Illinois practice guide
Illinois agency practice: who represents whom?
The seller pays a fee. Two agents share an office. A buyer asks for help with an offer. None of those facts, by itself, tells you who represents whom. Map each client and each individual licensee, then place the required writing before the relevant activity. These questions help you practice that sequence.
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The short answer
For an Illinois agency question, identify each licensee's represented client and the customer relative to that licensee. Apply the designated-agency default, required written agreement and notices, then check duties and conflicts. Different designated agents at one brokerage are not automatically dual agents. One individual representing opposing clients needs the required prior informed written consent and transaction confirmation. Payment does not determine agency. The twelve questions below are original practice, not official PSI items or a validated readiness test.
Reviewed October 25, 2026. PSI Illinois II.A addresses agency relationships within the License Act area; IV.A.1-4 addresses agency disclosures and related models. The whole areas carry 40% and 25% of the 40-question scored state portion, respectively. Those are domain weights, not quotas for this page. The July 13, 2026 agreement rule is applied alongside Article 15. Actual agreements, conduct and required writings still matter in a live transaction.
Read the relationship, the clock and the conduct
- Name each person and each individual licensee. A consumer seeks or receives licensed activity. A client is represented. A customer is not represented by this licensee, even if another agent represents that person. Do not decide the relationship from who pays.
- Apply the Illinois starting rule. A licensee working with a consumer is considered the consumer's designated agent unless the sponsoring broker and consumer have a written agreement establishing another allowed relationship. Missing paperwork does not automatically mean no duties exist. The required written agreement still must be completed.
- Separate the writing clocks. Section 15-35 requires written designated-relationship and agent-name disclosure no later than beginning work. Rule 1450.770 requires a seller/owner agreement before marketing or listing and a buyer/tenant agreement before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, licensed assistance. The latter is not an indefinite grace period.
- Check the earlier listing-side condition. Under rule 1450.770(i)(1), a licensee with an executed seller/owner agreement may assist an unrepresented buyer or tenant on that client's behalf after written nonrepresentation disclosure. Separately, section 15-35(c) times no-agency notice to prevent confidential disclosure and sets offer preparation as the outside deadline. An outside deadline does not override an earlier trigger.
- Match the duty to the person. Clients receive the applicable performance, best-interest, timely-offer, material-fact, accounting, lawful-direction, care and confidentiality duties. Customers must be treated honestly without negligent or knowing false information. Section 15-25's special physical-fact sentence concerns a seller's licensee and prospective buyer customers; apply every stated condition.
- For one individual on opposing sides, check dual agency before the work starts. All clients need informed written consent. The offered dual disclosure is presented at brokerage-agreement entry. Written transaction-specific confirmation is separately required; section 15-45 says it should be obtained when clients execute an offer or contract. If embedded in another document, the client signs that document and initials the confirmation provision.
- Do not treat consent as unlimited authority. A dual agent may provide comparable-sale information but may not recommend an offer price or proposed seller counter or acceptance terms. A licensee's present or future direct or indirect ownership in a transaction party creates a separate dual-agency prohibition. Rule 1450.770(i)(2) also requires the buyer/tenant agreement and section 15-45 compliance before licensed work on that side.
- For competing clients on the same side, use the full contemporaneous-offer trigger. It concerns two or more clients of the same designated agent, the same parcel or unit, and offers the agent knows or has reason to know will be considered by the owner or representative at the same time. Give written disclosure to the affected clients and refer a requesting client to another designated agent. Do not disclose private offer terms merely to satisfy this notice.
- Protect the information and finish the accounting. Safeguard qualifying client information; material physical-condition information is excluded from that statutory definition. Expiration does not erase transaction accounting or qualifying confidentiality. A written agreement can provide additional continuing duties. Apply the actual client-permission, required-by-law and other-public-source exceptions, and any limits on sponsor consultation.
| Fact pattern | Rule | Best exam response |
|---|---|---|
| Licensee begins representing consumer | Designated-agency disclosure | Provide writing no later than beginning work |
| Listing agent meets unrepresented buyer | No-agency notice | Check earlier listing-side assistance trigger; prevent confidential disclosure and never delay past offer preparation |
| Same agent represents seller and buyer | Dual agency | Prior informed written consent from all; separate required written confirmation |
| Different firm agents represent opposing sides | Designated agency | Do not label each dual solely because the firm is shared |
| One agent has two clients offering on same unit | Contemporaneous offers | Disclose in writing to both and refer on request |
| Seller reveals bottom-line price | Client confidentiality | Protect unless authorized or legally required |
| Agent knows hidden recurring flooding | Customer material-fact duty | Disclose as Illinois requires despite secrecy request |
| Seller funds buyer-broker fee | Compensation not determinative | Use buyer agreement and designation to identify representation |
| Agency agreement expires | Surviving duties | Continue accounting and confidentiality; check any additional agreed duties |
| Agent-owned entity buys listing | Dual-agent ownership prohibition | Do not use dual agency and make required interest disclosure |
The distinctions that matter
| Distinction | How it works | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer vs. client | A consumer seeks or receives licensed activity. A client is a represented consumer. Illinois's designated-agency default and required agreement must be applied to the actual working relationship; a casual greeting alone does not answer every formation question. | Initial contact status versus relationship after designated representation is established. |
| Client vs. customer | Client and customer are relative to the licensee. A buyer can be the buyer agent's client and the seller agent's customer. Customer does not necessarily mean a person has no agent anywhere. | Advocacy and confidentiality versus honest nonrepresentation. |
| Designated agency vs. dual agency | A designated agent represents one client. A dual agent is the same individual licensee representing opposing clients with the required informed written consent. | Different agents in one brokerage versus one agent on both sides. |
| Same brokerage vs. same agent | Opposing clients represented by separately designated agents in one brokerage do not automatically have individual dual agents. The same individual representing both sides creates the dual analysis. | Firm identity alone is not the deciding fact. |
| Agency notice vs. no-agency notice | Designated-agency writing identifies the relationship and agents by beginning work. No-agency writing prevents mistaken confidential disclosure and has an offer-preparation outside limit; the specific listing-side assistance rule can require it earlier. | Represented client versus unrepresented customer. |
| Client confidentiality vs. material physical fact | Negotiating information can be confidential. Illinois does not allow a physical-condition fact that falls outside the statutory definition to become confidential by request. | Seller's bottom line versus actually known latent recurring flooding. |
| Contemporaneous offers vs. multiple offers | Contemporaneous offers involve one designated agent's multiple clients competing for one property. Ordinary multiple offers can arrive through separate agents for different buyers. | Who represents the competing buyers, not merely how many offers exist. |
| Compensation source vs. represented party | Compensation identifies who funds payment. The represented party is determined by the brokerage relationship, not by who supplies the money. | Seller-funded buyer-broker fee with buyer representation intact. |
| Authority ending vs. contract liability | Ended authority is separate from remaining contract consequences and other duties. Section 15-30 preserves transaction accounting and qualifying confidentiality; the written agreement can provide additional continuing duties. | The relationship is terminated, but legal consequences continue. |
| Relationship rule vs. disclosure classification | Article 15 defines the relationship and duties. PSI may classify the written agency notice, dual consent, or contemporaneous-offer disclosure in the separate Disclosures area. | What duty exists versus which writing and deadline the question asks for. |
Work through the facts
The customer notice comes before the secret
A licensee has an executed agreement to represent a seller. Before written nonrepresentation disclosure or licensed assistance, an unrepresented buyer starts explaining the highest price the buyer can afford.
- The licensee represents the seller, not the buyer under the stated relationship.
- The notice must be timed to prevent the mistaken sharing of negotiating information.
- The specific listing-side rule also requires written nonrepresentation disclosure before the described seller-side assistance with this unrepresented buyer.
Answer: The agent should interrupt and provide the written no-agency notice before receiving the buyer's negotiating ceiling.
One firm can contain two designated sides
Broker A and Broker B are affiliated with the same sponsoring brokerage. A is designated for the seller, and B is designated for the buyer. Neither individual represents both parties.
- Each client has a separately designated individual licensee.
- The licensees share a sponsoring brokerage but not the same client representation.
- Dual agency focuses on the same individual representing opposing clients.
Answer: A and B are not automatically dual agents merely because they share a sponsoring brokerage.
Compensation does not move the client
A buyer has a written buyer brokerage relationship. The seller agrees to fund the buyer brokerage's compensation at closing.
- The written brokerage relationship identifies the buyer as the represented client.
- The seller's payment concerns compensation source.
- Illinois expressly says payment or a promise of payment is not determinative of agency.
Answer: The buyer brokerage remains the buyer's representative under the stated relationship despite seller-funded compensation.
A secrecy request cannot hide a physical fact
The seller tells the designated listing agent about recurring foundation seepage hidden by a finished wall. Assume it is a material adverse physical fact actually known by the agent and would not be discovered by the prospective buyer customer's reasonably diligent inspection. The seller asks for secrecy.
- Every condition of section 15-25's seller-licensee/prospective-buyer disclosure rule is stated.
- Material physical-condition information is excluded from the statutory confidential-information definition.
- The seller's instruction does not turn this required disclosure into protected negotiating strategy.
Answer: The agent must follow the Illinois material-fact duty rather than treating the hidden physical condition as protected confidentiality.
Two clients, one agent, one condominium
One designated agent represents two buyers seeking the same condominium. The agent has reason to know the owner will consider both offers together that evening.
- The same individual designated agent represents both competing buyers.
- The same unit and expected simultaneous consideration meet the stated trigger. The agent need not have a direct admission of the owner's plan if there is reason to know.
- The contemporaneous-offer rule requires written disclosure to affected clients and referral when requested.
Answer: The agent must disclose the contemporaneous offers in writing to both clients and refer a requesting client to another designated agent.
Termination does not erase every duty
A buyer brokerage agreement expires after the broker received confidential information and still holds a client document and transaction money.
- Expiration ends the brokerage authority under the agreement.
- Illinois preserves accounting for money and property after termination, expiration, or performance.
- Qualifying confidentiality also continues. A written agreement may provide additional duties; expiration is not a blanket release from money, property or information obligations.
Answer: Complete the accounting, protect qualifying confidential information and check any additional continuing duties.
One signature is not consent from all clients
A seller has signed informed dual-agency consent. The listing licensee wants to begin representing a buyer who has not consented or executed the required buyer agreement.
- The same individual would represent opposing clients.
- Seller consent alone is insufficient, and an offer-stage signature does not cure earlier unauthorized dual activity.
- Check all clients' prior informed written consent, the buyer agreement and the separate transaction confirmation requirements.
Answer: Do not begin the buyer-side representation on these facts.
Comparable evidence is different from a recommended bid
A properly authorized dual agent gives both clients recent comparable sales. The buyer then asks the agent to recommend an exact offer price.
- Providing comparable-property information is within the statutory permitted list.
- Recommending the buyer's offer price is on the prohibited list.
- The clients make their own price decisions and can seek independent advice.
Answer: Provide allowed factual help without giving the prohibited price recommendation.
A small indirect interest still matters
A licensee will own a 1% indirect interest in an entity buying the listed property. Everyone offers to sign dual-agency consent.
- The ownership rule includes present or future, direct or indirect interests.
- There is no 1% exception in the stated rule.
- Client signatures do not cure this prohibited dual role. Other licensee-interest disclosure requirements remain separate.
Answer: Do not serve as dual agent in this transaction.
The buyer has a different agent
A buyer is represented by Broker B. Broker A represents the seller and gives the buyer factual information in the seller-side role.
- The buyer is B's client.
- The same buyer is a customer relative to A, because A does not represent the buyer.
- The buyer's having representation elsewhere does not remove A's applicable customer duties.
Answer: Status is relative to the individual licensee, not a single label for the whole transaction.
Missing writing does not erase the working relationship
A licensee has begun licensed work for a buyer but failed to complete required documentation. The licensee claims no relationship or duties could exist without a signed form.
- Apply section 15-10's default to the actual work and any written alternative relationship.
- Section 15-50 requires writing but says its absence does not create the specified affirmative defense.
- This is not permission to omit required writing or a ruling that every alleged oral promise is enforceable. Complete the proper documentation and obtain advice about any actual dispute.
Answer: Correct the documentation problem and analyze the actual relationship; do not assume missing paperwork eliminates all duties.
Ordinary competing listings are not this special trigger
Two different designated agents each represent a different buyer offering on one home. Neither individual represents two competing buyers.
- The property has multiple offers.
- The specific same-designated-agent condition is absent on these facts.
- Other client duties, confidentiality and transaction rules still apply.
Answer: Do not apply the same-agent contemporaneous-offer rule solely because several offers exist.
Mistakes to avoid
- Every consumer is automatically a customer. When a licensee is working with a consumer, apply the designated-agency default unless the sponsoring broker and consumer have a written agreement establishing another allowed relationship. A task label does not replace that analysis.
- A designated-agency notice can wait until an offer is written. The writing is due no later than the beginning of designated-agent work.
- The no-agency outside deadline permits collecting secrets first. The notice must be timed to prevent the customer from revealing confidential information, even before offer preparation.
- Different designated agents in one firm are automatically dual agents. Dual agency concerns the same individual licensee representing opposing clients.
- Payment by the seller makes the buyer broker a seller's agent. Compensation is not determinative of agency under Illinois law.
- A customer is owed no duties. Customers receive honesty and specified protection against false information and hidden known material adverse physical facts.
- A client can make any property fact confidential. A qualifying physical-condition fact cannot be hidden by a confidentiality instruction.
- A listing-agreement dual paragraph permits immediate dual representation. Every client's informed written consent must precede dual activity. Required transaction-specific written confirmation is separate; preserve the statute's should-at-execution wording and any embedded signature/initial requirements.
- A licensee can use dual agency when the licensee's own company buys. Current Illinois rules prohibit dual agency when the licensee or an entity with the licensee's ownership interest is a party.
- Every multiple-offer situation triggers contemporaneous-offer disclosure. The special rule requires the same designated agent to represent multiple competing clients for the same property.
- Agency termination erases confidentiality immediately. Transaction accounting and qualifying confidentiality survive. Check additional agreed duties and the actual information-disclosure exceptions.
- A neutral facilitator label removes Illinois notices and duties. Use the relationships Illinois law recognizes and deliver the correct agency or no-agency writing.
- No signed buyer agreement means the licensee owes no duties. Writing is required, but the designated-agency default and section 15-50(a-5) prevent that automatic shortcut. Analyze the actual facts.
Check your understanding
These are original teaching questions, not recalled or predicted PSI questions. Answer first, then explain why the other choices fail.
1. When must an Illinois designated agent give the consumer the written relationship and designated-agent names?
- Only when the buyer submits an offer
- Only after the sponsoring broker receives compensation
- At closing if the consumer already knows the agent
- No later than beginning work as that consumer's designated agent
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No later than beginning work as that consumer's designated agent
Section 15-35(a) places this writing at the beginning of designated work. A different agreement-timing provision does not postpone it.
2. What is section 15-35(c)'s outside deadline for written no-agency notice, subject to any earlier applicable trigger?
- No later than the inspection objection deadline
- No later than delivery of the closing statement
- No later than preparation of an offer to purchase or lease
- No later than the owner's acceptance of the offer
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. No later than preparation of an offer to purchase or lease
The notice must also be timed to prevent confidential disclosure. The specific listing-side assistance condition can require it earlier.
3. Two separately designated agents at one brokerage represent opposing clients. Neither individual represents both. What follows from the shared firm alone?
- Every confidence may be shared throughout the firm
- The compensation source changes both clients' designations
- It does not automatically make each individual a dual agent
- Each must automatically treat both clients as unrepresented
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. It does not automatically make each individual a dual agent
Section 15-50 recognizes proper separate designations. Confidentiality and supervision still matter; office affiliation is not itself individual dual representation.
4. A written buyer-representation relationship exists. The seller agrees to fund the buyer brokerage's fee. Whom does that brokerage represent under the stated relationship?
- The buyer
- Both sides automatically from the payment arrangement
- The seller solely because the seller supplies payment
- No one until the funds have cleared
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The buyer
Section 15-40 says compensation or its promise is not determinative of agency. Do not substitute the payment source for the represented client.
5. One designated agent has two buyer clients seeking one unit and reason to know the owner will consider their offers together. What is required?
- Disclosure of one buyer's exact ceiling to the other
- No notice unless both offers were signed at the same minute
- Written notice to the affected clients and referral to another designated agent on request
- Seller-only dual consent in place of any buyer notice
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Written notice to the affected clients and referral to another designated agent on request
Use the full rule 1450.830 trigger, including reason to know and simultaneous consideration. Written notice is not permission to expose private terms.
6. A licensee has an executed seller agreement and plans the described seller-side licensed assistance with an unrepresented buyer. What must precede that assistance under rule 1450.770(i)(1)?
- A buyer agreement automatically naming the licensee neutral
- Only an oral statement before the eventual closing
- Written disclosure that the licensee is not acting as the buyer's agent
- Nothing until an offer is accepted
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Written disclosure that the licensee is not acting as the buyer's agent
This specific assistance path is on the seller's behalf after written nonrepresentation disclosure. It does not confer buyer advocacy.
7. Only the seller has given informed written dual consent. The same licensee wants to start representing a buyer who has not consented or signed the required agreement. What is correct?
- Use the fact that no fee has been paid as the only test
- Do not begin that buyer-side dual activity until the required prior steps are satisfied
- Begin now and treat transaction confirmation as a retroactive cure
- Begin now because seller consent also binds the buyer
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Do not begin that buyer-side dual activity until the required prior steps are satisfied
All clients must give informed written consent before the dual activity. The specific rule also requires the buyer agreement before work on that side. Transaction confirmation is separate and cannot retroactively cure those omissions.
8. A properly authorized dual agent provides comparable sales. The buyer asks for a recommended exact offer price. Which response fits the statutory limits?
- Continue allowed factual assistance without recommending the bid
- Share the other client's protected ceiling without permission
- Recommend the seller's acceptance terms instead as a workaround
- Recommend the bid because both clients consented to dual agency
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Continue allowed factual assistance without recommending the bid
The permitted list includes comparables. The prohibited list includes recommending a buyer offer or seller counter or acceptance terms.
9. A licensee will hold a 1% indirect interest in the entity buying the property. Can all-party consent cure the dual-agent ownership prohibition?
- Yes; an entity separates the interest for this purpose automatically
- No; because an entity can never acquire real estate
- No; the rule covers any present or future direct or indirect ownership interest in a transaction party
- Yes; every interest under 5% is exempt
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. No; the rule covers any present or future direct or indirect ownership interest in a transaction party
Rule 1450.820 supplies no small-interest exception and reaches indirect and future interests. Consent does not legalize the prohibited dual role.
10. A buyer has begun working with a licensee, but required paperwork was omitted. What is the sound conclusion?
- Assume every alleged oral term must be enforced
- Analyze the default and actual relationship while correcting the writing failure
- Treat the buyer as a customer of every agent in the market
- Assume no client duty can exist without a signed form
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Analyze the default and actual relationship while correcting the writing failure
Section 15-50(a-5) rejects the specified automatic defense. It does not waive writing requirements or decide every oral-contract claim.
11. A seller's licensee actually knows a hidden material adverse physical fact that a prospective buyer customer's reasonably diligent inspection would not reveal. The seller orders secrecy. What is correct?
- Disclose the seller's bottom-line price instead of the physical fact
- Keep it secret because every client instruction must be obeyed
- Timely disclose under the specified customer-protection rule
- Treat payment source as the deciding condition
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Timely disclose under the specified customer-protection rule
All conditions of the section 15-25 physical-fact duty are stated. Material physical-condition information is excluded from the confidential-information definition.
12. A buyer signs a purchase contract containing the required transaction-specific dual confirmation but leaves the confirmation provision uninitialed. What is missing under section 15-45(c)?
- The client's initials on the embedded confirmation provision
- Nothing, because the contract signature always replaces separate initials
- Only a new appraisal
- Only a second seller signature elsewhere in the document
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The client's initials on the embedded confirmation provision
For confirmation included in another document, the client must sign that document and also initial the confirmation provision. Prior informed consent is a separate requirement.
Common questions
What is the starting agency relationship in Illinois?
Section 15-10 treats a licensee as the designated agent of the consumer the licensee is working with unless the sponsoring broker and consumer have a written agreement establishing a different allowed relationship. Writing and disclosure requirements still apply. Do not assume a missing form erases duties, or that every casual greeting settles whether a working relationship began.
What is designated agency in Illinois?
The sponsoring broker designates one or more affiliated licensees as the client's legal agent or agents, to the exclusion of the firm's other affiliated licensees. Separately designated agents in one brokerage may represent opposing clients without each becoming a dual agent.
What is the difference between an Illinois client and customer?
The client is represented by that licensee; the customer is not. A buyer can be one agent's client and another agent's customer. All customers must be treated honestly without negligent or knowing false information. Section 15-25 additionally requires a seller's licensee to disclose to prospective buyer customers actually known latent material adverse physical facts not discoverable through the customer's reasonably diligent inspection.
When is Illinois designated-agency disclosure due?
No later than beginning to work as the consumer's designated agent, give written disclosure of the designated relationship and the agent or agents' names. It may be in the brokerage agreement or a separate document. Provide the consumer a copy and retain the required sponsoring-broker record. Do not postpone this notice merely because the general buyer-agreement timing uses different wording.
When is Illinois no-agency disclosure due?
Section 15-35(c) requires written notice timed to prevent mistaken disclosure of confidential information, never later than offer preparation. The specific rule for a licensee with an executed seller/owner agreement requires nonrepresentation disclosure before the described seller-side assistance with an unrepresented buyer or tenant. Use the earlier applicable trigger; offer preparation is not permission to collect secrets first.
Does compensation determine Illinois agency?
No. Section 15-40 states that payment or a promise of payment is not determinative of whether agency exists. A seller or listing side may fund a buyer broker's compensation without changing whom the buyer's broker represents.
Can one Illinois licensee represent both sides?
Only through a permitted dual role with all clients' informed written consent before acting. The offered disclosure is presented at brokerage-agreement entry. Transaction-specific written confirmation of prior consent is separately required; section 15-45 says it should be obtained when clients execute an offer or contract. Rule 1450.770(i)(2) also requires the buyer/tenant agreement and statutory compliance before buyer/tenant-side licensed activity.
Can a licensee be dual agent when personally buying the property?
No. A licensee may not serve as dual agent when the licensee, or an entity in which the licensee has or will have an ownership interest, is a party to the transaction. The prohibition reaches direct and indirect ownership under the current rules.
Does Illinois confidentiality survive termination?
Section 15-30 preserves transaction accounting and confidentiality after termination, expiration or completed performance. A written agreement may provide additional continuing duties. The actual confidential-information definition and disclosure exceptions still apply; material physical-condition information is excluded. Expiration is not permission to distribute client strategy or ignore held money.
Are these official PSI Illinois agency questions?
No. These twelve questions are original exam preparation, based on the identified official outline, Article 15 and current adopted rules checked October 25, 2026. They are not copied or recalled live questions, a validated readiness measure or legal approval of a transaction. Review why a distractor fails as well as why the keyed answer fits.
Are the buyer agreement and designated-agency notice due at the same time?
They are different requirements. The designated-relationship and agent-name writing is due no later than beginning designated work. The general buyer/tenant agreement rule says before, or as soon as reasonably practical after, licensed assistance. Specific listing-side and dual-agency conditions can require earlier completed steps. Do not turn the general agreement wording into a waiver of the notice or an indefinite paperwork delay.
Can a listing agent help an unrepresented buyer without becoming a dual agent?
Rule 1450.770(i)(1) permits the described assistance on the seller/owner client's behalf after written nonrepresentation disclosure, where the licensee has the executed seller/owner agreement. That is different from undertaking buyer advocacy. Acting on the buyer's behalf as well requires the applicable buyer agreement, prior dual consent and other compliance; a neutral facilitator label is not a substitute.
Can a dual agent recommend what either client should offer or accept?
The statutory dual disclosure distinguishes permitted factual help from prohibited recommendations. Comparable-sale information is permitted. Recommending the buyer's offer or the seller's counter or acceptance terms is prohibited. Consent to the dual relationship does not remove those limits; each client can seek independent advice.
What if dual confirmation is included in the purchase contract?
Section 15-45(c) requires written confirmation of prior consent for the particular transaction. If included in another document, the client must sign the document and also initial the confirmation provision. Signing only the contract's final signature line does not satisfy that specified embedded-confirmation requirement. The prior informed consent and confirmation remain distinct steps.
What makes offers contemporaneous for this rule?
Two or more clients must be represented by the same designated agent and seek the same parcel or unit. The agent knows or has reason to know the owner or representative will consider the offers at the same time. Give affected clients written disclosure, physically or electronically, and refer a requesting client to another designated agent. The notice does not authorize sharing their confidential terms.
Does a small or indirect ownership interest allow dual agency?
No size exception appears in the stated rule. Rule 1450.820 covers an entity in which the licensee has or will have any ownership interest, directly or indirectly, when that entity is a transaction party. Informed consent does not cure the prohibited dual role. Separate licensee-interest disclosures and other duties must also be evaluated.
Does a missing written agreement prove no agency exists?
No. Section 15-50 requires the writing but says its absence does not create the specified affirmative defense concerning the agreement or performance of licensed activity. Apply section 15-10 and the actual facts. This does not authorize skipping the agreement or establish that every alleged oral promise is enforceable.
Are the false-information protections identical for clients and customers?
The source-specific provisions differ. Section 15-15(d) addresses information supplied by a customer to a licensee and passed to the client, using knew or should have known. Section 15-25 addresses false information supplied by the licensee's client and passed to a customer, using actual knowledge of falsity. Do not read either as blanket permission to make unsupported statements or ignore other applicable duties.
May a designated agent consult the sponsoring broker about a confidence?
Section 15-50(c) permits specified disclosure to the sponsoring broker or a specified representative to seek advice or assistance for the client's benefit in a possible transaction. It limits further disclosure. That is different from circulating a buyer's ceiling to an opposing designated agent. The sponsor and licensees must apply the required safeguards.
How should I review these practice questions?
For each miss, write down the represented client, the individual licensee, the activity and the required writing or duty. Then identify the changed fact that would make your chosen option correct. A correct guess is worth reviewing too. This short set helps find misunderstandings; it does not establish a passing-exam probability.
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Official sources and scope
Checked October 25, 2026 against the identified PSI outline, Illinois Article 15 and current adopted rules. Direct state pages were intermittently unavailable; identified official indexed text and the documented primary readings from the earlier agency reviews were used. Agreement timing, prior dual consent and transaction confirmation are separate requirements. Original scenarios do not approve a live agreement, disclosure or representation.
- PSI June 24, 2026: Illinois II.A and IV.A.1-4 agency and disclosures
- 225 ILCS 454/1-10: client, customer and confidential information
- 225 ILCS 454/15-10: designated-agency default
- 225 ILCS 454/15-15: client duties
- 225 ILCS 454/15-25: customer protections
- 225 ILCS 454/15-35: written identification and customer notice
- 225 ILCS 454/15-50: writing, designation and oral claims
- 225 ILCS 454/15-40, current rule that compensation does not determine agency
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.770, July 13, 2026: required terms, timing and protection periods
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.800: confidentiality safeguards
- 225 ILCS 454/15-5: Illinois statutory brokerage relationships
- 225 ILCS 454/15-45: informed consent, confirmation and prohibited dual roles
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.820: ownership prohibition
- 225 ILCS 454/15-30: duties after the engagement
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1450.830, contemporaneous offers
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.