Illinois exam glossary
Deed restriction
A buyer has a city permit for a fence, but the subdivision declaration limits fence height. The permit answers a public-law question. The declaration raises a separate private-rights question. Start there, then check whether the restriction is valid and actually applies.
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The short answer
A deed restriction is a private limit on property use stated in a deed or another binding instrument, such as a recorded declaration. A qualifying restriction can bind later owners. It differs from public zoning, and recording alone does not make it lawful. Read its wording, covered property, duration, enforcement and amendment terms, plus applicable statutory limits.
Reviewed October 26, 2026. PSI lists deed conditions or restrictions in National II.C.1. The whole Land Use Controls domain has five scored national broker questions, not five specifically on deed restrictions. The examples stipulate their terms; a particular parcel’s enforceability requires its actual instruments and applicable law.
Work through a restriction in six steps
- Find the source and the land it covers. Read the deed, declaration, relevant plat, recorded amendments and any incorporated documents. A restriction need not be repeated word for word in the current deed to matter. Match the legal description and any stated exclusions rather than assume a neighborhood label proves coverage.
- Read the entire provision. Identify the use or action limited, definitions, exceptions, approval procedure and expiration or renewal terms. A sentence about residential use may be qualified by another sentence allowing a defined home business. An association cannot simply ignore the instrument’s express exception.
- Check successor effect and notice. Intent, the nature of the covenant, notice and other legal requirements can matter. Illinois recording law protects specified third parties and provides record notice; it does not turn an invalid promise into a valid restriction or establish that every unrecorded agreement is irrelevant.
- Keep private and public permission separate. A zoning approval or building permit does not by itself release private rights. Association approval does not replace public permission. Apply every lawful requirement that actually governs, and check whether a statute overrides the private term before saying the stricter restriction controls.
- Identify who may act and how. The instrument and law determine enforcement rights, amendment powers and required procedures. An association may have authority, and a qualifying individual beneficiary may have rights too. Do not assume any neighbor can sue, a broker can waive the clause, or a vote automatically changes the recorded declaration.
- Check statutory limits before predicting a remedy. Illinois law voids specified discriminatory restrictions and protects certain solar installations, native landscaping and industrialized housing within defined scopes. Breach of a covenant is not automatically loss of title. Read the actual remedy and obtain qualified advice about disputed enforcement or title.
| Issue | Read or identify | Avoid assuming |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Deed, applicable declaration, plat and amendments | Only the newest deed matters |
| Coverage | Legal description, definitions, exclusions and successors | Every nearby parcel is bound |
| Permission | Public law and lawful private terms separately | A city permit overrides the declaration |
| Validity | Applicable statutory limits and instrument requirements | Recording cures an unlawful clause |
| Authority | Beneficiary, association powers and amendment process | Any neighbor or broker can waive it |
| Consequence | Actual remedy, procedure and conditional-estate language | Every violation forfeits ownership |
The distinctions that matter
| Distinction | How it works | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Deed restriction and zoning | A private instrument creates the restriction; public authority creates zoning. The same proposed use can raise both questions. | Who created the limit? |
| Deed and declaration | The current deed can be only one part of the title record. A separately recorded applicable declaration can carry the restriction. | Follow incorporated and prior instruments. |
| CC&Rs and bylaws | A declaration commonly contains substantive use restrictions. Bylaws commonly address association governance. Read the actual documents and statutory hierarchy. | The document’s function matters more than its label. |
| Covenant and conditional estate | A use promise and a condition affecting the estate can have different consequences. A breach does not by itself establish automatic reversion. | Do the actual grant and law create a defeasible estate? |
| Recording and validity | Recording gives notice as provided by law; legality and enforceability remain separate. | Recorded does not mean lawful. |
| Amendment and enforcement defense | Formal amendment changes the governing instrument through its required process. Waiver or other defenses concern enforceability on particular facts. | A neglected violation does not automatically rewrite every clause. |
| Invalidity and record modification | Specified discriminatory language is void under law. The statutory modification process addresses the recorded document separately. | Void now does not mean the original record vanished. |
| Approval and title protection | Permission from one decision-maker does not establish every approval or insurance coverage. Review the actual title commitment, exceptions and policy terms. | Identify the specific question each document answers. |
Work through the facts
The permitted fence still faces a lawful covenant
Assume a valid, applicable covenant caps fences at four feet. Public rules allow six feet, and the owner obtains a permit for six. No statutory override, release or other defense applies.
- The permit establishes the stated public approval.
- The separate four-foot private limit remains applicable on these facts.
Answer: The permit alone does not authorize violating the covenant.
The new deed omits the older declaration
The buyer’s current deed does not repeat a restriction. An earlier recorded declaration validly covers the parcel and binds this buyer under the stated facts.
- The hypothetical expressly establishes applicability and successor effect.
- Omission from the newest deed does not itself release the earlier restriction.
Answer: Read the applicable declaration and amendments; do not infer a release from silence alone.
The board must read the exception
A declaration generally limits lots to residential use but expressly allows a defined home business. A homeowner’s use satisfies every stated exception, and no other valid prohibition applies.
- Read the general clause with its express exception.
- The board cannot erase the exception by quoting only the first sentence.
Answer: Apply the complete instrument, including the permission it gives.
A racial restriction remains void in an old record
An old recorded covenant purports to exclude owners based on race. It has not been formally modified.
- Illinois Human Rights Act Section 3-105 voids the specified discriminatory restriction.
- The modification process is separate from existing legal voidness.
Answer: The racial exclusion is not enforceable merely because it remains visible in the recorded document.
The covered association uses its board route
A parcel is covered by an association specified in 55 ILCS 5/3-5048. An owner asks to remove unlawful language covered by that section.
- For a covered association parcel, the statute assigns execution and filing of the modification to a board majority.
- An individual owner’s request is distinct from authority to file through the board-only route.
Answer: Use the applicable statutory board procedure, not an assumed individual-owner bypass.
The industrialized-home date matters
Two otherwise comparable restrictions prohibit a qualifying industrialized residential structure. One was recorded in 2008 and the other in 2012.
- The Act applies to restrictions recorded on or after January 1, 2010.
- Its particular protection does not decide the 2008 restriction, and the 2012 restriction still requires the Act’s definitions and exceptions to be applied.
Answer: Do not apply this Act retroactively to every older restriction or equate every mobile home with a qualifying structure.
Native landscaping is maintained, not abandoned
An owner proposes an intentionally maintained lawn of Illinois native species. It meets the Act’s conditions and stays on the owner’s lawn. The covered association demands that every plant stay below a set height.
- 765 ILCS 167 protects qualifying native landscaping and permits reasonable maintenance rules within its limits.
- The association may not impose height restrictions on that protected landscaping.
Answer: Apply the statute’s protection and maintenance conditions; this is not permission to plant anywhere or leave invasive weeds.
The solar cap uses annual production
Assume the Homeowners’ Energy Policy Statement Act applies. A board’s roof-face configuration would reduce estimated annual electrical production from 10,000 kWh to 8,800 kWh.
- The reduction is 1,200 ÷ 10,000 = 12%.
- Section 20 does not permit a configuration determination that reduces production by more than 10%.
Answer: This proposed 12% reduction exceeds the stated statutory limit, on the stipulated coverage facts.
A covenant cannot silence the specified tax objection
A private restriction says an owner may not object to creation of a special service area. The owner’s objection is within 35 ILCS 200/27-55a.
- The section protects the specified notice and objection rights concerning SSA creation, tax levies or bonds.
- That does not invalidate every SSA tax or every association charge.
Answer: The private waiver cannot remove the covered statutory objection right.
A covenant violation is not automatically forfeiture
A buyer violates a use promise. The facts do not establish a defeasible estate, automatic reverter or a right of entry.
- A restrictive covenant and a condition affecting the estate are different legal questions.
- The actual instrument, available remedies and governing law still matter.
Answer: Do not assume ownership automatically returns to the original grantor.
Two board deadlines have different triggers
A covered association receives an owner’s written request under the unlawful-covenant statute. Later, after modification and recording, the board receives the recorded copy.
- The 90-day statutory board investigation and qualifying filing duty starts with receipt of the owner’s written request.
- The separate 21-day owner-notice duty starts after the board receives the recorded copy.
Answer: Do not count both periods from the same event or treat either as a universal deadline for changing lawful restrictions.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating the county’s recording stamp as a legal-validity certificate. Notice and validity are separate questions.
- Assuming a public permit cancels a private restriction or association approval replaces a permit. Check public approval and private rights separately.
- Saying the stricter restriction always wins without first checking validity, coverage and statutory overrides. First establish that each rule is lawful and applicable.
- Reading the first sentence while skipping an express exception, variance procedure, amendment or expiration term. Read the whole operative instrument and amendments.
- Assuming a restriction binds all successors solely because it uses the word covenant. Apply the successor and enforceability requirements.
- Treating the board as the only possible enforcing party, or every nearby owner as an automatic beneficiary. Identify the claimant’s actual enforcement rights.
- Confusing a lawful amendment with a possible waiver, abandonment, laches or other fact-specific defense. Separate a fact-specific defense from formal amendment.
- Applying a targeted Illinois statute to every association, roof, housing type or old recorded restriction. Keep the statute’s coverage and effective-date limits.
- Assuming a racial covenant is enforceable until someone pays to remove it. Covered racial exclusions are already void under Illinois law.
- Predicting automatic forfeiture, demolition, damages or insurance coverage without the governing terms and law. Read the actual remedy, process and coverage terms.
Check your understanding
These are original teaching questions, not recalled or predicted PSI questions. Answer first, then explain why the other choices fail.
1. A subdivision declaration privately limits fence height. Which term best describes the source of that limit?
- Eminent domain
- Deed restriction or restrictive covenant
- Municipal police power
- Escheat
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Deed restriction or restrictive covenant
The limit comes from the private instrument. Public zoning or building rules come from governmental authority.
2. A city issues a permit for an improvement that violates a valid applicable covenant. No override or defense applies. What follows?
- The permit automatically amends the declaration
- The broker may waive the covenant
- The recorder must delete the covenant
- The private restriction still requires separate compliance
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The private restriction still requires separate compliance
A public permit does not by itself release private rights. The facts expressly establish a lawful applicable covenant.
3. Which statement about an old recorded declaration is most accurate?
- It binds every parcel in the county
- It may continue to bind a covered successor even if not repeated in the current deed
- It is automatically a zoning ordinance
- It never matters if omitted from the latest deed
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. It may continue to bind a covered successor even if not repeated in the current deed
Read the applicable instruments and successor requirements. Silence in the newest deed alone is not a release.
4. A declaration permits a defined home business as an exception to residential-use language. The use meets all conditions and no other prohibition applies. What should the reader do?
- Ignore the exception
- Ask the recorder to decide the business license
- Automatically prohibit all activity producing income
- Apply the exception with the rest of the instrument
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Apply the exception with the rest of the instrument
An association must read the express permission with the general limit. This is not a holding that every home business is allowed under every declaration.
5. Does recording alone make a racially discriminatory occupancy covenant enforceable?
- No, the specified discriminatory provision is void under Illinois law
- Yes, if it is old enough
- Only if the association votes first
- Yes, until the next sale
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No, the specified discriminatory provision is void under Illinois law
Section 3-105 voids the covered restriction. The separate record-modification process is not what first makes that racial exclusion unlawful.
6. For a parcel covered by an association specified in 55 ILCS 5/3-5048, who executes and files the statutory unlawful-covenant modification?
- Every owner individually without board action
- Only a board majority through the statutory route
- Any visiting broker
- The original developer alone in every case
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Only a board majority through the statutory route
The section provides a board-only majority procedure for a covered association parcel. A requesting owner has the statutory request and enforcement route, not an assumed bypass.
7. What does a statutory modification of covered unlawful language do to unrelated lawful restrictions?
- Turns them into public zoning
- Cancels the entire subdivision
- Does not erase them merely because unlawful language is modified
- Automatically deletes all of them
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Does not erase them merely because unlawful language is modified
The procedure targets the unlawful language. The statute preserves other lawful restrictions as specified; it is not a general release of every covenant.
8. The Industrialized Residential Structure Deed Restriction Act applies to restrictions recorded when?
- On or after January 1, 2010
- On every date without limitation
- Only after a buyer obtains a loan
- Only before January 1, 2010
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. On or after January 1, 2010
Section 20 supplies the recording-date limit. A qualifying structure and the Act’s permitted uniform aesthetic requirements must also be considered.
9. Does that industrialized-structure Act automatically void every restriction on every mobile or manufactured home?
- Only if a neighbor agrees orally
- Yes, in every circumstance
- Yes, if the home has wheels
- No, its definition, date and permitted uniform requirements matter
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No, its definition, date and permitted uniform requirements matter
The statutory definition concerns a qualifying one- or two-dwelling industrialized structure meeting a model building code. Do not replace that definition with every housing label.
10. Under the Homeowners’ Native Landscaping Act, may a covered association impose a height restriction on qualifying protected landscaping?
- No, the Act prohibits association height restrictions on the protected landscaping
- Yes, if the plant is native
- Yes, without limitation
- Only when the resident rents
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No, the Act prohibits association height restrictions on the protected landscaping
Section 10 permits reasonable planned-landscape rules within limits and expressly bars height restrictions. The other maintenance and location conditions still apply.
11. An owner invokes that native-landscaping Act to plant a common area where the owner lacks authority. What is most accurate?
- The Act automatically transfers the common area
- The Act does not supply that missing planting authority
- The public street becomes part of the lawn
- Native species grant authority to plant anywhere
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The Act does not supply that missing planting authority
Section 10(c) excludes common or other property where the person lacks planting authority. Protection for a qualifying lawn is not ownership of common elements.
12. Assume the solar Act applies. A configuration reduces estimated annual production from 10,000 kWh to 8,800 kWh. What is the reduction?
- 10%, exactly at the limit
- 120%, within the limit
- 1.2%, always permitted
- 12%, exceeding the Section 20 limit
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. 12%, exceeding the Section 20 limit
The reduction is 1,200 ÷ 10,000 × 100 = 12%. Section 20 bars configuration determinations reducing production by more than 10%, and other requirements still apply.
13. Which building is excluded under Section 45 of the Homeowners’ Energy Policy Statement Act as reviewed here?
- A building greater than 60 feet high
- Only buildings with a mortgage
- Every building exactly 60 feet high solely because of height
- Every detached house
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. A building greater than 60 feet high
The height exclusion is greater than 60 feet, not exactly 60. The section also has a covered-association shared-roof exclusion; do not assume this Act covers every building.
14. A private covenant purports to waive a covered owner’s statutory right to oppose creation of a special service area. Which provision addresses that waiver?
- 35 ILCS 200/27-55a
- A broker’s unilateral release power
- A universal HOA assessment exemption
- The five-year possession rule
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. 35 ILCS 200/27-55a
The section invalidates private restrictions on the specified SSA notice and objection rights. It does not abolish every tax or association assessment.
15. A restriction is violated, but the facts establish no conditional estate or reversion remedy. What is the sound conclusion?
- The actual remedy still requires instrument and legal analysis
- Ownership always ends instantly
- The city becomes the owner
- The recorder must evict the owner
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The actual remedy still requires instrument and legal analysis
Covenant enforcement differs from a defeasible estate. Do not infer automatic loss of title from a use violation alone.
16. Who can enforce a covenant?
- Any broker who lists a nearby house
- Every person who can see the property
- Only the county zoning department in all cases
- A party with enforcement rights under the instrument and law
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. A party with enforcement rights under the instrument and law
An association or qualifying individual beneficiary may have rights. The claimant’s actual standing and the governing terms matter.
17. Which statement best describes a possible waiver defense?
- It is fact-specific and differs from formal amendment
- It automatically amends every restriction
- It makes recording unnecessary forever
- It always eliminates zoning
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. It is fact-specific and differs from formal amendment
Waiver and other enforcement defenses depend on their legal requirements and facts. They do not automatically rewrite the declaration through its amendment procedure.
18. A title commitment lists a restriction as an exception. What should the buyer conclude?
- The exception requires review of the instrument and actual coverage terms
- The restriction is guaranteed valid
- The insurer has granted a city permit
- The restriction has already been released
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The exception requires review of the instrument and actual coverage terms
An exception is not a court determination of enforceability, a use approval or a promise of coverage for the issue. Read the actual title documents.
19. Under 55 ILCS 5/3-5048, what starts the board’s 21-day written-notice period to owners?
- The buyer’s first showing
- The owner’s oral complaint about any lawful rule
- The property’s original construction date
- The board’s receipt of the recorded modification copy
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The board’s receipt of the recorded modification copy
The 21-day notice period follows receipt of the recorded copy. The separate 90-day investigation and qualifying filing duty follows the owner’s written request under the section.
20. For an otherwise covered industrialized residential structure, what aesthetic requirement does 765 ILCS 150 permit?
- Any ban based solely on factory construction
- No aesthetic standard under any circumstance
- A compatible-design requirement applied uniformly to all homes, including industrialized homes
- A requirement that applies only to the protected structure while exempting every other home
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A compatible-design requirement applied uniformly to all homes, including industrialized homes
Section 15 preserves uniform aesthetic compatibility requirements applied to all homes. Apply the qualifying-structure definition and the on-or-after-January-1-2010 recording limit as well.
Common questions
What is a deed restriction in simple terms?
It is a private limit on how property may be used. The limit can appear in a deed or an applicable declaration or other binding instrument. Whether it binds a particular buyer depends on its terms and the governing legal requirements.
Are deed restrictions the same as zoning?
No. Zoning comes from public authority; a deed restriction comes from a private instrument. A proposed use can need compliance with both. A statute can also override a private term within its defined scope.
Does the more restrictive rule always control?
That is a shortcut, not a complete legal test. If both limits are lawful and applicable, comply with both. First check coverage, validity, exceptions and any statutory override. An unlawful private restriction does not win merely because it is stricter.
Must the current deed repeat every restriction?
No. An applicable separately recorded declaration or earlier instrument can matter even when the new deed does not repeat its text. Review the title record, amendments, legal description and any incorporated instruments; omission alone is not a release.
Can a restriction run with the land?
A qualifying covenant can bind successors. Intent, the covenant’s nature, notice and other requirements matter. Do not assume that recording alone, or the phrase runs with the land by itself, answers every enforceability question.
Can an HOA ignore an express exception?
It must read the declaration as a whole. In the published Neufairfield decision, the court applied the particular declaration’s home-business exception and affirmed judgment for the owners. That fact-specific result does not authorize every daycare or home business under every declaration.
Can an individual owner enforce a restriction?
Possibly. The instrument and law can give qualifying individual beneficiaries enforcement rights. An association is not necessarily the only possible claimant, and merely living nearby does not establish a right to enforce.
Does violating a covenant automatically cause forfeiture?
No. A use promise and a condition affecting the ownership estate are different. Read the actual grant, remedy and applicable law. Do not substitute automatic reversion for every possible injunction or other enforcement remedy.
How can a deed restriction be removed or changed?
Check expiration, renewal, release and amendment terms, the rights of affected parties, recording requirements and applicable law. Formal amendment differs from a possible enforcement defense. There is no universal Illinois vote percentage or broker-authorized shortcut for every private restriction.
Is a discriminatory covenant enforceable until modified?
A covered racial exclusion is already void under 775 ILCS 5/3-105, even if the old language remains visible in a record. That section also addresses the specified color, religion and national-origin restrictions and contains a narrow religious-institution property-and-use exception. It is not a complete list of every fair-housing protection or a permission for racial discrimination.
What changed for unlawful-covenant modification fees in 2026?
Under 55 ILCS 5/3-5048, effective January 1, 2026 as amended by Public Act 104-187, the recorder may not charge a filing fee for the statutory modification or fees for record copies necessary to file it. This is not a statement that every unrelated record copy or private legal service is free.
The process targets covered unlawful language. For a covered association parcel, only a board majority executes and files the modification. On an owner’s written request, the board has 90 days to investigate and, if the language qualifies, complete the statutory action. The section also provides a court route to compel compliance and qualifying fee recovery.
Which deadlines apply to the unlawful-covenant process?
For a covered association parcel, the board’s 90-day duty follows receipt of the owner’s written request. The State’s Attorney’s 30-day review period follows receipt of the recorder’s submission. The board must notify owners within 21 days after receiving the recorded modification copy. These are different triggers within this particular statutory process, not general deadlines for amending every restriction.
What native-landscaping protection applies?
The Homeowners’ Native Landscaping Act took effect July 19, 2024. It protects qualifying Illinois native landscaping on the resident’s or owner’s lawn against prohibition by a covered association, subject to maintenance, weed, encroachment and safety conditions. Reasonable rules for a planned, intentional, maintained landscape cannot impose height restrictions or impair proper care.
The protection excludes planting on common, association or someone else’s property where the person lacks authority. It does not make invasive weeds acceptable or supply a general exemption from every public requirement.
Can a deed restriction prohibit an industrialized home?
The Industrialized Residential Structure Deed Restriction Act limits restrictions recorded on or after January 1, 2010. Its definition covers a qualifying structure with one or two dwelling units meeting a model building code. Uniform aesthetic compatibility requirements applied to all homes, including industrialized homes, remain permitted. It does not automatically decide older restrictions or every mobile-home dispute.
Can an association prohibit rooftop solar?
Within the Homeowners’ Energy Policy Statement Act’s coverage, Section 20 bars deed restrictions and similar agreements that prohibit or effectively prohibit the protected installation. It limits roof-face configuration controls, including reductions of more than 10% in estimated annual electrical production. A reduction within 10% does not by itself prove compliance with every requirement.
Section 45 excludes buildings greater than 60 feet high and covered-association buildings with shared roofs as defined there. Check that scope before applying Section 20. This glossary explanation does not determine rights for every plug-in device, common roof or specific installation, and does not replace applicable public safety requirements.
Can a covenant waive special service area objection rights?
35 ILCS 200/27-55a invalidates private restrictions on the specified rights to public-hearing notice and to object to, oppose or challenge SSA creation, a tax levy or bond issuance. That targeted protection does not cancel every special-service-area tax or all association assessments.
What should a broker do when a restriction is disputed?
Help obtain the applicable documents, accurately communicate known facts and follow authorized instructions within the broker’s role. A broker should not promise a restriction is unenforceable, rewrite title rights or guarantee insurance coverage. A disputed title or enforcement question needs qualified review of the actual instruments and law.
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Official sources and scope
Reviewed October 26, 2026 using the identified Illinois statutes, published opinions and PSI outline. The statutory examples retain their coverage and effective-date limits. The Neufairfield discussion addresses its particular declaration and facts. This is exam preparation, not a determination of a particular parcel’s title, insurance coverage or enforcement dispute.
- PSI June24,2026: private association controls at II.C.3
- Standlee v. Bostedt, 2019 IL App (2d) 180325: instruments, enforcement and a promised variance process
- Neufairfield Homeowners Association v. Wagner, 2015 IL App (3d) 140775
- 765 ILCS 5/30
- 765 ILCS 5/31
- Mahrenholz v. County Board of School Trustees, 93 Ill. App. 3d 366 (1981)
- 775 ILCS5/3-105: void discriminatory restrictions and the limited religious-use exception
- Public Act104-187 and55ILCS5/3-5048: unlawful-covenant modification and no recorder fees
- HB1575 official status: enacted Public Act104-0187 effective January1,2026
- 55 ILCS 5/3-5048: current unlawful-covenant modification process
- 765 ILCS 150: Industrialized Residential Structure Deed Restriction Act
- 765 ILCS 167: Homeowners’ Native Landscaping Act
- 765 ILCS 165/20: covered solar restrictions and configuration limits
- 765 ILCS 165/45: solar Act building exclusions
- 765 ILCS 165/25: applicable public standards remain
- 35 ILCS 200/27-55a: covenants cannot waive specified SSA rights
This is exam preparation, not advice for a specific transaction. State law and the applicable facts control. Our editorial and corrections process explains how to report an issue.