A title insurance company or its duly appointed title insurance agent may issue a mortgage certificate of release pursuant to this Act for a mortgage that appears in the chain of title prior to the mortgage presently being paid. The title insurance company must have proof of payment from its own prior files that it paid the mortgage or mortgages pursuant to a payoff statement. Where another title insurance company has paid off an unreleased mortgage pursuant to a payoff statement, the title insurance company or its duly appointed title insurance agent in the current transaction may rely upon the hold-harmless letter of that prior title insurance company to issue a mortgage certificate of release. This grant of authority is subject to the condition that the issuer of the mortgage certificate of release does not have notice that the lender opposes its release. A single mortgage certificate of release may include more than one mortgage, including both presently and previously paid mortgages.
765 ILCS 935/10.1