Seller disclosure

The Residential Real Property Disclosure Report is the statutory form on which a covered seller reports actual knowledge of specified property conditions and material defects. It is meant to inform a prospective buyer before contract signing. It is not a home inspection, warranty, repair promise, appraisal, title report, environmental audit, or substitute for the buyer's own investigation.

The Act generally covers transfers of residential real property improved with one to four dwelling units, residential cooperative units, condominium units and their exclusive limited common elements, and a manufactured home that legally qualifies as real property. Covered transfers include a sale, exchange, installment land sale contract, assignment of beneficial interest, lease with an option to purchase, ground lease, and assignment of a ground lease, subject to Section 15 exemptions.

The definition reaches a land-trust beneficiary and a person or entity with a legal or equitable interest as owner, trust beneficiary, beneficiary through a will, intestacy, or transfer-on-death instrument, contract purchaser, or ground lessee. It excludes a party to an exempt transfer and a beneficiary who both never occupied the property and never had management responsibility for it.

Section 20 requires the seller to complete all report items and deliver the written report to the prospective buyer before signing a contract. Delivery is effective on receipt, not merely when the seller clicks send or places it in the mail. A verifiable receipt record is therefore an important transaction file item.

No. Section 25 says the seller is not obligated by the Act to make a specific investigation or inquiry. The seller discloses material defects actually known and completes the form to the best of actual knowledge. No investigation does not mean permission to ignore known facts, give a knowingly false answer, or avoid a supplemental report after learning that an earlier response is wrong.

The statutory form defines a material defect as a condition that would substantially adversely affect the property's value or significantly impair future occupants' health or safety, unless the seller reasonably believes the condition has been corrected. The form's yes, no, and not-applicable answers concern actual knowledge and require explanations for specified responses.

Yes. If, before closing, a seller becomes aware of an error, inaccuracy, or omission in a previously delivered report or supplement, Section 30 requires a written supplemental disclosure delivered by an authorized Section 50 method. A new leak, discovered structural issue, or newly recognized false answer cannot be left in the old file without correction.

Under the current Section 40 rule, if the late report discloses a material defect and was delivered after all parties signed in violation of Section 20, the buyer may terminate within five business days after receipt, recover earnest money and down payments, and avoid liability to the seller. The Act also gives a termination right if the seller fails or refuses to provide the report before conveyance. Exact contract and statutory facts still matter.

No. Section 40 limits that right. It can arise when the supplemental defect comes from an error, inaccuracy, or omission the seller actually knew when the earlier report was signed, when the defect is not repairable before closing, or when it is repairable but the seller declines or fails within five business days after delivery to agree in writing to repair it. The right ends after conveyance.

No, not merely because the contract says as is. The statutory report states that it does not limit the parties' right to contract for an as-is sale. That allocation of repair risk does not erase the covered seller's report duty, actual-knowledge obligation, anti-fraud rules, or the licensee's separate duty to disclose known latent material adverse physical facts.

The seller completes and signs the statutory report. A licensee may explain process and delivery but should not supply the seller's knowledge, choose factual answers, or conceal known defects. Separately, an Illinois seller's licensee must timely disclose actually known latent material adverse physical facts that a reasonably diligent buyer inspection would not discover.

No. The practice questions are original. The PSI Illinois outline, Residential Real Property Disclosure Act, and Real Estate License Act were checked through August 1, 2026. This is exam education, not legal, inspection, engineering, environmental, repair, contract, title, insurance, or transaction advice. A live file requires the current statutory form, ownership and occupancy facts, exemption review, signed dates, receipt proof, supplements, inspection findings, contract rights, and qualified Illinois counsel for disputed defects or remedies.