We recommend retaining documents related to real property, including contracts for deeds, for a period of ten years after the property is sold, due to Illinois’s ten-year statute of limitations for written contracts.

This retention period should apply to any documents that may be relevant in a dispute over a contract for deed and any related loan documents if your bank extended a loan to a customer to pay off a contract for deed.

For resources related to our guidance, please see:

• Illinois Code of Civil Procedure, 735 ILCS 5/13-206 (“Except as provided in Section 2-725 of the ‘Uniform Commercial Code’, actions on bonds, promissory notes, bills of exchange, written leases, written contracts, or other evidences of indebtedness in writing and actions brought under the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act shall be commenced within 10 years next after the cause of action accrued; but if any payment or new promise to pay has been made, in writing, on any bond, note, bill, lease, contract, or other written evidence of indebtedness, within or after the period of 10 years, then an action may be commenced thereon at any time within 10 years after the time of such payment or promise to pay.”)