Illinois disclosures: match the duty to the facts

Stop before the buyer shares a negotiating ceiling

A seller's designated agent meets an unrepresented buyer who begins to explain the highest price they can pay. No nonrepresentation writing has been given.

1. The agent represents the seller, not this buyer.
2. The buyer is about to reveal information under a mistaken understanding of the relationship.
3. Provide the required written no-agency notice at the preventive point; do not treat offer preparation as a reason to wait. Check the earlier assistance rule as well.

Answer: Clarify nonrepresentation in writing before inviting the confidential disclosure. A signature after the offer does not make the earlier omission timely.

One agent, two competing clients

One designated agent prepares offers for two buyer clients on the same condominium, knowing the owner will consider both that evening.

1. The same agent represents both competing clients for the same unit.
2. The Rule 1450.830 contemporaneous-offer trigger is present.
3. Provide the required physical or electronic written notice to both clients and refer a client who requests another designated agent.

Answer: Give the special competing-client notice. It does not authorize revealing one client's confidential price to the other, and it is not seller-buyer dual agency simply because two buyers compete.

A company purchase creates two separate issues

A licensee owns a membership interest in an LLC buying the licensee's listing. The licensee proposes to represent both the seller and the LLC after everyone signs a consent.

1. The indirect property interest requires timely written licensee-status disclosure to all parties under the stated rules.
2. The ownership-based dual-agency prohibition is a separate limit.
3. Consent does not remove that prohibition.

Answer: Disclose the status before initiating the transaction and do not act as dual agent in this ownership-conflict scenario. Disclosure alone is not permission.

An initial report arrives after contract signing

All parties sign a covered sale contract before the buyer receives the initial seller report. When received, it discloses a material foundation defect with a yes answer other than items 1 or 2. Conveyance has not occurred.

1. The initial report was late under Section 20 and receipt is the delivery anchor.
2. The stated material-defect facts satisfy the specified Section 40(a) trigger.
3. The buyer may exercise the statutory right within five business days after receipt, using the required written delivery to at least one seller before conveyance.

Answer: Analyze the qualified termination right and return of the stated deposits. Do not announce automatic cancellation, apply the clock to every supplement or treat the send time as receipt.

A new leak changes an earlier answer

After a truthful seller report is delivered, the covered seller learns of a new material roof leak before closing. The seller argues that the original answer was correct when signed.

1. New information can make the earlier report inaccurate.
2. Section 30 requires a written supplement when the seller becomes aware before closing of an error, inaccuracy or omission in the report or a supplement.
3. Any termination right must then be analyzed under the separate Section 40(b) grounds and Section 40(c) written notice requirements.

Answer: Supplement in writing. The new defect does not automatically establish prior knowing falsity or a universal five-day buyer cancellation clock.

A former tank is not an automatic clean bill of health

A covered seller knows a fuel tank was removed. The seller also possesses a current report identifying remaining contamination. The listing agent has read it.

1. Answer the statutory tank item and other applicable report statements according to their actual wording and known facts.
2. Tank removal does not establish that contamination has been eliminated.
3. The seller-agent's independent physical-fact duty must also be evaluated; do not invent an inspection or technical remediation opinion.

Answer: Address the known condition and required disclosures. Neither a removal invoice nor an earlier no answer authorizes concealing the report; specialist and regulatory issues are separate.

A radon exclusion is not a health certificate

A covered rental question places a unit on the third story above ground level. It asks whether the Radon Awareness Act's Section 20 exclusion can matter.

1. The current Section 20 third-story-or-higher exclusion reaches purchases and leases.
2. Check the stated level above ground, not merely a building's informal unit number.
3. The exclusion from this Act does not establish that radon cannot exist or that other legal duties disappear.

Answer: Apply the specific statutory exclusion to its stated facts. Do not turn it into a safety guarantee or a general exemption from unrelated disclosures.

A purchaser waives only the lead evaluation opportunity

In a covered target-housing sale, the purchaser signs a written waiver of the lead inspection or risk-assessment opportunity. The seller wants to omit the pamphlet and known reports too.

1. The purchaser's evaluation opportunity and the disclosure package are distinct.
2. The default opportunity is ten days, subject to a mutually agreed different written period or the purchaser's written waiver.
3. That waiver does not waive the seller's known-information, available-record or prescribed-document duties.

Answer: Complete the disclosure package. A waiver of one opportunity is not a waiver of the entire federal process.

A paid mine claim has two recipients

For a covered transfer with a lender, the transferor received a mine-subsidence insurance payment on the property. The parties plan a written transfer agreement. No waiver is signed.

1. The paid claim to this transferor is the specified Section 3 trigger.
2. Disclosure goes in writing to the transferee and lender when the agreement is made.
3. Because the agreement is written, the disclosure is part of that agreement.

Answer: Disclose the paid claim to both recipients at the required point. If a waiver is proposed, Section 3(c) requires a writing signed by the transferee and lender; a buyer's oral approval is insufficient.

A garden unit flooded outside the mapped hazard area

A landlord is leasing a garden apartment outside a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. The stated property history shows two floods within the past ten years. No statutory exemption applies.

1. The apartment is a lower-level unit under Section 25.
2. Its separate history rule reaches flooding of the unit or any part of the containing real property in the prior ten years, including frequency.
3. Provide the required writing before signing, include the disclosure in the written lease or renewal and obtain both signatures.

Answer: Disclose the stated history. Being outside the FEMA area does not eliminate the lower-level rule, and the disclosure does not legalize a unit prohibited by the municipality.

1. A licensee begins work as a designated agent. When is the written identification of that relationship and designated agent due?

1. Only at closing
2. No later than the beginning of that work
3. Only if the customer requests it
4. After the first offer is accepted

2. A seller's agent will provide the listing-side assistance described in current Rule 1450.770(i)(1) to an unrepresented buyer. What must precede that assistance?

1. The executed seller agreement and written nonrepresentation disclosure
2. The buyer's inspection report
3. A seller-funded commission payment
4. Only an oral statement at closing

3. An unrepresented buyer mistakenly thinks the listing agent represents them and begins to share a confidential negotiating ceiling. What is the appropriate disclosure response?

1. Wait until after a contract is signed
2. Ask only the seller to sign a lead form
3. Provide written no-agency notice at the preventive point
4. Promise full loyalty to both sides without consent

4. The same individual will represent buyer and seller. Which statement about dual agency is correct?

1. Consent can always wait until after closing
2. Every client must give informed written consent before dual conduct
3. Payment from both sides alone supplies consent
4. Only the seller must consent

5. Required dual-agency confirmation is embedded in the offer or contract. What does Section 15-45(c) require for that embedded confirmation?

1. A seller's signature for every client
2. The client signs the document and initials the confirmation provision
3. Only the brokerage's signature
4. Only a verbal yes

6. A licensee owns part of the LLC buying a listing and proposes to represent both the seller and the LLC. Everyone offers informed written consent. What follows?

1. Only the LLC name need be disclosed
2. Consent automatically removes every conflict
3. The ownership-based dual-agency prohibition still applies
4. The interest is ignored if below 1%

7. One designated agent prepares two client buyers' offers on the same parcel, knowing both will be considered together. What is required?

1. Automatic cancellation of both offers
2. Only an oral notice to the owner
3. Written notice to each affected client and referral on request
4. Disclosure of each client's ceiling to the other

8. A licensee holds a small membership interest in an LLC buying real estate. Under the stated status rule, which response is correct?

1. Disclose licensure status in writing to all parties before initiating the transaction
2. Wait until the deed is recorded
3. Disclosure is only required above 1%
4. An LLC always eliminates disclosure

9. The seller funds an agreed payment to the buyer's broker. Does that payment alone make the buyer's designated agent the seller's agent?

1. Yes, if the fee is above 1%
2. Yes, whoever pays controls agency
3. Yes, unless the seller signs a radon waiver
4. No, payment does not itself determine the agency relationship

10. A sponsoring broker receives compensation from both buyer and seller in one transaction. What does Section 10-10(d) require?

1. Automatic dual-agency consent inferred from payment
2. Only a verbal disclosure to the title company
3. Written disclosure to a client that both sides are paying
4. No disclosure if both checks arrive at closing

11. A licensee refers a client to a nonpublic service provider in which the licensee owns 0.5% and receives profit-sharing distributions. The referral relates to the transaction. Which Section 10-10(c) response is correct?

1. Ignore it because ownership is below 1%
2. Disclose only to the provider
3. Wait until after the service is completed
4. Disclose the qualifying profit-sharing interest to the client at the referral

12. A covered seller has actual knowledge of no defect and has not ordered an inspection. What does the seller-report Act require?

1. The seller completes the report from actual knowledge without a specific investigation duty under this Act
2. The broker guesses every answer
3. The seller always orders an invasive investigation
4. The seller waits until after closing

13. A covered seller sends the report Friday, but neither the buyer nor an authorized recipient receives it until Monday after all parties sign Saturday. Which conclusion is correct?

1. Receipt never matters for email
2. The report can only be delivered by postal mail
3. Friday sending always makes delivery timely
4. The stated delivery is late; receipt, not send time alone, is the anchor

14. Before closing, a covered seller learns a previously delivered report is inaccurate because a new material leak has developed. What is required?

1. A written supplement using the Act's delivery methods
2. No action because the original answer was once true
3. Automatic cancellation of every contract
4. A verbal promise to the broker only

15. The initial report is delivered in violation of Section 20 after all parties sign and discloses a qualifying material defect. Which Section 40(a) timing applies before conveyance?

1. Every supplement creates five calendar days from sending
2. Cancellation is automatic without notice
3. The seller alone may cancel at any time
4. The buyer may terminate within five business days after receiving that report, using the required written notice

16. A seller's agent actually knows a latent material adverse physical fact that a prospective buyer customer could not discover by reasonably diligent inspection. The seller asks the agent to remain silent. What follows?

1. The agent must make the timely disclosure required by Section 15-25
2. A no answer on the seller form eliminates the agent's duty
3. The seller's preference always controls
4. The agent must perform destructive testing first

17. A nonexempt radon sale has no radon test report in the seller's possession. What does Section 10 itself require?

1. No forms because there is no test
2. A guarantee of zero radon
3. Mandatory seller-funded mitigation before listing
4. The prescribed disclosure and approved pamphlet, without inventing a new testing or mitigation mandate

18. A rental unit is on the third story above ground level. Which Radon Awareness Act statement is correct?

1. Leases can never qualify for Section 20 exclusions
2. The unit is automatically exempt from federal lead law
3. The specific third-story-or-higher exclusion can apply to purchases and leases
4. The exclusion proves radon cannot be present

19. A purchaser of covered target housing signs a written waiver of the lead inspection opportunity. Which duty remains?

1. Mandatory seller abatement in every case
2. The prescribed disclosure package, including required known information and available records
3. No duty because the entire lead rule is waived
4. A universal ten-day tenant contingency

20. A current federal lead question involves a pre-1978 zero-bedroom unit in which a child under six will reside. Which assumption should be rejected?

1. Every zero-bedroom unit is unconditionally excluded regardless of the under-six qualification
2. Construction year is relevant
3. The current target-housing definition must be checked
4. Sales and leases can have different procedural details

21. In a covered transfer with a lender, the transferor received mine-subsidence insurance payments on the property. With no qualifying waiver, what is the Section 3 duty?

1. Disclose only future payments, never prior claims
2. Disclose any nearby mine orally
3. Disclose paid claims in writing to transferee and lender when the transfer agreement is made
4. Tell only the buyer after closing

22. A garden apartment outside a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area is in a property that flooded twice within ten years. No exemption applies. Which answer is correct?

1. Only a seller must disclose flooding
2. No flood disclosure can be required outside FEMA areas
3. Flood disclosure legalizes any prohibited basement rental
4. The lower-level history rule can require written disclosure of the flooding and frequency before signing, with lease inclusion and both signatures

23. A known fuel tank was removed, but a covered seller and the seller's agent know remaining contamination exists. Which statement is correct?

1. The broker must guarantee a remediation cost
2. Removal does not erase applicable seller-report and independent licensee physical-fact duties
3. Every removal invoice proves the site is clean
4. Only the lender may disclose contamination

24. The only fact given is that a seller calls the house an investment and never personally lived there. Can you conclude the seller-report Act never applies?

1. Yes, every investor is exempt
2. Yes, an as-is clause substitutes for the form
3. No, apply the current seller definition, covered transfer and specific exemptions
4. Yes, never occupied is the only condition

25. A supplement discloses a material defect repairable before closing. Which statement accurately describes the five-business-day condition in Section 40(b)(iii)?

1. It concerns the seller declining or failing to agree in writing to repair within five business days after supplement delivery
2. It removes the written notice and preconveyance requirements
3. It lets the broker guarantee repairs orally
4. It always gives the buyer five days from sending to cancel for any reason