An informational seminar for real estate professionals, lawmakers, and county residents. The presentation will cover how to easily remove restricted covenants from property titles in McHenry County, IL.

This event is FREE and we welcome all who wish to attend to join us.

Presented by:

• Heartland REALTOR® Organization
• McHenry County States Attorney’s Office
• McHenry County Recorder, Joe Tirio’s office
• McHenry County Treasurer, Glenda Miller’s office
• McHenry County BAR Association, Real Estate Committee

Agenda: https://heartlandro.realtor/download/covenantsagenda.pdf

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Restrictive covenants, which were common between the 1920s and late 1940s, were contractual agreements by a group of property owners or developers to keep certain groups out. They were outlawed after a 1948 Supreme Court decision, but the practice continued until the Fair Housing Act in 1968.

If you have a house that was built before 1950, there's a pretty good chance there's an unlawful restrictive covenant in the deed, particularly if that was a neighborhood that was historically predominantly white.

A new law in Illinois allows homeowners to change their housing deeds to remove racist clauses that were used to bar people based on discriminatory criteria such as race, religion, or natural origin from buying homes or living in a particular neighborhood.