Illinois flooding disclosure for landlords

A fifth-floor apartment shares a flooded lot

A landlord leases a nonexempt fifth-floor unit in a building outside the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. The landlord actually knows that the parking lot flooded twice from heavy rainfall.

1. The unit is not lower-level, so the additional subsection (c) classification does not apply.
2. Subsection (b) still applies to every rental and expressly includes known parking-area flooding and its frequency.

Answer: Disclose the mapped status and two known parking-lot floods before signing and include the signed statement in the lease.

A first-floor unit stayed dry

A first-floor apartment never took water, but the building's basement and driveway flooded three times during the last 10 years.

1. First floor is a lower-level unit.
2. Subsection (c) reaches flooding of the unit or any portion of the real property, so a dry apartment does not erase the basement and driveway history.

Answer: Disclose the three events and frequency in the lower-level-unit process.

The flood email follows the signature

The parties sign a renewal at noon. The property manager emails the flood statement at 2 p.m., and the renewal contains no disclosure language.

1. Section 25 requires the writing before signing.
2. It also requires inclusion in the written renewal and both parties' signatures.

Answer: The post-signing email misses both the timing and signed-agreement requirements.

Tenant discovers the mapped zone

A landlord omitted subsection (b) in a nonexempt rental. Six months later, the tenant learns that the rental is in the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area and becomes aware of the landlord's failure to comply. No flood is needed for the question about this stated remedy.

1. The statute provides a termination path when the tenant becomes aware of the landlord's failure concerning mapped status.
2. The tenant must give written notice no later than the 30th day after that awareness, subject to the applicable time-computation and notice requirements; do not assume mailing alone proves notice was given.

Answer: Use the awareness-based 30-day notice path, not a clock measured from lease signing.

A flood blocks the only entrance

After a required flooding history was omitted, a storm flood blocks the tenant's only access to the unit but does not damage the tenant's furniture.

1. The later-flood remedy is not limited to damaged personal property.
2. A flood that affects access is one of the listed consequences, provided the other statutory conditions are met.

Answer: Analyze the 30-day post-flood termination path even without furniture damage.

The city prohibits basement rentals

A landlord completes the flood statement for a basement unit that the municipality does not permit to be rented.

1. Disclosure may communicate flood facts accurately.
2. Section 25 expressly refuses to authorize a lower-level rental prohibited by the municipality.

Answer: The completed form does not make the basement unit legal to rent.

Start the mapped-zone clock at the specified awareness

Assume all conditions for the mapped-zone remedy are met. A tenant becomes aware of the subsection (b) failure on September 2, 2026 and gives valid written termination notice on September 10. For this exercise, the general statutory time rule governs, no other provision changes it, and the calculated final weekdays are not statutory holidays.

1. Exclude September 2. The 30 thday is October 2, 2026, a Friday; this is the stated notice deadline for that remedy.
2. The actual notice was given earlier, on September 10. Exclude that trigger day; its 15 thday is September 25, a Friday.
3. The refund clock follows the actual notice, not October 2, a later move-out or the effective termination date.

Answer: The stated notice deadline is October 2; advance rent and fees must be returned by September 25 under the stipulated conditions.

Use the flood trigger for the separate route

Assume a nonexempt landlord failed subsection (b) or (c), and flooding on September 1, 2026 affects tenant access. All other remedy conditions are met. The tenant gives valid written notice on September 10. The general statutory time rule governs; no other rule or final-day holiday changes this exercise.

1. For this route, the 30 thday after the September 1 flood is October 1, 2026, a Thursday.
2. Notice was actually given on September 10, so the 15 thday refund date is September 25, a Friday.
3. An earlier flood-history discovery date is not substituted for the flood trigger in this second route.

Answer: Use October 1 for the stated flood-based notice deadline and September 25 for the notice-based return deadline.

Separate the return from a damages claim

A tenant has validly invoked a Section 25 remedy in an exercise. The landlord holds $2,400 rent and $150 fees paid in advance, both stipulated to fall within the statutory return. The tenant also alleges $2,000 in personal-property loss. Exclude security-deposit treatment and all other adjustments.

1. The stated advance-payment return is $2,400 + $150 = $2,550.
2. The alleged $2,000 loss is not automatically added to that mandatory subtotal merely because an action may be brought.
3. The property-loss action needs its actual conditions and proof; this arithmetic approves neither liability nor an award.

Answer: The stated advance-payment subtotal is $2,550, with the alleged property damages treated separately.

Look past the label attached to the water

In one exercise, unusually rapid rainfall runoff inundates part of a rental property. In another, the only established fact is that a tenant called an incident a sewer backup; the water source and cause are not established.

1. The first set of stated facts supplies inundation from a listed cause for the definition question.
2. The second label alone does not establish or exclude the statute's listed cause. Determine the facts rather than assuming every sewer backup is exempt or every water loss is a statutory flood.
3. Whether disclosure was omitted, a remedy exists or insurance responds requires additional facts.

Answer: Classify the event from the statutory definition and established cause, not a shorthand label or an insurance-policy definition.

A weekend at the end is different from thirty business days

Assume the general Illinois statutory computation rule applies, with no controlling exception. After excluding the trigger day, the 30 thday of this hypothetical period is Saturday. The next day is Sunday and the following Monday is not a statutory holiday. No actual tenant date or delivery method is being approved.

1. The ending Saturday is excluded under the stated rule.
2. The succeeding Sunday is also excluded.
3. Monday is included under the stated no-holiday assumption. Intermediate weekends were not all removed from the count.

Answer: The stated final day is Monday; the rule does not turn the whole period into thirty business days.

Owned or managed means either stated connection

Compare three hypothetical leases. A is a rental property privately owned but managed by IDNR. B is an owner-occupied two-flat rental with no farm, concession or IDNR ownership or management facts. C is stipulated to be a farm lease. Assume no other fact changes those classifications.

1. A meets the stated IDNR-management exemption even though IDNR does not own it.
2. B is not exempt solely because the owner occupies the two-flat; Section 25 does not list that general exception.
3. C meets the express farm-lease exemption. None of these classifications legalizes a locally prohibited lower-level rental.

Answer: A and C fit the stated express exemptions; owner occupancy alone does not exempt B.

1. Which unit is a lower-level unit under 765 ILCS 705/25?

1. Garden and basement units only
2. Every unit in a building with a basement
3. A garden, basement, or first-floor unit
4. Only dwelling space below street grade

2. A fifth-floor rental's parking area flooded twice. Which statement is correct?

1. Disclosure is required only if the fifth-floor dwelling itself flooded
2. Only the extra lower-level history rule can ever cover parking
3. A location outside the SFHA automatically removes every history duty
4. The every-rental rule can require disclosure of known parking-area flooding and frequency

3. Where must the Illinois landlord flood disclosure appear?

1. In writing before signing, with lease inclusion and only the landlord's signature
2. Only in a separate oral warning acknowledged by the tenant
3. Only in the written lease, with no requirement to disclose before signing
4. In writing before signing and in the written lease or renewal signed by both parties

4. A landlord omitted the required history, and a later flood blocks tenant access. When must a qualifying termination notice be given?

1. No later than 30 days after an earlier unrelated history discovery
2. No later than 30 days after the flood
3. No later than 30 days after lease signing, regardless of the flood date
4. No later than 15 days after the landlord receives the next rent payment

5. Which lease is expressly exempt from Section 25?

1. A farm lease
2. An otherwise covered fifth-floor apartment lease
3. An otherwise covered owner-occupied two-flat lease
4. An otherwise covered single-family rental lease

6. A first-floor unit stayed dry, but another portion of its containing property flooded during the last ten years. Does that fact fall within the additional subsection (c) inquiry?

1. No, because only water inside the unit counts
2. No, because first-floor units are excluded
3. Yes, but only if the property is also in the SFHA
4. Yes; the inquiry reaches the unit or any portion of the containing real property

7. Which statement most accurately describes the form of the written disclosure?

1. The landlord can replace it with an oral risk warning
2. Its content must look substantially similar to the statutory disclosure, with the required timing and signatures
3. Only a seller report can satisfy the rental rule
4. Only one trade association's branded PDF is legally allowed

8. Under the stated Section 25 termination remedy, what starts the 15-day advance-rent-and-fee return period?

1. The date the tenant gives the required notice
2. The date the tenant moves out
3. The next scheduled rent day
4. The date a later court action is filed

9. Can the mapped-zone termination route apply without a later flood?

1. No, unless the dwelling is below grade
2. No, every Section 25 remedy requires damaged furniture
3. Yes, if the subsection (b) failure and subsequent awareness conditions are met and qualifying notice is given
4. Yes, for every unrelated lease complaint

10. Does living outside the mapped SFHA alone eliminate the relevant flood-history duties?

1. No; mapped status and relevant actual history are different facts
2. Yes, if no mortgage lender demanded insurance
3. No, because every property is legally inside the SFHA
4. Yes, because floods cannot occur outside it

11. Which rental is within an express Section 25 exemption solely under the facts stated?

1. Every first-floor apartment
2. A privately managed owner-occupied two-flat
3. A rental property managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources
4. Every rental whose tenant has insurance

12. A landlord accurately completes the form for a lower-level unit that a municipality prohibits from being rented. What follows?

1. The tenant's insurance legalizes the unit
2. The form grants an occupancy permit
3. Both signatures waive the municipality's rule
4. The disclosure does not authorize the prohibited renting, leasing or subleasing

13. A household has an ordinary renters policy. Does the landlord flood statement itself establish coverage for the household's flood-damaged belongings?

1. Yes, for every water event without exclusions
2. Yes, because a signed disclosure is an insurance binder
3. No; actual insurance coverage and eligibility require their own review
4. No insurance policy can ever cover tenant contents

14. Assume all statutory remedy and notice conditions are met, and $2,400 rent plus $150 fees were paid in advance and fall within the specified return. Excluding other adjustments, what subtotal is returned?

1. $150
2. $2,550
3. $2,000
4. $4,550

15. A tenant calls an incident a sewer backup, but its water source and cause are not established. Which conclusion is supported by that label alone?

1. Every sewer backup satisfies the statutory flood definition
2. The tenant automatically wins a personal-property award
3. Neither conclusion; establish the listed cause and inundation facts
4. Every sewer backup is exempt from Section 25

16. Does the term 100-year flood mean the flood must occur exactly once in each 100-year period?

1. Yes, with no chance of another flood before then
2. Yes, unless the property is rented
3. Yes, because past floods reset the schedule
4. No; it describes an annual probability concept, not a fixed appointment

17. Which comparison accurately follows Section 25's actual wording?

1. Every sentence in subsection (b) expressly limits history to ten years
2. Subsection (c) and the form include ten-year language; subsection (b) itself does not state that same cutoff
3. The form contains no history question
4. The lower-level inquiry is restricted to the dwelling interior

18. The landlord checks not aware on the statutory SFHA statement. What does that statement alone establish?

1. An automatic exemption from all other required disclosures
2. A professional certification that the property is outside the SFHA
3. The stated lack of awareness, not a guarantee of no mapped risk or flooding
4. A guarantee that no flood has ever occurred

19. Assume Illinois' general statutory computation rule governs without a controlling exception. The 30 thday falls on Saturday, and the succeeding Monday is not a statutory holiday. Which final day results?

1. Monday
2. Thirty business days after the trigger in every case
3. Sunday
4. Saturday, regardless of the statute

20. After a qualifying nondisclosure and flood, only access is affected and no personal property is lost or damaged. Which conclusion follows from those facts alone?

1. Access can be a listed termination consequence, but a personal-property award is not established
2. The tenant cannot use the termination route because furniture stayed dry
3. Every insurance policy must pay contents damages
4. The tenant automatically receives every alleged financial loss