Article XIII. Limitations · Part 1. Real Actions · Not amended since adoption on record · Last verified July 20, 2026
In one sentenceLists the interests the 40-year marketable-title provisions in Sections 13-118 through 13-121 do not bar, including leases, public-utility interests, visible easements, mineral estates, certain mortgagee interests, and street or waterway encroachments.
Full Text of 735 ILCS 5/13-120
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Sections 13-118 through 13-121 of this Act shall not be applied: 1. to bar any lessor or his or her successor as reversioner of his or her right to possession on the expiration of any lease or any lessee or his or her successor of his or her rights in and to any lease; or 2. to bar or extinguish any interest created or held for any public utility purpose; or
3. to bar or extinguish any easement or interest in the nature of an easement, or any rights granted, reserved or excepted by any instrument creating such easement or interest, the existence of which such easement or interest either is apparent from or can be proved by physical evidences of its use, whether or not such physical evidences of its use are visible from the surface; or 4. to bar or extinguish any separate mineral estate or any rights, immunities and interests appurtenant or relating thereto; or
5. to bar any interest of a mortgagee or interest in the nature of that of a mortgagee where the due date of the mortgage is stated on the face, or ascertainable from the written terms thereof and is not barred by Section 13-116 of this Act.
6. to validate any encroachment on any street, highway or public waters.
Nothing contained in Sections 13-118 through 13-121 of this Act shall be construed to extend the period for the beginning of any action or the doing of any other required act under any statutes of limitation nor to affect the operation of any statutes or case law governing the recording or the failure to record any instruments affecting land.
No statement recorded or action filed pursuant to the provisions of Sections 13-118 through 13-121 of this Act shall affect real estate registered under "An Act concerning land titles" approved May 1, 1897, as amended; and real estate heretofore or hereafter registered under "An Act concerning land titles" shall be subject to the terms thereof and all subsequent amendments thereto.
Sections 13-118 through 13-121 of this Act shall not be deemed to affect any right, title or interest of the United States unless the Congress shall assent to its operation in that behalf.
Plain-English Summary
The 40-year bar in Section 13-118 is broad, but not unlimited. Section 13-120 lists what it leaves untouched: a lessor's or lessee's rights under a lease, and their successors' rights, interests held for public-utility purposes, easements whose use is apparent or provable by physical evidence, even if not visible from the surface, separate mineral estates and related rights, and a mortgagee's interest where the due date is ascertainable and the lien isn't already barred by Section 13-116. It also makes clear the Act doesn't validate an encroachment on a street, highway, or public waters.
The section clarifies what these sections don't do more generally, too: they don't extend any other limitations deadline or excuse a failure to record an instrument, and they don't touch land registered under the older land-title registration act; that land stays governed by its own registration law.
Finally, none of this reaches the federal government's rights unless Congress assents to it, a reminder that a state limitations statute can't unilaterally cut off a U.S. interest in land.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the 40-year marketable-title Act extinguish a lessee's rights under a lease?
No. Section 13-120 excludes a lessor's or lessee's rights, and their successors' rights, from being barred.
Are easements protected from the 40-year bar?
Yes, if the easement's existence is apparent from, or provable by, physical evidence of its use, whether or not that evidence is visible from the surface.
Does Section 13-118 apply to land registered under the older land-title registration act?
No. The statute says no claim or statement filed under these sections affects real estate registered under that act; such land remains subject to its own registration law.
Can the 40-year Act be used to validate an encroachment on a public street or waterway?
No. The section expressly says it doesn't validate any encroachment on a street, highway, or public waters.
Do these sections reach the federal government's interests in land?
No, unless Congress assents to the sections' operation as to those interests.
Amendment History
(Source: P.A. 82-280.)
Source & verification. Section text and amendment history are
reproduced verbatim from the Illinois Compiled Statutes, published by the
Illinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois General Assembly / Legislative Reference Bureau. Last verified July 20, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as:illinois marketable title act exceptionseasements excluded 40 year statute illinoisdoes marketable title act affect registered land illinois