The board must investigate an owner's written request within 90 days and file the modification if the covenant is unlawful. It must give written notice plus a copy to all owners within 21 days of receiving the recorded document back.

The recorder routes the filing to the State's Attorney, who has 30 days to determine whether the instrument contains an unlawful restrictive covenant and whether the modification strikes only that language. The recorder may not record without that determination.

What the process actually costs now

After January 1, 2026: nothing at the recorder's counter, including for the copies of the recorded declaration the filing requires. What it still costs is counsel time to draft a modification that strikes only the offending language — because the State's Attorney's review is specifically directed at that question, and an over-broad modification will be rejected.

That is the practical bottleneck, and it is why the fee removal is more useful than $10 suggests. For a small self-managed association, the old process meant a fee, a trip, copy charges, and an uncertain review. Removing the counter costs makes the remaining step — get the language right — the only step.

The 90-day duty is the part boards overlook

An owner's written request starts a clock. A board that receives one and does nothing for six months is in breach of a statutory duty, independent of whether the covenant is ultimately found unlawful. A board that handles one like a 765 ILCS 605/19 records demand (docketed, answered in writing, actions recorded) can show it met the duty.

The 21-day owner-notice requirement after recording is equally concrete and equally forgotten. It is not satisfied by posting the document to the association's website — the statute says notice and a copy to all owners.

Why this is still worth doing

Racially restrictive covenants have been unenforceable since Shelley v. Kraemer and void under fair housing law for decades. Striking them changes no one's rights. What it changes is what a buyer, a lender or an owner reads in the chain of title — and Illinois has made the removal free, board-authorized, and subject to a response deadline. There is no longer a defensible reason for an association that knows about such language to leave it in place.

What to watch next

Whether county recorders update their forms and instructions. The fee elimination is effective by statute regardless, but an association told at the counter that a $10 fee applies should cite 55 ILCS 5/3-5048(l) as amended.