The attorney review period in Illinois is five business days, measured from the date both parties accept and deliver the signed residential contract. During that window, each side’s attorney can approve the deal, reject it, or ask for changes before the contract becomes fully binding. If modifications are proposed and the two sides negotiate, the effective window can stretch to ten business days or longer.
How the Five Business Days Are Counted
Under the standard Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract (version 7.0), the clock starts on the date of acceptance, meaning the day the last signature is on the paper and the signed contract has been delivered.1Shvartsman Law. Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 7.0 It does not start when your attorney first opens the file. Sign on a Friday afternoon and the attorney gets the paperwork Monday morning, and you’ve already lost two calendar days off the top (though weekends themselves do not count as business days).
Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and federally recognized holidays such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day or Presidents’ Day. If day five lands on a weekend or holiday, it rolls to the next business day. Count carefully. Being off by a single day can mean losing the right to object at all.
What Your Attorney Can Do During Review
The Multi-Board contract gives each attorney four options within the five-day window:1Shvartsman Law. Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 7.0
- Approve the contract, which lets the deal move forward on its existing terms.
- Disapprove the contract, which voids it outright. The one restriction is that disapproval cannot be based solely on the purchase price.
- Propose modifications to specific terms (again, not the purchase price). This counts as a counteroffer and opens a negotiation window.
- Submit non-binding proposals, explicitly flagged as not counteroffers. If the other side declines, the contract stays in effect as written.
The line between disapproval and modification is where most of the confusion happens. Disapproval kills the deal. A modification keeps it alive but triggers more negotiation. An attorney who wants changes without accidentally voiding the contract has to be precise about which mechanism they’re using.
Good Faith Is the Only Real Limit on Disapproval
Illinois courts treat the attorney approval clause as a broad exit, bounded mainly by good faith. An attorney does not have to list specific objections or give the other side a chance to cure problems before disapproving. Three Illinois appellate decisions have confirmed that a blanket disapproval, with no stated reasons, is permissible so long as it isn’t made in bad faith.2Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. Making Good on the Good-Faith Obligation
Proving bad faith is difficult in practice. An attorney who disapproves purely because their client found a better offer the next day is closer to the line, but courts have not drawn that line sharply.
When Modifications Extend the Window
If either attorney proposes modifications inside the initial five-day window, the parties get another five business days (ten total from the date of acceptance) to negotiate and reach a written agreement on the changes.1Shvartsman Law. Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 7.0 If ten business days pass with no resolution, either party can terminate by sending written notice.
This is how attorney review quietly stretches past the timeframe people expect. A buyer’s attorney asks for an inspection credit on day four, the seller’s attorney counters on day six, and both sides are suddenly deep into the second week. Extensions beyond ten business days are possible if both parties agree in writing, usually by addendum.
What Happens If the Deadline Passes
If neither attorney sends notice of disapproval or proposed modifications within the five business days, the attorney review provision is waived and the contract stays in full force.1Shvartsman Law. Multi-Board Residential Real Estate Contract 7.0 There is no grace period. You can’t call on day six and ask for an extra day.
This is one of the costliest mistakes in Illinois residential deals. A buyer signs over a holiday weekend, assumes the attorney will get to it, and by the time anyone looks closely the window has closed. From that point on, every provision in the contract is binding, including the ones you might have wanted changed. Contact your attorney the same day you sign.
Earnest Money When Review Ends the Deal
When a contract is disapproved during attorney review, the buyer’s earnest money is returned in full and both parties walk away with no further obligations. The same applies when modifications are proposed, negotiations fail, and a party terminates within the allowed timeframe. The money goes back to the buyer.
Where things get harder is when the review period expires without action and a party later tries to back out. The contract is binding at that point, and the seller may have a claim to keep the earnest money if the buyer defaults.
How Inspections Overlap With Review
Illinois contracts typically include a separate inspection contingency, and the two timelines often run at the same time to avoid stacking delays. Inspection periods are commonly seven to fifteen calendar days, which can overlap with the five-business-day attorney review window.
If an inspection turns up a serious problem, the buyer’s attorney can use the review period to propose modifications addressing the defect, request a credit, or disapprove the contract. Running both tracks in parallel keeps the deal on schedule, but it also means watching two deadlines that count time differently. Attorney review runs on business days. Many inspection contingencies run on calendar days.
Is Attorney Review Required in Illinois?
No Illinois statute requires attorney review in a residential real estate transaction. It is a contractual provision, not a legal mandate. The Multi-Board contract form that dominates the market includes it by default, so nearly every standard residential deal in the state has one.2Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund, Inc. Making Good on the Good-Faith Obligation
You can waive it, but doing so gives up your cleanest exit from a bad deal. If you don’t hire an attorney and the five days pass, the review period is waived automatically and the contract locks in.
What Attorney Review Typically Costs
Most Illinois real estate attorneys charge a flat fee covering both the review period and the closing. Rates vary, but flat fees of roughly $350 to $700 are common for a standard residential transaction, with the Chicago metro area tending toward the higher end. Buyers are sometimes charged slightly more than sellers because the buyer’s side involves more due diligence, including title commitment and lender document review.
The review itself is not billed separately. It is part of the overall representation, which usually includes contract review and negotiation, inspection-related negotiations, title review, and the closing. On a home purchase, it is a small line item that buys meaningful protection during the only window where either side can still walk away cleanly.