Illinois exam glossary
Material fact
Knowing that something matters to a buyer is the start of a disclosure question. Identify who the licensee represents, what is actually known and which rule applies. A seller's protected price limit and a known hidden foundation problem raise different duties.
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The short answer
A material fact is information significant enough to affect a reasonable transaction decision, such as price, terms, value, permitted use or risk. An Illinois licensee discloses actually known material transaction facts to the client, subject to confidentiality and statutory exclusions. A licensee engaged by a seller client must timely disclose all actually known latent material adverse physical facts to prospective buyer customers when their reasonably diligent inspection could not discover them. All customers must also be treated honestly. Material physical-condition information is outside the Act's confidential-information definition.
The PSI outline effective June 24, 2026 includes material facts and defects at national VII.C. The whole Property Disclosures domain receives 7% of the 100 scored national broker questions, or seven questions; it is not a material-fact-only quota. Agency duties also appear in the outline. This glossary distinguishes Illinois licensee duties, the seller's report and the identified nondisclosure protections. These are original exercises, not PSI questions or a validated readiness score.
Identify the fact, relationship and applicable duty
- State the information accurately. Separate a verified notice, observed symptom or actual report from rumor, an assumption and a technical diagnosis.
- Identify the recipient and the licensee's role. A consumer is a customer relative to this licensee; the consumer may have a different agent.
- For a client, assess actual knowledge, transaction significance, genuine confidentiality and the Act's off-site exclusions. Do not replace those qualifications with an all-information slogan.
- For the seller's prospective buyer customer, check every element: all actually known latent, material, adverse physical facts that a reasonably diligent customer inspection could not discover. Disclose timely.
- Keep the separate honesty rule in view. A nonphysical subject does not grant permission to give customers negligent or knowing false information.
- Separate event history from resulting physical or environmental effects. Apply the actual nondisclosure protection rather than assuming either universal secrecy or universal disclosure.
- Communicate the known fact without diagnosing beyond competence, preserve a useful record and involve the appropriate expert. Keep seller-report, contract and other legal duties separate.
| Situation | Apply this test | Do not assume |
|---|---|---|
| A represented client | Actually known material transaction fact; confidentiality and statutory exclusions | Every fact about every neighboring property must be disclosed |
| Seller's prospective buyer customer | All known latent material adverse physical facts beyond reasonably diligent discovery | The customer-honesty duty is limited to physical information |
| A material physical condition | Outside the Act's confidential-information definition | The seller can prohibit required disclosure |
| Protected event history | Actual no-physical/environment/structural-effect conditions | Permission to lie or conceal resulting damage |
| A covered seller report | Required report answers based on actual knowledge and the applicable form | Inspection, warranty or broker duty is replaced |
| Information from another person | Source, recipient and the correct statutory knowledge standard | Every attributed statement is automatically immune |
The distinctions that matter
| Distinction | How it works | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Material fact and material defect | Material fact is the broader teaching concept of information significant to a transaction. The seller-form definition of material defect in Section 35 asks about a substantial adverse value effect or significant impairment of future occupants' health or safety, unless the seller reasonably believes it was corrected. | Use the definition belonging to the actual rule or form. |
| Material and latent | Material concerns significance. Latent concerns whether a reasonably diligent customer inspection could discover the condition. A visible condition can still be material, and a concealed detail need not be material. | Hidden from a casual glance is not the complete statutory test. |
| Client and customer | Client disclosure concerns actually known material transaction facts, with confidentiality and statutory exclusions. The seller's prospective buyer customer receives the specific latent, material, adverse physical-fact disclosure. All customers retain the separate honesty protection. | A customer may have their own agent; customer is relative to this licensee. |
| Actual knowledge and a guarantee | An actual-knowledge standard is not a warranty that the property has no unknown problems. Reasonable skill and care and the separate rules against negligent or fraudulent misrepresentation still matter. | Do not invent knowledge or present an unverified diagnosis as certainty. |
| Negotiating confidentiality and physical-condition information | The definition protects identified client information about negotiating position or written confidentiality instructions, subject to its exceptions. It expressly excludes material physical-condition information. | A client instruction does not turn a material physical fact into a negotiating secret. |
| Permission and unauthorized disclosure | The definition includes permission by word or conduct, legally required disclosure and information becoming public from a source other than the licensee. Rule 1450.800 requires reasonable safeguards. | The licensee cannot create a public-source exception by leaking the secret. |
| Nondisclosure protection and a false answer | Section 15-20 and Rule 1450.810 protect the identified failures to disclose. That wording is not a general license to lie, a duty to volunteer private history or an automatic immunity for every actor and claim. | Check omission, affirmative statement, role and applicable law separately. |
| A past event and its physical effects | The event category requires no effect on the property's physical condition, environment or structures. An actually known material physical consequence must be analyzed separately. | Do not use event protection to conceal current damage. |
| Off-site facts and off-site physical conditions | The client provision has express off-site exclusions. Section 15-20 separately identifies off-site fact situations and off-site physical conditions without a substantial adverse value effect on the subject property. | Losing an exclusion does not itself prove every element of liability. |
| Client-supplied and customer-supplied misinformation | Section 15-25's client-to-licensee-to-customer proviso uses absence of actual knowledge of falsity. Section 15-15(d)'s customer-to-licensee-to-client proviso uses knew or should have known. | Keep the source, recipient and knowledge standard together. |
| Seller report and licensee disclosure | The covered seller completes the statutory report using actual knowledge. The licensee's independently known information is governed by the licensee's duties. A seller's no answer does not erase an agent's actual knowledge. | One form does not replace every independent duty. |
| A known symptom and an expert conclusion | Communicate the known leak, notice or report accurately. Causation, structural severity, environmental assessment and legal effect may require qualified expertise beyond the brokerage role. | Referral supplements accurate disclosure; it is not a reason to withhold a required fact. |
Work through the facts
Known zoning violation
A buyer's agent receives a nonconfidential municipal notice showing that the client's intended apartment use on the subject property violates current zoning. The building itself has no physical defect.
- The official notice is reliable transaction information.
- Permitted use is central to the buyer's decision and value analysis.
- A material fact need not be a physical defect.
Answer: The buyer's agent should promptly disclose the known material transaction fact to the client and recommend legal and zoning review.
Seller calls seepage confidential
A seller tells the listing licensee about recurring concealed foundation seepage and orders secrecy. Assume the licensee actually knows it is a latent material adverse physical condition that a prospective buyer customer's reasonably diligent inspection could not discover.
- Material physical-condition information is outside the Act's confidential-information definition.
- The facts supply every stated physical-fact disclosure condition, not merely a rumor or an unseen stain.
- The licensee must disclose timely and involve the sponsoring broker for appropriate handling; an instruction to conceal is not authority to violate the duty.
Answer: The seller's instruction does not remove the timely disclosure duty.
Visible broken window
A buyer sees and photographs a large broken front window during a showing. The listing agent is asked whether it is latent.
- The condition is plainly visible.
- A reasonably diligent inspection would discover it.
- Visibility does not decide materiality, but it defeats latency on these facts.
Answer: It is patent rather than latent, though it may still affect price, repair, safety, and contract terms.
Prior death with no physical effect
A natural death occurred in a house years earlier and had no effect on the property, environment, or structures. A licensee does not volunteer the history.
- The stipulated event has no physical, environmental or structural effect.
- Section 15-20 and Rule 1450.810 protect a licensee's failure to disclose this category.
- The result is not a general permission to make a false answer or an automatic decision under every contract or privacy law.
Answer: The identified licensee nondisclosure protection applies to the stipulated event history.
Fire history and current damage
An old fire left unrepaired structural charring behind new wallboard. Assume the seller-client's licensee actually knows it is a latent material adverse physical condition a prospective buyer customer's reasonably diligent inspection could not discover.
- The issue is the stipulated qualifying physical condition, not a rumor about an event.
- The event category requires no physical, environmental or structural effect; it does not erase this resulting damage.
- The seller's licensee must disclose the qualifying fact timely and refer the technical assessment to an appropriate expert.
Answer: Disclose the known qualifying physical fact timely; do not conceal it under event protection.
Customer supplied false information
A customer gives a buyer's agent an inaccurate statement. Before forwarding it, the agent obtains a public record proving the statement false but sends it unchanged.
- The licensee now knows the information is false.
- The source is not a shield after contrary knowledge arises.
- Negligent and knowing misrepresentation rules remain relevant.
Answer: The licensee must not repeat the false statement and should correct the record accurately.
Nearby condition without value effect
A licensee learns of a minor physical issue on a property several blocks away that has no substantial adverse effect on the subject property's value.
- The condition is located off site.
- The facts establish no substantial adverse value effect.
- Section 15-20 protects failure to disclose that category.
Answer: The identified off-site physical-condition nondisclosure protection applies to the stipulated facts, without deciding every possible claim.
A protected negotiating position
During the brokerage agreement, the seller privately tells the listing licensee the lowest price they would accept. Assume this is protected negotiating information, the client has not permitted disclosure by word or conduct, no law requires disclosure, and it has not become public from another source.
- The fact may matter to the buyer, but the definition protects the stipulated negotiating information.
- No exception or material physical-condition fact is supplied.
- The licensee should safeguard it rather than reveal it merely to obtain an offer.
Answer: Protect the stipulated confidential information.
A newly discovered error before closing
A covered seller delivered the required report. Before closing, the seller becomes aware that an answer about a material condition was inaccurate. Assume the Act applies and no exemption removes this reporting duty.
- Section 30 requires a written supplemental disclosure of the identified preclosing error, inaccuracy or omission.
- Use an authorized delivery method; a private instruction to the broker does not itself deliver the required supplement.
- The licensee's own knowledge and duties, the contract and any claimed buyer remedy require separate assessment.
Answer: Provide the required written supplement; do not assume a universal automatic termination or refund.
Follow the information in the right direction
Compare two stipulated communications: a customer supplies information for the licensee's client, and the licensee's client supplies information for a customer. Do not assume either statement is actually protected without checking its statutory conditions.
- For customer-origin information provided to the client, Section 15-15(d) uses knew or should have known the information was false.
- For client-origin information provided to the customer, Section 15-25's identified proviso uses absence of actual knowledge of falsity.
- The information's source and recipient matter. The separate duties against misrepresentation remain; attribution alone is not automatic immunity.
Answer: Apply the correct source, recipient and knowledge standard rather than one blanket rule.
Mistakes to avoid
- Equating material fact with defect Material facts include significant legal, economic, title, use, and transaction information.
- Equating material with negative Materiality turns on decision significance, not whether the fact sounds bad.
- Repeating rumor as fact Verify the source and state uncertainty without inventing knowledge.
- Using one disclosure slogan for every audience Apply the client rule or the narrower seller-licensee customer rule.
- Hiding a physical condition as confidential Material physical information is outside statutory confidential information.
- Calling every visible defect latent Latency depends on discovery through reasonably diligent inspection.
- Disclosing a protected medical condition Do not volunteer private occupant health information as a property defect.
- Treating murder or suicide as physical damage Separate the occurrence from any actual current condition it caused.
- Making subjective neighborhood claims Use objective sources and avoid steering, bias, and unsupported characterizations.
- Ignoring a materially adverse off-site condition Analyze whether the physical condition substantially affects subject-property value.
- Practicing engineering Disclose the known symptom and refer cause, scope, and repair to a qualified expert.
- Blindly repeating client information Do not negligently or knowingly give false information and correct known errors.
- Relying only on the seller report The licensee's actual knowledge creates an independent duty.
- Making a vague hint Disclose the fact clearly enough for the recipient to understand the transaction risk.
- Skipping documentation Record source, content, recipient, time, delivery, and expert recommendation.
Check your understanding
These are original teaching questions, not recalled or predicted PSI questions. Answer first, then explain why the other choices fail.
1. What makes a fact material?
- It could reasonably affect a transaction decision
- It must appear on a seller report before it can matter to a client
- It automatically requires disclosure to everyone regardless of confidentiality
- It must be adverse and physically hidden in every possible relationship
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. It could reasonably affect a transaction decision
Price, terms, value, risk, health, safety, legality, and use can matter.
2. Must every material fact be a physical defect?
- Only when the buyer has already signed the contract
- Yes, nonphysical facts can never affect a transaction decision
- Only when the information was supplied by the seller
- No
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No
Title, zoning, income, access, and other transaction facts can be material.
3. What knowledge standard appears in the Illinois client duty?
- Only information the buyer already knows
- Every possible fact an engineer might later discover
- An absolute warranty that no undiscovered problem exists
- Actual knowledge
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Actual knowledge
The information must concern the transaction and not be protected confidentiality.
4. Can material physical information be confidential?
- Yes, if the agent promises not to discuss it until closing
- Yes, whenever the client gives written instructions to hide it
- No
- Yes, if the information could affect the seller's price
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. No
The statutory definition expressly excludes it.
5. What does the seller-licensee customer rule require?
- Known latent material adverse physical facts
- Every nonphysical event without any conditions
- Only conditions personally noticed by the buyer at a showing
- All private negotiating information even if protected
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Known latent material adverse physical facts
For a licensee engaged by a seller client, the duty runs to prospective buyer customers and covers all actually known latent material adverse physical facts that their reasonably diligent inspection could not discover. Disclosure must be timely; customer honesty is separate.
6. Is a plainly visible broken window latent?
- Yes, if the buyer decides not to look at it
- Yes, because every material defect is necessarily hidden
- Yes, because repair cost alone establishes latency
- No
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No
A reasonably diligent inspection would reveal it.
7. Must a licensee volunteer an occupant's medical condition?
- Yes, because the nondisclosure rule requires public disclosure
- Yes, whenever another customer is curious
- No
- Yes, because every private diagnosis is a property defect
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. No
The identified Section 15-20 protection concerns a licensee's failure to disclose an occupant's HIV or any other medical condition. It is not a blanket permission to give false answers, share private records or ignore an independent physical condition.
8. Does event protection hide current physical damage?
- Yes, any prior event automatically makes current damage confidential
- Yes, new wallboard eliminates every disclosure duty
- Yes, the seller's secrecy request overrides the physical-fact rule
- No
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No
Analyze the present physical condition separately.
9. Acting only in a brokerage role, should a broker diagnose structural cause?
- No, refer to a qualified expert
- Yes, because referral excuses all required disclosure
- Yes, a real estate license alone authorizes an engineering conclusion
- Yes, if the broker labels a guess as guaranteed
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No, refer to a qualified expert
In the ordinary brokerage role without the relevant separate professional qualifications, disclose known symptoms and refer structural diagnosis to a qualified expert. This does not declare every separately licensed professional unable to act within that separate lawful role.
10. Does the seller report replace licensee disclosure?
- No
- Yes, because an as-is phrase eliminates all disclosure duties
- Yes, even when the licensee independently knows a qualifying hidden condition
- Yes, whenever the seller answered no
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No
The two duties rest on different people and knowledge.
11. A school-boundary statement is nonphysical. Does that remove the separate duty not to negligently or knowingly give customers false information?
- Yes, only structural statements must be accurate
- No; the customer-honesty duty covers nonphysical information too
- Yes, if the listing mentions a school by name
- Yes, provided the brochure is attractive
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. No; the customer-honesty duty covers nonphysical information too
The first sentence of current Section 15-25 is separate from its physical-fact disclosure sentence. Capiccioni illustrates that distinction at the pleading stage; it does not establish every private claim or award damages.
12. An actually known nonconfidential municipal notice affects the buyer client's intended use. Must it be a physical defect before it can be a material transaction fact?
- Yes, unless a wall is cracked
- No; the known permitted-use issue can matter to the client
- Yes, unless the purchase price changes
- No, because all municipal notices automatically void contracts
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. No; the known permitted-use issue can matter to the client
The client duty concerns material transaction facts, subject to its actual qualifications. The broker should accurately disclose the notice and obtain appropriate advice rather than decide zoning or contract consequences alone.
13. A licensee learns an off-site physical condition substantially adversely affects the subject property's value. What follows from Section 15-20's identified exclusion?
- All real-estate claims are automatically proven
- That specific no-substantial-adverse-effect protection cannot simply be assumed
- The fact is always confidential
- The licensee has automatic immunity because the condition is off site
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. That specific no-substantial-adverse-effect protection cannot simply be assumed
The statute conditions that physical-condition category on no substantial adverse value effect. Its absence requires further analysis of the actual duty and claim; it does not itself prove liability.
14. A customer supplies information to an agent who relays it to the agent's client. Which standard appears in Section 15-15(d)'s proviso?
- Knew or should have known the information was false
- Actual knowledge only in every direction of communication
- The customer's statement is always immune
- Only a final court judgment can establish awareness
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Knew or should have known the information was false
Do not substitute Section 15-25's different client-origin-to-customer proviso. Identify who supplied the information and who receives it.
15. Does the seller-report Act require the covered seller to make a specific investigation solely to complete the statement?
- Yes, a broker must certify a defect-free property
- Yes, the seller must open every wall
- No, so known errors never need correction
- No, but actual-knowledge and other applicable duties remain
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No, but actual-knowledge and other applicable duties remain
Section 25(c) provides no specific-investigation obligation under that Act. It does not authorize knowingly false answers, eliminate applicable supplemental disclosure or replace the licensee's separate duties.
16. A seller marks no on the report, but the listing licensee actually knows a qualifying latent material adverse physical fact. Does the answer erase that knowledge?
- No; apply the licensee's independent duty
- Yes, the seller's form is conclusive
- Yes, if the sale is described as as-is
- Yes, until closing occurs
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No; apply the licensee's independent duty
The owner's report and licensee's duties are separate. In the stated qualifying seller-client/prospective-buyer-customer setting, an inaccurate form does not authorize suppressing the known fact.
17. Which statement keeps Section 35's seller-form definition intact?
- Only conditions that both reduce value and injure someone count
- Substantial adverse value effect or significant health or safety impairment, unless the seller reasonably believes it was corrected
- A seller's private secrecy instruction removes every defect
- Every repair expense is automatically material
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Substantial adverse value effect or significant health or safety impairment, unless the seller reasonably believes it was corrected
The definition uses alternatives and concerns future occupants' health or safety. The reasonable-correction qualification is not an unsupported promise that the whole property is defect-free.
18. A licensee leaks a client's protected price limit publicly. Does that create the definition's public-source exception?
- No, because no lawful confidentiality exception ever exists
- Yes, the buyer's interest overrides every confidentiality duty
- No; the exception requires a source other than the licensee
- Yes, every leak automatically authorizes more disclosure
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. No; the exception requires a source other than the licensee
The source matters. The definition separately recognizes client permission by word or conduct and legally required disclosure; the hypothetical leak does not satisfy the public-from-another-source exception.
19. Under Section 15-25's identified proviso, the client supplies false information that is relayed to a customer. Which condition is relevant?
- The customer must be the original source in this direction
- The licensee is immune even with actual knowledge of falsity
- The licensee did not have actual knowledge that the information was false
- The broker must guarantee the truth of every supplied statement
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. The licensee did not have actual knowledge that the information was false
This is the client-to-licensee-to-customer proviso. The customer-to-licensee-to-client provision in Section 15-15(d) instead uses knew or should have known. Neither is a universal misinformation defense.
20. Before closing, a covered seller discovers an error in an already delivered report. What does Section 30 require?
- Wait until after closing to see whether the buyer complains
- Only a private instruction asking the broker to keep it secret
- A written supplemental disclosure using an authorized delivery method
- Automatically cancel every contract and pay a fixed penalty
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A written supplemental disclosure using an authorized delivery method
The duty applies to the identified preclosing error, inaccuracy or omission. The buyer's remedy and any termination right require separate analysis; a supplement is not an automatic universal refund rule.
Common questions
What is a material fact in real estate?
It is information significant enough to affect a reasonable transaction decision, such as price, terms, permitted use, value or risk. This is a broad teaching description, not a replacement for a particular statute's exact wording. A zoning notice, lease or access issue can matter without being a physical defect. Identify the actual relationship, knowledge, confidentiality and statutory qualifications before deciding what must be disclosed.
What must an Illinois licensee disclose to a client?
Section 15-15(a)(2)(C) requires material transaction facts actually known by the licensee, unless confidential, and contains express off-site exclusions. The section also requires reasonable skill and care and preserves common-law duties concerning negligent or fraudulent material misrepresentation. Do not change actual knowledge into a universal warranty, or use it to justify a negligent false statement.
What must a seller's licensee disclose to a prospective buyer customer?
Section 15-25 requires timely disclosure of all latent material adverse facts about physical condition actually known to the seller-client's licensee and not discoverable through the customer's reasonably diligent inspection. Keep every condition in the answer. The same section separately requires honest treatment of all customers and prohibits negligent or knowing false information.
Can a material fact be nonphysical?
Yes. Permitted use, title, access, lease terms and other transaction information can matter without a structural defect. Client duties and the customer-honesty rule must be assessed on their own terms. The narrower physical-fact disclosure sentence does not make all nonphysical statements safe to invent or repeat.
How is a material defect defined in the Illinois seller report?
Section 35's form uses a condition with a substantial adverse effect on residential property value or significant impairment of future occupants' health or safety, unless the seller reasonably believes it has been corrected. That definition is not simply any expensive repair or every fact a buyer finds interesting. It also does not make the report a warranty or replace its actual questions and the seller's knowledge duties.
Can a seller order an agent to keep a physical defect confidential?
A material physical-condition fact is expressly outside the Act's confidential-information definition. A secrecy instruction does not remove a disclosure duty that otherwise applies. Establish what is actually known, to whom the duty is owed and whether all statutory conditions are met. Protect genuinely confidential negotiating information separately, rather than treating every client communication as open to the public.
Does latent mean anything the buyer did not notice?
No. The customer rule asks whether a reasonably diligent inspection could discover the condition. A plainly visible broken window is not latent on the stated facts even if a distracted buyer overlooks it. Visibility alone does not decide materiality, and a casual glance is not the complete inspection standard. Do not promise that every concealed issue will be found or every visible issue is harmless.
Must a licensee volunteer that an occupant had HIV or another medical condition?
The identified Section 15-20 and Rule 1450.810 protection concerns a licensee's failure to disclose an occupant's HIV or any other medical condition. It is not an instruction to share private health history, authority to give a false answer or immunity for every actor under every law. An independently known physical or environmental condition requires separate analysis.
Must a licensee disclose murder, suicide or a prior death?
The identified event protection requires no effect on the property's physical condition, environment or structures. Rule 1450.810 specifically includes murder and suicide as examples within that condition. It protects the identified failure to disclose by a licensee; it does not resolve every contract, false statement or resulting damage issue. Analyze actual physical consequences separately.
Are all neighboring conditions excluded?
No. The client provision has express off-site exclusions. Section 15-20 identifies off-site fact situations and physical conditions on other property without a substantial adverse effect on the subject property's value. A physical condition with such an effect cannot automatically be placed in that protection. The applicable duty and elements of a claim still need analysis; losing one exclusion does not itself prove liability.
Does saying the seller told me make every statement safe?
No universal source-attribution defense works that way. Section 15-25's proviso concerns information supplied by the licensee's client to the licensee and then provided to a customer without actual knowledge it was false. Section 15-15(d), for customer-supplied information passed to the client, uses knew or should have known. Keep the direction and conditions straight, and do not use either proviso as a blanket concealment or misinformation license.
Does the seller report replace the agent's disclosure duty?
No. The covered seller's report uses the seller's actual knowledge, while the licensee has separate duties based on the licensee's role and knowledge. A no answer does not erase a listing licensee's actually known qualifying latent material adverse physical fact. Inspections, contracts and other applicable laws remain separate.
Does an as-is sale remove every disclosure duty?
No. The seller form allows an as-is agreement and also preserves disclosure obligations; other law remains relevant under Section 45. As-is terms are not a universal license for a knowingly false answer, suppression of a required fact or ignoring a required supplement. The actual contract, coverage and claimed remedy need their own review.
Are these official PSI questions or a disclosure decision for my transaction?
These are original exercises, not secure PSI material, a validated readiness score or professional approval of an actual disclosure. State the fact, audience, knowledge and applicable conditions before choosing an answer. A real report, school-boundary statement, event-history question or technical condition needs accurate sources and appropriate sponsoring-broker and professional guidance.
Can an agent lie when asked about protected history?
The identified protection is for failure to disclose the listed information. It does not itself authorize a false answer. Distinguish silence, an affirmative statement, confidentiality, the licensee's role and any other applicable law or contractual obligation. Do not invent an answer or treat a request as automatic authority to reveal private medical information. A difficult live question should receive appropriate sponsoring-broker and legal guidance.
Is the seller report only a list of physical defects?
Do not use the narrow broker physical-fact rule to skip the seller form's actual questions. The identified form also asks about boundary or lot-line disputes and received notices of uncorrected legal violations. The covered seller must complete the required report based on actual knowledge and make applicable written supplements before closing. The form, an inspection and the licensee's own duties serve different purposes.
Does confidentiality disappear when the brokerage agreement ends?
Section 15-30 preserves accounting and confidentiality duties after termination, expiration or completed performance, subject to its written-agreement qualification. The confidential-information definition's actual exceptions still matter. Do not treat termination as permission to disclose a protected price limit or as authority to conceal a material physical condition. No private agreement is reviewed or approved here.
Why does the school-boundary example matter?
Capiccioni distinguishes the customer-honesty duty from the narrower physical-fact disclosure sentence. Nonphysical information can still raise a misrepresentation issue. The decision reviewed pleadings and remanded certain claims; it did not award damages or decide that every allegation was proved. Verify a particular boundary with an appropriate authoritative source, avoid subjective school-quality promises and do not turn this case into a universal reliance or liability formula.
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Official sources and scope
Reviewed October 28, 2026 against the identified official statutes, rules, published decision and explicit earlier primary readings. Some current ILGA sections were read through the official indexed text after ordinary fetch errors; this is not a fresh whole-Act download. The seller-form definition is in Section 35. Nondisclosure protections do not decide every false statement, contract, privacy issue or civil claim. No actual disclosure, report, inspection or remedy is approved here.
- 225 ILCS 454/1-10: client, customer and confidential information
- 225 ILCS 454/15-15: client duties and competing clients
- 225 ILCS 454/15-25: customer honesty and known latent defects
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.800: confidentiality safeguards
- 225 ILCS 454/15-30: duties after termination
- 225 ILCS 454/15-20: specified nonphysical and off-site nondisclosure categories
- Capiccioni v. Brennan Naperville: false nonphysical information and pleading limits
- 765 ILCS 77/20: complete report before contract signing
- 765 ILCS 77/25: actual knowledge and qualified seller protection
- 765 ILCS 77/30: written preclosing supplement
- 765 ILCS 77/35: current report, definitions and 24 statements
- 765 ILCS 77/45: other law and remedies preserved
- PSI June 24, 2026: national VI.B and VII.A/C duties and disclosures
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.810: nondisclosure protection and nonphysical events
This is exam preparation, not advice for a specific transaction. State law and the applicable facts control. Our editorial and corrections process explains how to report an issue.