Illinois REALTORS® Douse Fire Sprinkler Mandate

Illinois REALTORS® fought off government overreach when it fired up its membership to defeat a costly mandate on fire sprinklers.

The Illinois fire marshal launched a campaign to require fire sprinklers in all new construction single-family homes, older condo buildings.

What was intended as a consumer safety measure turned out to be an expensive regulation that could have tacked another $10,000 onto the cost of a home.

In addition, condo owners in some parts of the city would have seen their monthly assessments increase and their condo values decrease as special assessments might have been passed to pay for sprinkler retrofits.

Illinois REALTORS® argued for transparency and urged the full legislature to take up the issue, rather than a small special committee. They were able to secure a pledge by the state’s fire marshal that no sprinkler mandate would be sought without first going through the full legislature.

REALTORS® chalk this one up as a victory, leaving the decision to retrofit or to add costly sprinklers up to the property owners in many cases, not the government.