At the O’Leary Law Firm, John J. O’Leary has helped
real estate developers, architects, contractors,
subcontractors, and property managers throughout
Chicagoland respond to market forces, capitalize on
growing trends, and protect their real estate
development and construction businesses for more
than 20 years. He works with clients to address the
complexity of the new challenges that arise in the
current market as well as the perennial issues –
construction and structural defects, construction
delays, unanticipated site conditions, design
changes, financing requirements and tenant build out
provisions – which regularly arise in real estate
developments and construction projects.
Construction Specifications
Institute (CSI) UniFormat revision
The Construction Specifications
Institute (CSI) has released the first draft of
a revision to the 1998 version of UniFormat for
public comment. The construction community is
invited to comment on the draft. All comments
received before June 15, 2008, will be
considered by the UniFormat Task Team. You can
find the draft at
www.csinet.org/uniformat
Chicago Real Estate Transfer Tax
On February 6, 2008 the Chicago
City Council amended its existing real property
transfer tax ordinance to increase the rate of
tax from $7.50 per $1,000 of value to $10.50 per
$1,000 of value, a 40% increase in the tax rate.
The increased rate went into effect April 1,
2008.
New Illinois Radon Law – What Builders and Homeowners Need to Know
Illinois Legislature passed the
Illinois Radon Awareness Act (Public Act
95-0210) effective January 1, 2008. The Act
applies only to the sale of residential real
property; involves no obligation on the seller
to conduct radon testing or mitigation efforts;
requires a disclosure be signed by the seller,
buyer and real estate agent (if any) at the time
the contract is signed and a "radon pamphlet" to
be provided; and provides certain exemptions to
the required disclosures.
City of Chicago Water
Certifications Fees for Condominiums
On Monday, December 17, 2007 the
City implemented several changes to the
procedure for obtaining Water Department
certification. This certification is one of the
prerequisites to the purchase of City transfer
tax stamps.
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