Because of who is proposing it. A board reading that the municipal league has produced a local-control alternative to a state preemption bill would reasonably assume the alternative is the safer one.

For associations it is the opposite. BUILD's published text preempts municipal zoning; its reach into association governance is an unresolved drafting question that CAI raised with a sponsor. REAL names HOAs and condominium associations expressly, twice, and attaches treble damages to one of the two.

What “may not unreasonably prohibit” would mean

It is a standard, not a rule, and standards get litigated. An Illinois association would be left arguing that its prohibition is reasonable — on grounds of density, parking, infrastructure capacity, the fact that the ADU space is a common element, or the reallocation of ownership percentages a new unit would require.

Some of those arguments are strong. The point is that a board would have to make them, unit by unit, against an owner with a statutory presumption on their side, rather than pointing at the declaration.

Compare today's position: Chicago legalized ADUs citywide effective April 1, 2026 and governing documents may still restrict them. That carve-out is exactly what REAL would remove.

The treble-damages provision is the sleeper

Application-fee caps, screening-cost limits and a bar on stacked fees are ordinary tenant-protection provisions. Applying them to associations is not.

Illinois associations charge fees at exactly these moments: a move-in or move-out fee, a lease-approval or application fee, a document or disclosure fee at resale. An association that charges a $300 move-in fee and a $150 lease-application fee on the same tenancy would need to know whether that is a duplicate or stacked fee — and would find out through a private action carrying treble damages and fees.

Note this would sit on top of Public Act 104-0479, which already bans eleven rental fees and caps application fees at $50 for leases the association enters as landlord.

The rest of the package, for context

REAL would also cap total real-estate transaction commissions at 3% of final sale price, with waivers void as against public policy and treble damages, and would bar discriminatory outcomes from AI and algorithmic tenant screening. Illinois REALTORS CEO Jeff Baker called the commission cap “not just misguided, it's dangerous.”

Senator Feigenholtz and IML President Brad Cole agreed to work through the summer on a negotiated version.

Why the association clauses may survive a compromise

Because neither side's lobby is defending them. The fight between the administration and the municipalities is about preemption and home rule. The realtor lobby is fighting the commission cap. Nobody at that table represents community associations, and provisions with no organised opponent are the ones that get traded through.

What to watch next

Any negotiated BUILD/REAL text emerging from the veto session or the 2027 session — and specifically whether the two association clauses are still in it.