What is a discriminatory restrictive covenant?

Discriminatory restrictive covenants can be found in current land records and were designed to restrict certain individuals and groups from possessing and/or occupying land on the basis of race, color, religion, or natural origin. While these covenants are no longer enforceable or legally valid, they still remain in the land records of many properties in Champaign County. A short slide presentation on this topic can be found HERE.

How can you address discriminatory restrictive covenants?

Since we are aware of these covenants, we can work to strike them from documents and make the language in our land owning documents consistent with the values of our community. We can do this by utilizing the legal mechanism described in 55 ILCS 5/3-5048

If your land documents contain discriminatory restrictive covenants, you can petition to strike the discriminatory language for FREE! Here is how:

1. Complete the form linked HERE

2. Review the language you would like to strike from the relevant document. Please reach out to our office via phone 217-384-3774 or email tceaser@champaigncountyil.gov to review the document and language.

3. Return both the completed form and approved stricken language document to the Recorder's office one of the following ways:

In person at 102 E. Main St. Urbana, IL 61801
Mail the completed form and stricken language document to the Champaign County Recorder's Office at 102 E. Main St. Urbana, IL 61801
Email the completed form and stricken language document to tceaser@champaigncountyil.gov

Do you live in an impacted area?

Check out the GIS Map linked: https://maps.ccgisc.org/restrictive_covenants

After clicking the link, you can search for your address in the upper left corner of the page- if the address you search is highlighted in purple, the address is impacted by a Discriminatory Restrictive Covenant and steps can be taken to strike the covenant from that subdivision.

About Discriminatory Restrictive Covenants

Most individuals have no idea that their land-owning documents contain discriminatory covenants. 19 subdivisions in Champaign County contain over 900 properties that include discriminatory covenants.

What does a discriminatory covenant look like? Here are two of the most common examples:

1. “No part thereof will be sold or loaned either in whole or in part to, or permitted to be occupied as owner or tenant by, any person not of the Caucasian race”

2. “The premises mentioned herein and/or any lot or lots or any interest therein, or improvements thereon. Shall never be sold, leased, rented to, or occupied by any person of the Negro race.”

We are aware that these sentiments do not reflect the values of the residents of Champaign County, so we are working to make sure the public is aware of the process to modify documents to align with our community's values.

Properties Impacted by Restrictive Covenants

Discriminatory restrictive covenants can be found in plat books that list the rules and regulations within specific subdivisions. There are 19 Subdivisions impacted by discriminatory restrictive covenants in Champaign County and they are listed below:

Country Club Manor Blocks 1-7, Champaign
Country Club Manor, Urbana
Greencroft Addition
Greencroft Second Addition, Champaign
Greencroft Third Addition, Champaign
Elmwood Addition, Champaign
Garden Park Addition, Champaign
Garden Park Second Addition, Champaign
Garden Park Third Addition, Champaign
University Downs, Urbana
University Down Second Addition, Urbana
Flesner Addition, Rantoul
Ennis John M First Addition, Champaign
Leichner Floyd D. Subdivision
Highland Park Addition, Champaign
Lange’s Second Subdivision, Savoy
Lange’s Second Replat Lot 50, Savoy
Champaign Urbana Amvet Homestead Association Subdivision, Urbana
Elm Knoll Addition Second Replat Lot 50

If you are unsure of what subdivision you reside in, you can check your deed or contact our office to inquire if your property is in a subdivision that is impacted by a discriminatory restrictive covenant!