Illinois real estate exam practice
Illinois environmental disclosures: timing, forms and exceptions
An unused tank still sits under the yard. A first-floor apartment flooded even though the map shows no special flood hazard area. A seller has no lead test for a 1962 home. Each fact calls for a different question about coverage, knowledge and timing. Work through those decisions before choosing an answer.
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The short answer
Illinois environmental-disclosure questions involve several separate laws. Covered radon and federal lead transactions can require their own materials before the buyer or tenant becomes obligated. Mine-subsidence law concerns specified transfers and insurance claims paid to the transferor. A known buried fuel tank can belong on a covered seller report even when a regulatory tank exclusion applies. Covered landlords have separate written flood duties. Identify the transaction, property, responsible person, recipient and deadline, then apply every layer that fits.
The PSI outline dated June 24, 2026 lists radon, lead-based paint, mine subsidence, underground storage tanks and landlord flooding in Illinois IV.E. The whole Disclosures domain has ten of 40 scored Illinois broker questions across several subjects; it does not promise ten environmental questions or a fixed count for each hazard. These are original teaching questions, not recalled PSI items or a validated readiness measure.
Use the facts to identify each applicable duty
- Check coverage for each law. A sale, lease, renewal, long-term transfer or tank ownership change can have different duties. The general seller report, Radon Awareness Act, federal target-housing rule, mine statute and rental-flood section have their own definitions and exemptions. A property’s construction year or a person’s job title alone does not answer every coverage question.
- Keep the seller report and special materials together when both apply. The covered seller completes all report items and delivers the report before the buyer signs the contract. Known radon, lead, mine and underground-fuel-tank facts must be answered as the actual form requires. The report uses actual knowledge and qualified protections, and a known pre-closing error or omission can require a written supplement. Its completion does not replace a separate statutory package.
- For a covered radon sale, use the approved pamphlet and statutory disclosure, with the applicable known records, before the buyer becomes obligated. When an offer arrives first, complete the required disclosures before acceptance and allow review and possible amendment. The sale section itself does not impose testing or mitigation on every owner. A general report checkbox does not replace the radon materials.
- For radon rentals, use current Section 26 and the actual exclusions. It applies to leases entered into on or after January 1, 2024. Its ordinary testing window starts at commencement of the agreed leasing period, not automatically at signing. The tenant’s copies are due within ten days after receiving results. The lessor’s additional-test provision uses thirty days after notice of the tenant’s results and calls for the test to be performed. A failure to provide the required documents has a separate route; do not collapse all tenant remedies into one clock.
- For federal lead, establish target housing and check the actual exemptions. Pre-1978 housing is the starting point. The current definition’s under-six-child condition matters for housing for older people, housing for people with disabilities and zero-bedroom dwellings. A certified paint-free finding is a specified lease exemption, not a universal sale exemption. Short-term and renewal exceptions also have conditions. “No known lead” is an answer within the process, not an automatic exemption.
- Assemble the federal package before obligation. Provide the approved pamphlet, known information and available reports, with the required warning, acknowledgments and certifications. Available records include specified common-area and building-wide information, not just one room’s report. A covered buyer ordinarily has a ten-day evaluation opportunity; a different period needs mutual written agreement, and waiving the opportunity is written. That choice does not waive the information package. If the offer came first, disclose before acceptance and allow review and possible amendment.
- For mine subsidence, separate mapped workings, the defined physical condition and an insurance payment. Section 2 requires lateral or vertical ground movement that directly damages a structure and results from collapse of a man-made underground mine. Section 3 concerns claims paid to the transferor for the property, disclosed in writing to the transferee and lender when the covered transfer agreement is made. A written agreement incorporates the disclosure. A waiver of disclosure or its timing must be written and signed by the transferee and lender. The transferor’s signature is not a substitute for either recipient’s required signature.
- For tanks, distinguish the physical feature from regulatory status. Item 21 of the covered seller report asks about known underground fuel storage tanks. Part 174’s exclusion for heating oil of any capacity used exclusively for consumptive use on a farm or residence differs from its 1,100-gallon-or-less noncommercial farm or residential motor-fuel exclusion. Neither exclusion certifies clean soil or removes every other applicable duty. A regulated UST ownership-change notice is a separate process, generally thirty days after acquisition for the specified subsequent owner.
- For rental flooding, check Section 25’s coverage and both history rules. Subsection (b) addresses FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area status and actually known flooding of the rental property or parking areas, with frequency. Subsection (c) adds the last ten years for a garden, basement or first-floor unit, or any part of its containing property. Provide the written information before signing, include it in the lease or renewal and obtain both signatures. Farm and concession leases and DNR-owned or DNR-managed rentals are exempt under this section. It does not legalize a unit prohibited locally.
- Keep records and professional conclusions in their proper scope. Tank registration, a release file, removal records and a No Further Remediation letter answer different questions. Read a letter’s program, release, land-use restrictions and continuing controls before relying on it. The seller-client licensee’s separate Section 15-25 duty concerns actually known latent material adverse physical facts not discoverable by a reasonably diligent buyer-customer inspection. Communicate the actual facts and reports without inventing an environmental safety certificate.
| Duty | What to identify | Timing or boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Radon sale | Approved pamphlet, statutory form and applicable known records | Covered sale; before buyer obligation; offer-first review before acceptance |
| Radon rental | Tenant guide, tenant form and hazard records | Section 26 application, pre-lease and during-tenancy request provisions; actual coverage |
| Federal lead | Approved pamphlet, known information, available reports, warning and certifications | Covered target housing; before obligation; buyer opportunity has written choices |
| Mine paid claim | Claims paid to transferor; transferee and lender receive written disclosure | At covered transfer agreement; written agreement includes it |
| Known fuel tank | Actual seller-report item plus separate regulatory records | Covered report before buyer signs; a regulatory exclusion does not change the fact |
| Regulated UST change | Specified subsequent owner, electronic notice, authorization, PIN and ownership evidence | Thirty days after acquisition under the actual rule |
| Rental flood | FEMA status, applicable history and frequency, signed written statement | Before signing; in lease or renewal; Section 25 exemptions still matter |
The distinctions that matter
| Distinction | How it works | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Hazard notice vs. proof of contamination | A disclosure requirement can arise from covered property and transaction facts even without a positive new test. Neither a notice nor its absence is an environmental safety finding. | Information requirement versus scientific conclusion. |
| General seller report vs. special package | The Illinois report gathers actual-knowledge answers across many conditions. Radon and federal lead rules can add pamphlets, forms, records, warnings, and acknowledgments. | Broad checklist versus hazard-specific compliance. |
| Radon disclosure vs. radon testing | Disclosure can apply without a new test. The seller provides required information and known records, while testing is addressed separately by law, contract, or buyer choice. | Required information versus measurement. |
| Lead disclosure vs. lead abatement | The federal transaction rule requires information and documentation. It does not generally require every seller or lessor to remove lead-based paint before a covered transaction. | Tell and document versus remediate. |
| Buyer lead opportunity vs. renter disclosure | The covered buyer ordinarily has a ten-day evaluation opportunity, subject to mutual written changes or a written waiver of that opportunity. Those choices do not remove required lead information or give ordinary renters the same buyer period. | Sale investigation period versus lease information package. |
| Mine map vs. paid mine-subsidence claim | A mine map describes possible underground workings. The special disclosure statute asks about mine-subsidence insurance claims paid to the transferor for the property. | Physical risk indicator versus statutory payment event. |
| Underground tank vs. leaking underground tank | A buried tank can exist without a confirmed release. A leaking UST file reflects a reported release and corrective-action history. | Equipment presence versus contamination record. |
| Residential tank exclusion vs. seller-report answer | The specified exclusive farm or residential consumptive heating-oil exclusion can apply at any tank capacity. It does not erase an actual known buried fuel tank from a covered seller report or certify the absence of a release. | Regulatory classification does not rewrite the form question. |
| Floodplain status vs. flooding history | FEMA mapping and actual event history are separate. Section 25 adds a ten-year history rule for lower-level units or their containing property; its definitions and exemptions still matter. | Map versus events. |
| Sale flood item vs. landlord flood statement | A covered seller answers the residential report before a sales contract. A landlord makes Section 25 disclosures before a lease or renewal and includes them in the signed agreement. | Buyer form versus tenant notice. |
| A test date vs. receipt of results | For Section 26’s ordinary tenant route, the ninety-day window starts with lease commencement. Copies go to the lessor within ten days after the tenant receives results; the additional-test period starts after notice to the lessor. | Name the event before counting. |
| An NFR letter vs. unrestricted use | A No Further Remediation letter can have a defined release or site scope and continuing land-use or other controls. It is not automatic approval for every future residential use. | Read the actual letter and conditions. |
Work through the facts
The 1962 home with no lead records
A seller has never tested a 1962 single-family home and says there is nothing to disclose because no one has proved that lead-based paint exists. Assume covered target housing, no applicable federal transaction exemption and no written change or waiver of the buyer’s evaluation opportunity.
- The construction date raises the federal target-housing disclosure process even without a positive test.
- The seller accurately states known information and supplies available records, if any.
- The package also includes the EPA pamphlet, warning and certifications, plus the buyer's inspection opportunity unless changed or waived in writing.
Answer: Complete the required lead disclosure process before obligation, including the ordinary ten-day buyer opportunity on these supplied facts. No known lead is not an exemption; this is not a requirement to perform abatement in every sale.
The radon packet after the offer
A buyer submits an offer on a covered Illinois home before receiving the radon pamphlet and disclosure. The seller has not accepted the offer yet.
- The Illinois sale process places the radon disclosure activity before the buyer becomes obligated.
- The seller can still deliver the materials before accepting the offer.
- The buyer then has an opportunity to review the information and address it within the transaction.
Answer: Complete the radon disclosures before accepting the offer and allow the buyer to review and possibly amend it. Apply the actual coverage and other required disclosures too; this does not approve a private contract sequence.
The mapped mine with no paid claim
A property sits above mapped mine workings. The transferor has never received a mine-subsidence insurance payment for that property.
- The map can matter to general disclosure, insurance, physical investigation, and buyer decision-making.
- The Mine Subsidence Disclosure Act specifically focuses on claims paid to the transferor.
- A mapped mine does not prove that a claim was filed or paid.
Answer: A map does not prove a payment to this transferor or the statutory causal chain: mine collapse produces ground movement that directly damages a structure. Answer applicable seller-report and other duties from the actual facts. No paid claim does not mean no condition or risk.
The buried residential heating-oil tank
A seller knows an unused buried tank once supplied the home furnace. The seller argues that a residential heating-oil regulatory exclusion means the residential disclosure form should say no. Assume the current covered seller report applies, the fuel tank remains on the property and no separate report exemption is supplied.
- The statutory seller report asks whether the seller is aware of an underground fuel storage tank.
- The physical-feature question is separate from regulatory UST classification.
- A buyer may also need tank, release, closure, soil, and agency-record information from qualified sources.
Answer: Answer the applicable seller-report question truthfully about the known underground fuel tank. Determine regulatory coverage, records and any release separately; no clean-soil conclusion follows from being unused or from the stated definition exclusion.
The first-floor unit that flooded twice
A landlord prepares a renewal for a first-floor apartment. The building is outside the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, but the unit flooded twice during heavy rain in the last 10 years. Assume a lawful rental subject to Section 25, no farm, concession or DNR exemption, and the landlord actually knows the stated events and frequency.
- First floor falls within the lower-level-unit definition for this provision.
- Mapped flood-zone status and known flooding history are separate disclosures.
- The landlord provides the statement before signing, includes it in the renewal, and obtains both signatures.
Answer: Provide the applicable written history and frequency before renewal signing, include it in the renewal and obtain both signatures. The negative map answer does not remove the supplied lower-level flooding history.
The house with four environmental lanes
A 1972 Illinois house has a current elevated radon report, an old buried fuel tank, and a mine-subsidence insurance claim paid to the seller. The seller has also completed the general property report. Assume the federal lead, Illinois radon, mine-transfer and general-report provisions all apply, no exemption or mine-disclosure waiver is supplied, and the paid mine claim was paid to this transferor.
- The construction year raises the federal lead package, whether or not a lead test exists.
- Radon has its own Illinois disclosure materials and known records.
- The paid mine claim goes to the transferee and lender, while the tank requires the applicable seller-report answer and separate records inquiry.
Answer: Apply each supplied duty with its own timing and recipients: the general report, covered lead package and buyer opportunity, radon materials, mine paid-claim disclosure to transferee and lender, and tank-related report answer and records inquiry. No single completed form substitutes for the others.
Three radon clocks with different starting events
For an ordinary covered Section 26(b)-(c) rental example, the tenant conducts a radon test during the first ninety days after the agreed leasing period begins. The tenant receives the results later and notifies the lessor. Assume the stated route applies and no missing-document exception or disputed event is supplied.
- The ordinary testing window is measured from commencement of the agreed leasing period.
- The tenant supplies copies within ten days after receiving the results, not ten days after merely starting the test.
- The additional-test provision allows the lessor to hire a radon contractor to perform an additional test within thirty days after the tenant’s notice.
Answer: Keep commencement, receipt of results and notice to the lessor separate. The exercise does not decide the validity of a private test, a precise legal deadline or a right to terminate under every later-testing circumstance.
A tank ownership notice has its own clock
A buyer acquires a facility with a registered regulated motor-fuel UST. Assume the buyer is the subsequent owner subject to Section 176.440(g), no applicable exception is supplied and the question concerns the ownership-change notice, not bringing a new tank into operation.
- The relevant event is acquisition for this specified ownership change.
- The subsequent owner reports it within thirty days after acquisition through the required electronic process.
- The rule also calls for authorization, the property PIN and ownership evidence; a general seller-report answer is not that submission.
Answer: Use the actual ownership-change process and its after-acquisition clock. Do not apply it to every property sale or substitute the separate new-tank operation deadline. No notice is submitted or private regulatory classification approved here.
A missing radon package changes the route
A tenant in a dwelling subject to Section 26 did not receive the required subsection (a) documents. The ordinary ninety-day period has passed. The tenant now considers testing. Assume the lease term continues and no exclusion applies.
- Subsection (e) allows a tenant facing this specified omission to elect testing at any point during the term.
- A result showing a radon hazard, timely copies after receipt and the actual lessor dispute or mitigation response matter. A later test alone does not establish every remedy.
- The lessor’s paid contractor test uses thirty days after notice. The tenant’s listed sixty-day choices retain their statutory conditions; tenant-funded contractor mitigation requires express lessor consent.
Answer: Start with the missing-documents provision rather than declaring every late test ineffective. Read its full conditions before selecting mitigation or termination. This example does not supply a universal sixty-days-from-notice rule or decide an actual lease dispute.
Two flood remedies use different events
Compare two nonexempt Section 25 cases. In the first, the landlord failed subsection (b), and the tenant later learns that the property is in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area and becomes aware of that failure. In the second, a subsection (b) or (c) failure is followed by a flood that damages the tenant’s belongings. Assume each route’s stated facts are established.
- In the first route, written termination notice is due no later than the thirtieth day after the tenant becomes aware of the subsection (b) failure. No new flood is supplied or required for that stated route.
- In the second route, written termination notice is due no later than the thirtieth day after the flood occurred. The statute also identifies habitability and access effects and permits an action for personal property lost or damaged by flooding.
- For either stated termination route, the advance rent and fees return is due no later than the fifteenth day after the tenant gave notice, not automatically fifteen days after an eventual move-out.
Answer: Name the omission and triggering event before using thirty days. Keep the advance-payment return and damages remedy distinct. These are teaching facts, not a live deadline calculation, a finding about a particular landlord or an insurance coverage decision.
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating a report checkbox as the whole environmental package Apply every covered statute’s materials, timing and recipient rules.
- Assuming every owner must order new tests The identified disclosure provisions do not create one universal testing or mitigation mandate. Check other applicable law and contract duties separately.
- Using a construction year without checking target housing Federal lead definitions and actual transaction exemptions still matter, including the under-six condition for zero-bedroom housing.
- Waiving all lead disclosures because the buyer waives inspection The written evaluation-opportunity choice does not remove the required information package.
- Using the ninety-day radon clock for every tenant case Current Section 26 has an ordinary commencement-based route and a separate missing-documents route.
- Calling every mine map a paid claim Mapped workings, the statutory physical definition and claims paid to the transferor are different facts.
- Answering no about a known tank because a regulatory exclusion applies The covered form’s physical-feature question is separate from regulatory UST classification.
- Treating an NFR letter as a universal clean-property certificate Read its actual release, program, land-use and continuing-control conditions.
- Ignoring past flooding because the map is negative Mapped risk and event history are separate, with an additional ten-year rule for covered lower-level rentals.
- Sending an email but omitting the signed lease statement The applicable flood information also belongs in the written lease or renewal and needs both signatures.
- Using a generic thirty-day environmental deadline UST acquisition, radon result notice and the separate flood-remedy events have different legal roles and conditions.
- Making the broker the environmental certifier Apply the actual licensee duty and communicate facts without diagnosing contamination or guaranteeing safety.
Check your understanding
These are original teaching questions, not recalled or predicted PSI questions. Answer first, then explain why the other choices fail.
1. A covered 1955 home has no lead reports and the seller knows of no lead paint. What best satisfies the federal transaction rule? Assume no other federal exemption and no written change or waiver of the evaluation opportunity.
- Skip disclosure because no positive test exists
- Require full abatement before the property is shown
- Use only the Illinois residential seller report
- Provide the EPA package, state the seller's knowledge and records accurately, and give the buyer's inspection opportunity
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Provide the EPA package, state the seller's knowledge and records accurately, and give the buyer's inspection opportunity
Pre-1978 target housing triggers the federal information process. No known lead is a response within that process rather than an exemption. The ordinary buyer opportunity is ten days on the supplied facts; changing or waiving that opportunity does not waive the information package.
2. The transferor received a mine-subsidence insurance payment for the property. What does Illinois law require when a written transfer agreement is made? Assume a covered transfer and no valid statutory waiver.
- Written disclosure of the paid claim to the transferee and lender as part of the agreement
- A seller-paid mine survey in every case
- Oral notice to the buyer after closing
- Disclosure only when the property has four units or fewer
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Written disclosure of the paid claim to the transferee and lender as part of the agreement
The Mine Subsidence Disclosure Act focuses on paid claims, names both recipients, and places the disclosure at the transfer agreement.
3. A garden-level rental flooded three times in the last 10 years but is outside a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. What is the best answer? Assume Section 25 applies, the landlord knows the stated events and no statutory exemption is supplied.
- Use the federal buyer lead form instead
- Disclose the history and known frequency before signing and include the signed statement in the lease or renewal
- Make no disclosure because the map controls every flood question
- Wait until the tenant experiences a flood
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Disclose the history and known frequency before signing and include the signed statement in the lease or renewal
Garden level is a lower-level unit, and the 10-year event-history duty is separate from mapped flood-zone status.
4. A seller knows an underground residential heating-oil tank remains on the property. Which exam answer is strongest? Assume the seller report applies and no report exemption is supplied.
- Disclose the known tank on the applicable seller report and investigate separate regulatory or release issues as needed
- Wait for the buyer to discover the tank
- Guarantee clean soil because the tank is unused
- Answer no because residential heating oil is outside every possible rule
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Disclose the known tank on the applicable seller report and investigate separate regulatory or release issues as needed
The physical-feature disclosure and regulatory UST classification are separate. A known tank should not be converted into a no answer by an unrelated exclusion.
5. A covered Illinois home sale includes known elevated radon records, and the seller already completed the general property report. What additional package is most clearly required?
- Nothing because the general report replaces every other form
- Only an oral warning after closing
- Mandatory seller-paid mitigation in every transaction
- The approved radon pamphlet, Illinois radon form, and applicable records before the buyer is obligated
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The approved radon pamphlet, Illinois radon form, and applicable records before the buyer is obligated
Illinois radon law has a separate sale lane that stacks with the general seller report when both apply.
6. A covered buyer signs a written waiver of the federal lead evaluation opportunity. Does that alone waive the required pamphlet, known information and disclosure attachment?
- No; the opportunity and the information requirements are separate
- Yes; a general seller report becomes the federal form
- Yes; waiver proves that the home contains no lead
- Yes; every lead requirement disappears
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No; the opportunity and the information requirements are separate
Section 745.110 addresses the buyer’s evaluation choice. Sections 745.107 and 745.113 still govern the applicable information, warning, certification and acknowledgment requirements. No private waiver is approved.
7. A 1960 zero-bedroom dwelling is leased to a household in which a four-year-old child is expected to reside. No transaction exemption applies. Is the dwelling automatically outside target housing solely because it has zero bedrooms?
- Yes; the tenant’s age is never relevant to the definition
- Yes; only buildings with four or more bedrooms are covered
- Yes; all studios are always excluded
- No; the current definition includes the under-six-child condition
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No; the current definition includes the under-six-child condition
Read the current Section 745.103 parenthetical. Do not import an older blanket studio exclusion. The question supplies the child and absence of another transaction exemption rather than classifying every actual unit.
8. A finding by the qualified inspector or risk assessor specified in Section 745.101(b) establishes that target housing is lead-based-paint free for the stated lease exemption. Does that finding alone create the same exemption for a later sale?
- Yes; every sale becomes exempt forever
- Yes; the finding replaces every state disclosure law
- Yes; no future owner can ever have a lead duty
- No; the identified exemption is for qualifying leases
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. No; the identified exemption is for qualifying leases
The identified exemption applies to qualifying leases of housing found lead-based-paint free by the specified properly certified person. It is not a parallel blanket sale exemption, a finding about every environmental hazard or a substitute for other applicable law.
9. For the ordinary Section 26(b) tenant-radon testing window, which event starts the ninety-day period?
- The tenant’s receipt of a later tax bill
- Commencement of the agreed leasing period
- The seller’s closing date
- Whenever the broker first mentions radon
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Commencement of the agreed leasing period
The statute uses commencement, not automatically the lease signature date. Section 26(g) separately addresses leases entered into on or after January 1, 2024. Missing-document circumstances can follow another route.
10. A tenant chooses a radon test under the stated Section 26 route. From which event is the ten-day period for supplying copies measured?
- The contractor’s first advertisement
- The first day the tenant viewed the unit
- Receiving the test results
- Signing any earlier purchase offer
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Receiving the test results
The statute says within ten days after receiving results. Do not replace receipt with the start of testing, a lease-signature date or the lessor’s later additional-test notice.
11. Under the supplied ordinary Section 26(c) route, what does the lessor’s additional-test provision allow?
- Wait thirty days after closing on a different property
- Treat the tenant’s test as automatically invalid
- Only schedule a future test within thirty days with no performance requirement
- Hire a radon contractor to perform an additional test within thirty days after the tenant’s notice
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Hire a radon contractor to perform an additional test within thirty days after the tenant’s notice
The rule concerns performance of an additional test and has a notice-based clock. Validity and later building changes, the actual result and any remedy conditions remain separate.
12. Under Section 20’s specified radon exclusion, how are a dwelling unit on the third story or higher above ground and the word transfers treated?
- Every above-ground first-floor apartment is excluded
- The stated exclusion can concern purchases and leases; it is not a safety finding
- The exclusion certifies a zero-radon concentration
- Only purchases can ever be transfers
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The stated exclusion can concern purchases and leases; it is not a safety finding
The statute’s exclusion identifies third story or higher above ground and includes legal transfers of possession such as purchases and leases. Actual coverage and unit facts matter; exclusion from that duty is not a health certificate.
13. A current transferor knows of an old mine-insurance payment made to a prior owner but has received no such claim payment personally. What does that fact alone establish?
- That the property is environmentally safe
- That every general seller-report duty disappears
- That this transferor was necessarily paid the old claim
- It does not establish a claim paid to this transferor; other actual-knowledge duties still need review
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. It does not establish a claim paid to this transferor; other actual-knowledge duties still need review
The special disclosure concerns claims paid to the transferor for the property. Do not invent that payment or turn its absence into immunity from other applicable duties about known facts.
14. A real-property lease has a thirty-five-year term plus an exercisable six-year option. With no listed exclusion supplied, what does the Mine Subsidence Disclosure Act’s term test establish?
- Only the initial thirty-five years count
- Exactly forty years must be exceeded by at least ten more years
- Lease options are never considered
- The forty-one-year total exceeds forty years
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. The forty-one-year total exceeds forty years
The definition considers all options that may be exercised. Thirty-five plus six is forty-one, greater than forty. This is a defined-transfer threshold, not proof of a paid claim, private lease validity or a resulting remedy.
15. Which stated mine-disclosure waiver matches the statute’s formal requirement, without deciding an actual waiver’s enforceability?
- A lender’s unrelated advertisement
- The transferee’s silence alone
- A written waiver signed by the transferee and lender
- An oral assurance from one broker
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A written waiver signed by the transferee and lender
Section 3(c) names the transferee and lender as the required signers for a written waiver of disclosure or its timing. The transferor and transferee are not the required pair. This formal requirement does not approve a private waiver or eliminate other applicable duties.
16. Which statement correctly distinguishes the identified Part 174 tank exclusions?
- Residential heating oil is excluded only below 1,100 gallons
- Specified noncommercial farm or residential motor-fuel storage uses a 1,100-gallon-or-less limit; exclusive farm or residential consumptive heating oil has an any-capacity exclusion
- All nonresidential commercial heating oil has the same complete exclusion
- Every underground tank under 10,000 gallons is exempt
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Specified noncommercial farm or residential motor-fuel storage uses a 1,100-gallon-or-less limit; exclusive farm or residential consumptive heating oil has an any-capacity exclusion
Apply the actual use and property conditions. The heating-oil exclusion is not a blanket commercial exclusion, and neither category answers a covered seller-report item or certifies clean soil.
17. A subsequent owner acquires a facility with a regulated UST and is subject to Section 176.440(g), with no applicable exception. Which clock concerns that ownership change?
- Report the change within thirty days after acquisition
- Only after the tank leaks
- Ten days after a radon result
- Thirty days before signing every property purchase contract
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Report the change within thirty days after acquisition
The rule has its own electronic notice, authorization, PIN and ownership-evidence requirements. A separate new-tank operation deadline and a general seller disclosure are not the same process.
18. An actual NFR letter permits only industrial or commercial use and requires continuing controls. Does the letter alone establish unrestricted residential use?
- No; its actual scope and continuing conditions control
- Yes; all land-use restrictions automatically vanish
- Yes; it certifies every unrelated contaminant has been removed
- Yes; every NFR letter is a clean-soil warranty
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. No; its actual scope and continuing conditions control
A No Further Remediation letter must be read for its program, release or site scope and controls. The question supplies the restriction. It does not approve a private letter, future use or transfer between regulatory programs.
19. For a nonexempt Section 25 rental, a first-floor unit stayed dry but another portion of its containing property flooded during the last ten years. What is the strongest reading of the lower-level history rule?
- It applies only if water entered that exact unit
- It is replaced whenever the FEMA map is negative
- It includes the unit or any portion of the containing real property
- It excludes first-floor units
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. It includes the unit or any portion of the containing real property
Subsection (c) includes garden, basement and first-floor units and the stated containing-property history. The disclosure is written, before signing, included in the lease or renewal and signed by both parties under the applicable provision.
20. A seller-client licensee actually knows a latent material adverse physical condition that a reasonably diligent buyer-customer inspection would not discover. Which duty is directly supplied by Section 15-25?
- Certify contamination without qualified evidence
- Guarantee that every environmental condition is safe
- Hide it whenever the seller prefers silence
- Timely disclose the stated known physical fact to the prospective-buyer customer
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Timely disclose the stated known physical fact to the prospective-buyer customer
The question supplies seller-client engagement, prospective-buyer customer, actual knowledge, latent material adverse physical facts and the inspection limit. Do not substitute a universal investigation warranty or a scientific diagnosis.
21. A covered lessor failed to provide the Section 26(a) radon documents. The tenant first chooses to test after the ordinary ninety-day period. Which provision must be considered?
- The separate Section 26(e) missing-documents route, which allows testing at any point during the lease term
- A rule that all late test results prove zero radon
- An automatic bar to every tenant remedy after ninety days
- A requirement that the tenant buy the building
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. The separate Section 26(e) missing-documents route, which allows testing at any point during the lease term
Subsection (e) has its own hazard-result, copy, dispute, mitigation and remedy conditions. Testing after ninety days does not, by itself, establish an unconditional cancellation right. Do not transfer the ordinary subsection (b) limitation to this distinct supplied omission.
22. Under federal Section 745.113(c), which pair correctly states the minimum three-year retention anchors for the required completed lead documentation?
- Original construction and first repainting
- Completion of the sale and commencement of the leasing period
- Every future renewal and the buyer’s eventual resale
- First advertisement and first showing
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Completion of the sale and commencement of the leasing period
The seller or responsible agent retains the completed sale attachment for no less than three years from sale completion. The lessor or responsible agent retains the lease disclosure information for no less than three years from commencement of the leasing period. These federal minima do not cap other applicable record duties.
23. Under Section 25, assume a nonexempt landlord failed the applicable subsection (b) or (c) duty and a flood then damaged the tenant’s personal property. Which clock concerns the stated flood-based termination route?
- Written termination notice no later than the thirtieth day after the flood occurred
- Thirty days after the landlord chooses to acknowledge the omission
- Thirty days after any unrelated lease advertisement
- Fifteen years after a FEMA map was drawn
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Written termination notice no later than the thirtieth day after the flood occurred
The supplied flood and disclosure-failure facts activate this distinct route. Advance rent and fees are returned no later than the fifteenth day after the tenant gave notice. The separate subsection (b)-failure and later FEMA-awareness route has an awareness-based thirty-day notice clock; the two are not interchangeable.
24. Which supplied fact pattern meets the Mine Subsidence Disclosure Act’s physical definition, without itself proving a paid insurance claim?
- Collapse of a man-made underground mine causes ground movement that directly damages a structure
- A mine appears on a map but no ground movement or damage is established
- A tree root causes a crack without mine collapse
- A transferor receives an unrelated automobile insurance payment
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Collapse of a man-made underground mine causes ground movement that directly damages a structure
Section 2(c) links the mine collapse, ground movement and direct structural damage. A paid claim to the transferor is the separate Section 3 disclosure inquiry. A map, unrelated settlement or payment cannot replace the defined causal facts.
Common questions
Which environmental topics are on the Illinois broker outline?
Illinois IV.E lists radon, lead-based paint, mine subsidence, underground storage tanks and landlord flooding. They are within the whole Disclosures domain, which has ten of 40 scored Illinois broker questions across several subjects. That is not a ten-question allocation to this page or a fixed question count for each hazard.
Is there one environmental form that covers everything?
No. Identify the transaction, property, responsible person, recipient and timing under each applicable law. A general seller report, radon materials, federal lead package, mine paid-claim disclosure, regulated-tank notice and rental-flood statement can have different functions. Apply the layers that fit instead of treating one completed form as a substitute.
Does the seller report replace the radon form?
No. When both provisions apply, the seller report and the radon materials are separate duties. A covered radon sale calls for the approved pamphlet, statutory disclosure and applicable known records before buyer obligation. The seller-report radon answer does not deliver that whole package or prove a private property is safe.
Does every home built before 1978 need the same lead paperwork?
First decide whether it is target housing and whether a transaction exemption applies. The current under-six-child condition matters for housing for older people, housing for people with disabilities and zero-bedroom dwellings. The certified paint-free exemption is for specified leases; other exceptions include carefully defined short leases and renewals. A covered owner’s lack of known lead is not itself an exemption.
Can the buyer change or waive the ten-day lead opportunity?
The parties can mutually agree in writing to a different evaluation period, and the buyer can waive the opportunity in writing. Those choices do not erase the required pamphlet, known information, available reports, warning, acknowledgments or certifications. The ordinary buyer opportunity is not a mandatory ten-day inspection period for every renter.
What if the buyer makes an offer before receiving radon or lead materials?
For the applicable offer-first disclosure provisions, complete the required activities before accepting the offer and allow review and possible amendment. Check each law’s coverage and package. Waiting until closing can miss the required sequence, and a completed general report does not cure every separate omission.
How do the tenant-radon ninety-, ten- and thirty-day periods differ?
For the ordinary Section 26 route, ninety days runs from commencement of the agreed leasing period for the tenant’s test. Copies of results go to the lessor within ten days after the tenant receives them. The lessor may hire a radon contractor to perform an additional test within thirty days after notice of the tenant’s results. Missing required documents creates a separate route. Section 26 applies to leases entered into on or after January 1, 2024; entry into the lease and commencement are different facts.
Are third-floor units exempt from every environmental rule?
No. The Radon Awareness Act has a specified exclusion for dwelling units on the third story or higher above ground, and its definition of transfers includes purchases and leases. That is not a radon safety certificate or an exemption from all lead, seller-report, license-law, contract or other applicable duties. Apply each provision separately.
What must be disclosed about a paid mine-subsidence claim?
For a covered transfer and absent an applicable waiver, disclose in writing all mine-subsidence insurance claims paid to the transferor for the property to the transferee and lender when the transfer agreement is made. A written agreement incorporates the disclosure. Section 3(c) requires a waiver of timing or disclosure to be written and signed by the transferee and lender. These are the recipients, not the transferor and transferee. Other actual-knowledge duties remain separate.
Is a mine map the same as mine subsidence or a paid claim?
No. Section 2 defines mine subsidence as lateral or vertical ground movement that directly damages a structure and results from the collapse of a man-made underground mine. A map alone does not establish that causal chain or an insurance payment to the current transferor. Covered transfers include specified conveyances, mortgages, land-trust transactions and leases whose term, counting all exercisable options, exceeds forty years, with listed exclusions.
Does a residential heating-oil exclusion let the seller answer no about a known buried fuel tank?
Not when the applicable report asks about a known underground fuel tank that remains on the property. That physical fact is separate from a regulatory definition. The specified heating-oil exclusion concerns any capacity used exclusively for consumptive use on a farm or residence; the separate noncommercial farm or residential motor-fuel exclusion uses 1,100 gallons or less. Neither result proves clean soil or removes every applicable law.
Does every buyer have thirty days to register a property’s tank?
No. Section 176.440(g) addresses the specified subsequent regulated-UST owner’s notice within thirty days after acquisition, with an electronic notice, authorization, PIN and ownership evidence. Definitions, exclusions and other rule provisions still matter. This is not a universal property-sale form, the new-tank operation deadline or a substitute for a covered seller report.
Does an NFR letter guarantee that the property is clean for any use?
No. Read the actual No Further Remediation letter for its regulatory program, release or site scope, land-use restrictions and continuing controls. Registration, tank removal and an NFR letter are different records. A letter conditioned on industrial or commercial use does not, by itself, approve unrestricted residential use or establish that every unrelated contaminant has been removed.
What does the rental-flood statement need to cover?
For a rental subject to Section 25, distinguish FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area status, the subsection (b) actually known rental-property or parking flooding and frequency, and the subsection (c) last-ten-years history for a garden, basement or first-floor unit or any part of its containing property. Provide the applicable written information before signing, include it in the lease or renewal and obtain both signatures. Farm leases, concession leases and DNR-owned or DNR-managed rentals are exempt under this section; it does not legalize a unit prohibited by local law.
Do both rental-flood termination routes start with a flood?
No. One route concerns a subsection (b) failure followed by the tenant’s awareness that the property is in the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. Its written termination notice is due no later than the thirtieth day after awareness of the landlord’s subsection (b) failure. The other concerns a subsection (b) or (c) failure followed by flooding that damages personal property or affects habitability or access; its notice clock runs from the flood. In each stated termination route, advance rent and fees are returned no later than fifteen days after the tenant gave notice. Apply the actual conditions and Section 25 exemptions.
What changes when the lessor did not provide the required radon documents?
Section 26(e) permits testing at any point during the lease term for that specified omission. A test showing a radon hazard requires copies to the lessor within ten days after receipt. The lessor may dispute it through an additional contractor test, at the lessor’s expense, performed within thirty days after tenant notice. If the lessor declines to dispute the hazard result or does not mitigate, the tenant has the stated sixty-day choices: hire a radon contractor at the tenant’s expense for mitigation with express lessor consent, or terminate. Do not invent a universal sixty-days-from-notice anchor or assume every later test alone proves a termination right.
Does every agent have the same environmental role?
No. The Illinois seller-client licensee’s particular Section 15-25 duty to a prospective buyer customer is tied to actually known latent material adverse physical facts that a reasonably diligent customer inspection would not discover. Federal lead rules separately define the covered agent and require that agent to inform the seller or lessor and ensure compliance or personally ensure it. The federal definition excludes the purchaser or a purchaser representative receiving all compensation from the purchaser; that exclusion does not erase separate Illinois duties. No agent can turn a disclosure form into a scientific safety certificate.
How long must the federal lead disclosure records be kept?
For a covered sale, the seller or responsible agent retains the completed required attachment for at least three years from sale completion. For a covered lease, the lessor or responsible agent retains the completed disclosure information for at least three years from commencement of the leasing period. These are the Section 745.113(c) federal minimum periods, not limits on longer duties under other applicable law or a transaction’s own record requirements.
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Official sources and scope
Checked against the identified statutes, administrative rules and agency guidance through October 27, 2026. Their publication and effective dates differ from this review date. The eCFR view displays October 23, 2026 as its Title 40 currency date. The retained OSFM publications have 2024 edition dates and separate section source dates. Federal disclosure duties, Illinois requirements and regulatory cleanup decisions serve different purposes. These examples teach supplied facts and do not approve a private form, waiver, environmental finding or live legal deadline.
- PSI June 24, 2026: Illinois IV.E environmental disclosures and whole Disclosures allocation
- 765 ILCS 77/5: covered property and seller definitions
- 765 ILCS 77/15: nine seller-transfer exemptions
- 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 77/50: receipt, permitted methods and multiple buyers
- 225 ILCS 454/15-25: the specific seller-licensee customer duty
- 765 ILCS 95/2-4: mine-subsidence transfer definitions, disclosure and damages
- 765 ILCS 705/25: rental flooding disclosures and separate remedies
- 420 ILCS 46/10: statutory sale form and disclosure timing
- 420 ILCS 46/20: exclusions include purchases and leases
- 420 ILCS 46/26: tenant forms, testing and remedies
- Current 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart F: lead disclosure, exemptions, documentation and agent duties
- 410 ILCS 45/9.1: Illinois lead notices, new leases and brochure requirement
- 77 Ill. Adm. Code 845.25: disclosure and mitigation-history documents
- IEMA-OHS: approved real-estate pamphlet formats
- IEMA-OHS: tenant disclosure package and testing overview
- OSFM Part 174: Section 174.100 definitions and exclusions
- OSFM Part 176: reporting, assessment and ownership notification
- Illinois EPA: reported tank releases and a separate owner election
- Illinois EPA: NFR letters, scope, restrictions and continued controls
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.