real estate business without listing his or her sponsoring broker’s business name.
The sponsoring broker’s business name and the name of the licensee must appear in all advertisements, including business cards. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require specific print size as between the broker’s business name and the name of the licensee.
When the licensee in performing, attempting to perform, or pretending to perform any act as a broker, salesperson, or leasing agent or when the licensee in handling his or her own property, whether held by deed, option, or otherwise, is found guilty of:
(4) Any misleading or untruthful advertising, or using any trade name or insignia of membership in any real estate organization of which the licensee is not a member.
(17) Displaying a “for rent” or “for sale” sign on any property without the written consent of an owner or his or her duly authorized agent or advertising by any means that any property is for sale or for rent without the written consent of the owner or his or her authorized agent.
(19) Advertising by means of a blind advertisement, except as otherwise permitted in Section 10-30 of this Act.
(26) Advertising or offering merchandise or services as free if any conditions or obligations necessary for receiving the merchandise or services are not disclosed in the same advertisement or offer. These conditions or obligations include without limitation the requirement that the recipient attend a promotional activity or visit a real estate site. As used in this subdivision (26), “free” includes terms such as “award”, “prize”, “no charge”, “free of charge”, “without charge”, and similar words or phrases that reasonably lead a person to believe that he or she may receive or has been selected to receive something of value, without any conditions or obligations on the part of the recipient.
Rules and Regulations
Deceptive and misleading advertising includes, but is not limited to,
the following:
advertising a property that is subject to an exclusive listing
agreement with a sponsoring broker other than the licensee's own
without the permission of and identifying that listing broker;
and
failing to remove advertising of a listed property within a
reasonable time, given the nature of the advertising, after the
earlier of the closing of a sale on the listed property or the
expiration or termination of the listing agreement.
For the purposes of this Section and Section 1450.145 on Internet
Advertising, listing information available on a sponsoring broker's or
licensee's website, extranet or similar site but behind a firewall or
similar device requiring a password, registration or other type of
security clearance to access that information shall not be considered
advertising.
For the purposes of this Section and Section 1450.145 on Internet
Advertising, unsolicited marketing of a licensee's real estate
brokerage services and farming (prospecting) shall be considered
advertising.
Definitions. For the purposes of this Section, these terms shall be
defined as follows:
Advertising or marketing real property: An Internet site which
consists of information regarding properties which have been
listed with a real estate brokerage company, the identity of that
real estate brokerage company or licensee for each property and
information related to those properties.
Advertising or marketing of real estate brokerage services: An
Internet site which includes an offer or solicitation to provide
services related to marketing or identifying real property for
sale or lease.
Page: Each html document. This can include several screens of
information that are viewed by scrolling down to the end of the
document.
Frame: This refers to that portion of the Web page that does not
change when the user links to a different site or moves to
different pages.
Scraping: This term refers to using or altering existing listing
information or keywords that are copied from one Internet site
and posted or displayed for the benefit of the general public in
front of a firewall at another site without written or electronic
authorization and disclosure of ownership. Written or electronic
authorization will be presumed to have been granted if the
listing information has been placed with a nationwide aggregator
of listing information for display on an Internet site.
A sponsoring broker which has authorized advertising or marketing real
property must include on the page on which the company or firm's
advertisement or marketing appears the following data:
the city or geographic area in which the property being
advertised or marketed is located;
the company's name as registered with OBRE or the assumed name it
has registered with OBRE (commonly recognized abbreviations are
permitted);
if the sponsoring broker does not hold a real estate brokerage
license for the jurisdiction in which the property is located,
the regulatory jurisdictions in which the sponsoring broker does
hold a real estate brokerage license; and
if this information is contained on the frame on the sponsoring
broker's site, it does not have to be included on every page of
the site.
A sponsoring broker advertising or marketing real estate brokerage
services must include on the company's home page or on a clearly
identified link appearing on that page the following data:
the company or firm's name as registered with OBRE or the assumed
name as it has registered with OBRE (commonly recognized
abbreviations are permitted); and
the city and state in which the company's principal office is
located.
If this information is contained on the frame on the sponsoring
broker's site, it does not have to be included on every page of the
site.
Any licensee who has authorized advertising or marketing real property
must include on the page of the site on which the licensee's
advertisement or information appears the following data:
the licensee's name;
the city or geographic area in which the property being
advertised or marketed is located;
the name of the company with which the licensee is affiliated as
that company name is registered with OBRE or the assumed name it
has registered with OBRE (commonly recognized abbreviations are
permitted);
if the licensee does not hold a real estate broker or salesperson
license for the jurisdiction in which the property is located,
the regulatory jurisdictions in which the licensee does hold a
real estate broker or salesperson license; and
if this information is contained on the frame on the licensee's
site, it does not have to be included on every page of the site.
A licensee advertising or marketing real estate brokerage services
must include on his or her home page the following data:
the licensee's name;
the name of the company with which the licensee is affiliated as
that company name is registered with OBRE or the assumed name it
has registered with OBRE (commonly recognized abbreviations are
permitted); and
the city and state in which the licensee's office is located.
If this information is contained on the frame on the licensee's site,
it does not have to be included on every page of the site.
A sponsoring broker using e-commerce or electronic communications,
such as e-mail, e-mail discussion groups and bulletin boards for
marketing or transactional purposes, must include on the first or last
page of all communications the following data:
the company or firm's name as registered with OBRE or the assumed
name it has registered with OBRE (commonly recognized
abbreviations are permitted); and
the city and state in which the sponsoring broker's main office
or the office from which the communication originated is located.
This subsection shall not apply to communications between a sponsoring
broker and a member of the public provided that the member of the
public has sent a communication to the licensed company and that the
sponsoring broker's initial communication contained the information
required in this subsection (f).
Any licensee using e-commerce or electronic communications, such as
e-mail, e-mail discussion groups, and bulletin boards, for marketing
or transactional purposes, must include on the first or last page of
all communications the following data:
the licensee's name;
the name of the company with which the licensee is affiliated as
that company name is registered with OBRE (commonly recognized
abbreviations are permitted); and
the city and state in which the licensee's office is located.
This subsection shall not apply to communications between a licensee
and a member of the public provided that the member of the public has
sent a communication to the licensee and that the licensee's initial
communication contained the information required above in this
subsection (g).
It will be considered to be a violation of the Act and this Part if a
licensee or sponsoring broker scrapes, as defined in this Section,
listing information from another site. Listing information obtained
from another Internet site and placed behind a firewall or other
device which is password protected or requires registration by the
consumer in order to access that information need not identify the
original listing broker.
A sponsoring broker or licensee may link to listing information from
another Internet site without approval unless the owner of the site
linked to specifically requires consent. Any link must be done in a
way that does not mislead or deceive the public as to the ownership of
any listing information.
All licensees, including sponsoring brokers, shall periodically review
the advertising and marketing information on their site and update as
necessary to assure that the information is current and not
misleading.
An identification sign on the outside of an office shall be of a size
and nature that they will be reasonably readable by the public.
Listings within building directories fulfill the requirements of this
Section.
Office identification signs must be professional in appearance and
meet all applicable zoning restrictions and applicable restrictive
covenants.
The identification sign must be plainly visible from an area
accessible to the public.
OBRE may suspend, revoke, or take other disciplinary action based upon its
finding that the licensee or applicant has engaged in dishonorable, unethical,
or unprofessional conduct of a character likely to deceive, defraud, or harm
the public. The following descriptions are illustrative of the types of
conduct which would constitute "dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional
conduct of a character likely to deceive, defraud, or harm the public."
Failure to act in the best interests of a client.
Deliberately misleading a client as to the market value of the
property.
Failing to advertise the property as obligated by the listing
agreement.
Deliberately misrepresenting to prospective purchasers or their agents
the condition of the property or the availability of access to show
the property.
Purchasing or transferring of the property through an intermediary in
order to conceal the purchase by the licensee.
Inducing a seller to list the property through false representations.
Inducing a seller through false representations or false promises to
transfer the property to the licensee.
Taking unfair advantage of a client's or customer's age, disability,
or lack of understanding of the English language.
Engaging in conduct with the public or other real estate licensees in
the practice of real estate in a manner that is abusive, harassing, or
lewd.
Representing oneself as a sponsoring broker or managing broker without
providing the actual supervision and management of the real estate
business.
Failing to reasonably safeguard confidential information or improperly
using confidential information.
Obstructing an inspection, audit, investigation or a disciplinary
proceeding by falsifying or wilfully destroying a document which is
required to be kept.
Any violation of Section 1450.175, Special Accounts, shall be deemed
unprofessional conduct.
Assisting or inducing a licensee to violate the Act or this Part.
