- Official section
- Illinois IV.E.5: Flooding for Landlords
- Broker weight
- Part of 25% of the Illinois state portion
- Expected scored items
- The current PSI broker outline assigns 10 of 40 state items to Disclosures
Illinois rental flood exam guide
Illinois flooding disclosure for landlords
The current rule uses two flood checks. Every rental needs the mapped-zone and known-history disclosure required by subsection (b). A garden, basement, or first-floor unit adds subsection (c), which asks whether the unit or any part of the property flooded in the last 10 years. Put the answer in writing before signing, repeat it in the lease or renewal, and collect both signatures.
Last updated: August 1, 2026
What does current Illinois authority require?
Short answer: Under current 765 ILCS 705/25, every Illinois landlord makes a written pre-signing disclosure about FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area status and known flooding of the rental property or parking areas, including frequency. A landlord leasing a garden, basement, or first-floor unit also discloses whether the unit or any portion of the real property flooded in the last 10 years and how often. The disclosure appears in the written lease or renewal and is signed by both parties. A qualifying omission can support 30-day tenant termination windows, a 15-day refund deadline, and personal-property damages when a later flood causes the specified harm.
This guide applies Section 25 of the Illinois Landlord and Tenant Act as amended by Public Act 104-417, effective August 15, 2025, and current through August 1, 2026. It is exam preparation, not flood-zone certification, insurance advice, lease drafting, or legal advice about a tenant remedy.
Where is this tested on the Illinois outline?
- Topic
- Current law and scope
- What to know
- 765 ILCS 705/25, Public Act 103-754, Public Act 104-417, effective January 1 2025, effective August 15 2025, every landlord, each tenant, rental property, lease, renewal lease, statewide rule, and current exam
- Best exam move
- Use the amended rule that reaches every rental rather than an older summary limited to lower-level units.
- Topic
- Statutory flooding definition
- What to know
- General inundation, temporary inundation, partial inundation, complete inundation, dwelling, property, overflow, inland water, tidal water, unusual accumulation, rapid accumulation, runoff, surface water, established source, river, stream, drainage ditch, and rainfall
- Best exam move
- Match the event to the statutory flood definition instead of limiting the term to river overflow.
- Topic
- Lower-level unit definition
- What to know
- Garden level, basement level, first floor level, unit, dwelling, elevation, story, street level, building, rental, and classification
- Best exam move
- Circle first floor; it is the detail most likely to defeat the basement-only distractor.
- Topic
- Every-rental disclosure
- What to know
- Every landlord, each tenant, writing, prior to signing, rental property, FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, 100-year floodplain, landlord awareness, actual knowledge, known flooding, rental property, parking area, frequency, statement, and disclosure
- Best exam move
- Apply subsection (b) whether the apartment is on the first floor, fifth floor, or in a single-family rental.
- Topic
- Mapped flood-zone status
- What to know
- FEMA, Special Flood Hazard Area, SFHA, 100-year floodplain, Flood Insurance Rate Map, map effective date, address search, parcel location, map amendment, awareness, located, not located, unknown, and documentation
- Best exam move
- Treat mapped status as its own fact and use current FEMA material rather than memory or a marketing description.
- Topic
- Known property and parking flooding
- What to know
- Actual knowledge, rental property, real property, parking area, subjected to flooding, frequency, prior event, rainfall, stormwater, access, tenant vehicle, common area, management record, repair record, insurance claim, and disclosure
- Best exam move
- Do not omit parking-area history simply because water never entered the dwelling unit.
- Topic
- Additional lower-level disclosure
- What to know
- Lessor of lower-level unit, garden, basement, first floor, unit flooding, any portion of real property, last 10 years, frequency, written statement, prior signing, written lease, renewal lease, landlord signature, and tenant signature
- Best exam move
- Use the full property history, not merely the interior history of the unit, and apply the exact 10-year lookback.
- Topic
- Disclosure form content
- What to know
- Landlord is aware, landlord is not aware, rental property, FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, property experienced flooding, number of times, last 10 years, warning outside floodplain, statutory notice, tenant signature, landlord signature, date, and substantially similar
- Best exam move
- Recognize the required substance even if a lease presents it in a substantially similar layout.
- Topic
- Timing and placement
- What to know
- Clearly disclose, in writing, before signing, initial lease, written lease, written renewal lease, included language, signed by both parties, delivery, receipt, review, electronic signature, addendum, property manager, and file copy
- Best exam move
- A hallway conversation or post-signing email does not satisfy the complete pre-signing and signed-agreement sequence.
- Topic
- Flood-zone omission remedy
- What to know
- Landlord failure, subsection (b), tenant later aware, property located in SFHA, written termination notice, no later than 30th day, awareness of failure, advance rent, fees paid in advance, return, no later than 15th day, notice date, and proof
- Best exam move
- Start the first 30-day clock when the tenant becomes aware of the landlord's failure, not when an unrelated storm occurs.
- Topic
- Later-flood remedy
- What to know
- Failure of subsection (b), failure of subsection (c), flood occurs, personal-property damage, habitability, access, termination, written notice, 30 days after flood, advance rent, fees, 15 days, civil action, lost property, damaged property, causation, and evidence
- Best exam move
- Require both nondisclosure and a flood with one of the listed consequences before selecting this remedy path.
- Topic
- Exemptions and municipal limit
- What to know
- Farm lease, concession lease, rental property owned by IDNR, rental property managed by IDNR, Department of Natural Resources, lower-level rental, municipality prohibition, sublease, local code, legal occupancy, and no authorization
- Best exam move
- An information-disclosure statute does not legalize a basement unit that local law prohibits from being rented.
- Topic
- Sale disclosure overlap
- What to know
- Residential Real Property Disclosure Report, flood hazard insurance, flooding, recurring leakage, crawl space, basement, floodplain, seller actual knowledge, buyer, before sales contract, landlord, tenant, lease, separate forms, and separate remedies
- Best exam move
- Use the seller report for a covered sale and Section 25 for a rental; never swap their parties or deadlines.
- Topic
- Insurance and risk boundaries
- What to know
- Flood insurance, renter's insurance, landlord policy, tenant personal property, National Flood Insurance Program, mapped zone, premium, coverage, exclusion, waiting period, lender requirement, policy terms, insurance producer, and no coverage guarantee
- Best exam move
- Disclosure of flooding does not prove that a landlord policy covers the tenant's belongings or that a particular flood policy is available.
- Topic
- Broker and property-manager role
- What to know
- Landlord client, tenant customer, actual knowledge, management file, FEMA record, lease template, written disclosure, signatures, delivery proof, known latent material adverse fact, honesty, false information, attorney referral, insurance referral, and no floodplain certification
- Best exam move
- Use current records and the statutory lease process while referring zone disputes, remedies, insurance, habitability, and damages to the proper professional.
The FLOOD lease check
- Find the transaction. Confirm an Illinois rental, written lease, or written renewal and screen the statutory exemptions.
- Locate the unit. Classify garden, basement, and first-floor rentals as lower-level units that receive the extra 10-year inquiry.
- Obtain both fact sets. Check current FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area information and the landlord's known history for the rental, property, and parking areas.
- Outline the statement. Use substantially similar statutory content, state known frequency, and preserve the outside-floodplain warning.
- Deliver and sign. Provide the writing before agreement and include it in the lease or renewal with both signatures.
- Distinguish remedies. Use the correct 30-day trigger, 15-day refund deadline, qualifying flood consequence, and personal-property claim.
- Fact pattern
- Every nonexempt rental
- Required response
- Disclose SFHA status and known property or parking flooding
- Exam anchor
- Before lease signing
- Fact pattern
- Garden, basement, or first-floor unit
- Required response
- Add unit or property flooding history and frequency
- Exam anchor
- Last 10 years
- Fact pattern
- Written lease or renewal
- Required response
- Include disclosure in agreement
- Exam anchor
- Both parties sign
- Fact pattern
- Property outside SFHA
- Required response
- Still disclose applicable known flooding
- Exam anchor
- Map and history are separate
- Fact pattern
- Tenant learns omitted SFHA status
- Required response
- May send written termination notice
- Exam anchor
- Within 30 days after awareness of failure
- Fact pattern
- Qualifying flood follows omission
- Required response
- May send written termination notice
- Exam anchor
- Within 30 days after flood
- Fact pattern
- Tenant terminates under statute
- Required response
- Landlord returns advance rent and fees
- Exam anchor
- Within 15 days after notice
- Fact pattern
- Flood damages tenant property after omission
- Required response
- Tenant may seek personal-property damages
- Exam anchor
- Causation and statutory facts required
- Fact pattern
- Municipality prohibits unit
- Required response
- Do not treat disclosure as permission to rent
- Exam anchor
- Local occupancy rule remains
Which Illinois distinctions matter most?
- Terms
- All rentals vs. lower-level rentals
- Difference
- Subsection (b) applies to every landlord and rental. Subsection (c) adds a 10-year property-history rule when the leased unit is garden, basement, or first-floor level.
- Question cue
- Universal layer plus location-specific layer.
- Terms
- Flood zone vs. flood history
- Difference
- Special Flood Hazard Area status comes from FEMA mapping. Flood history records events that actually occurred. A property can have one fact without the other.
- Question cue
- Mapped probability versus experienced event.
- Terms
- Unit flooding vs. property flooding
- Difference
- The lower-level rule reaches flooding of the unit or any portion of the real property containing it. A dry apartment does not erase a flooded lot or common area.
- Question cue
- Inside dwelling versus anywhere on parcel.
- Terms
- Rental property vs. parking area
- Difference
- Subsection (b) expressly makes known flooding of the rental property or any portion of the associated parking areas relevant.
- Question cue
- Dwelling and vehicle-access areas.
- Terms
- Prior written disclosure vs. lease inclusion
- Difference
- The landlord must disclose in writing before signing and must also include the disclosure in the written lease or renewal with both signatures.
- Question cue
- Advance notice plus signed contract record.
- Terms
- Initial lease vs. renewal lease
- Difference
- The current disclosure language belongs in both the written lease and written renewal lease. A prior tenant's signature is not the new tenant's acknowledgment.
- Question cue
- Current parties and current agreement.
- Terms
- 30 days after awareness vs. 30 days after flood
- Difference
- The flood-zone omission path begins when the tenant learns of the landlord's failure. The later-flood path begins when the qualifying flood occurs.
- Question cue
- Two remedies, two trigger dates.
- Terms
- Termination refund vs. property damages
- Difference
- A qualifying termination requires return of advance rent and fees within 15 days after notice. The later-flood path can also support an action for personal property lost or damaged by flooding.
- Question cue
- Money paid ahead versus loss caused by water.
- Terms
- Flood vs. recurring leakage
- Difference
- Section 25 defines flood through inundation from specified water events, including rainfall. A slow plumbing leak may be a defect or habitability issue without fitting that definition.
- Question cue
- Inundation event versus system leak.
- Terms
- Landlord flood form vs. seller report
- Difference
- The landlord form serves tenants before a lease or renewal. The seller report serves prospective buyers before a covered sales contract and contains different flood questions.
- Question cue
- Rental transaction versus sale transaction.
- Terms
- Disclosure duty vs. insurance coverage
- Difference
- Section 25 requires information and creates specified remedies. It does not interpret a tenant's renter's or flood policy or promise payment for a future loss.
- Question cue
- Transaction notice versus risk-transfer contract.
- Terms
- Disclosure compliance vs. legal occupancy
- Difference
- A landlord may complete the flood form and still violate a municipal prohibition against renting that lower-level unit. The state statute does not grant occupancy permission.
- Question cue
- Truthful notice does not legalize use.
How does the Illinois rule apply?
A fifth-floor apartment shares a flooded lot
Scenario: A landlord leases a fifth-floor unit in a building outside the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area. The parking lot flooded twice from heavy rainfall.
- The unit is not lower-level, so the additional subsection (c) classification does not apply.
- 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
Scenario: A first-floor apartment never took water, but the building's basement and driveway flooded three times during the last 10 years.
- First floor is a lower-level unit.
- 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
Scenario: 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.
- Section 25 requires the writing before signing.
- 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
Scenario: A landlord omitted subsection (b). Six months later, the tenant learns from a current FEMA map that the rental is in the Special Flood Hazard Area.
- The statute provides a termination path when the tenant becomes aware of the landlord's failure concerning mapped status.
- The tenant's written notice must be sent no later than the 30th day after that awareness.
Answer: Use the awareness-based 30-day notice path, not a clock measured from lease signing.
A flood blocks the only entrance
Scenario: 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.
- The later-flood remedy is not limited to damaged personal property.
- 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
Scenario: A landlord completes the flood statement for a basement unit that the municipality does not permit to be rented.
- Disclosure may communicate flood facts accurately.
- 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.
Where do candidates misread the Illinois rule?
- Trap
- Only basement apartments need Illinois flood disclosure.
- Correction
- Subsection (b) applies to every rental, and subsection (c) adds garden, basement, and first-floor units.
- Trap
- A first-floor apartment is not lower-level.
- Correction
- The statutory definition expressly includes first-floor units.
- Trap
- Outside the FEMA floodplain means no flooding disclosure.
- Correction
- Mapped status and known event history are distinct, and the form warns of possible flooding outside the mapped area.
- Trap
- Only water entering the unit counts.
- Correction
- The statute reaches the rental property, parking areas, and for lower-level units any portion of the containing real property.
- Trap
- A verbal warning before signing is sufficient.
- Correction
- The disclosure must be in writing, included in the lease or renewal, and signed by both parties.
- Trap
- A post-signing addendum automatically cures timing.
- Correction
- The statute requires disclosure before the lease is signed.
- Trap
- Every flood-related tenant remedy starts on lease day.
- Correction
- One 30-day period starts at awareness of omitted zone status and another starts when the qualifying flood occurs.
- Trap
- The landlord has 30 days to return advance rent after termination.
- Correction
- The statute uses 15 days after the tenant gives termination notice.
- Trap
- A later flood always permits termination.
- Correction
- The path requires a disclosure failure and specified property damage, habitability effect, or access effect.
- Trap
- The remedy covers every economic loss automatically.
- Correction
- Section 25 specifically describes advance rent and fees and an action for personal property lost or damaged by flooding.
- Trap
- The seller report and rental flood form are interchangeable.
- Correction
- They use different parties, transactions, questions, timing, signatures, and remedies.
- Trap
- Disclosure proves the tenant has flood-insurance coverage.
- Correction
- Insurance depends on the tenant's or landlord's actual policy and should be reviewed with an insurance professional.
- Trap
- A signed flood form legalizes a prohibited basement rental.
- Correction
- Municipal restrictions remain enforceable, and Section 25 says it does not authorize prohibited lower-level rentals.
- Trap
- An old summary limited to lower-level rentals states the current law.
- Correction
- Public Act 104-417 amended the statute effective August 15, 2025; use the current every-landlord text.
Can you apply the rule to a fresh scenario?
These questions are original study items aligned to the published outline. They are not copied, recalled, or predicted PSI questions.
1. Which unit is a lower-level unit under 765 ILCS 705/25?
- Only a cellar with no windows
- A garden, basement, or first-floor unit
- Only a unit below street grade
- Every unit through the third floor
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
The statutory definition expressly lists garden-level, basement-level, and first-floor-level units.
2. A fifth-floor rental's parking area flooded twice. Which statement is correct?
- No disclosure applies because the unit is not lower-level
- The every-rental rule can require disclosure of known parking-area flooding and frequency
- Parking flooding matters only in a home sale
- The landlord may wait until after the lease is signed
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Subsection (b) applies to every landlord and specifically reaches known flooding of associated parking areas.
3. Where must the Illinois landlord flood disclosure appear?
- Only in an oral conversation
- In writing before signing and in the written lease or renewal signed by both parties
- Only in a county deed record
- In an email sent after move-in
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
The statute combines pre-signing written notice with signed lease or renewal inclusion.
4. A landlord omitted the required history, and a later flood blocks tenant access. When must a qualifying termination notice be given?
- No later than 30 days after the flood
- Within five years after the lease
- Exactly 15 days before the flood
- Only when the lease naturally expires
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A
Access is a listed consequence, and the later-flood termination notice is due no later than the 30th day after the flood.
5. Which lease is expressly exempt from Section 25?
- Every first-floor apartment lease
- Every single-family home lease
- A farm lease
- Every month-to-month tenancy
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
The statute lists farm leases, concession leases, and qualifying IDNR properties as exemptions.
How should you review this Illinois topic?
- Session
- 1. Learn the current scope
- Focus
- Every landlord, each tenant, rental property, lower-level unit, garden, basement, first floor, farm lease, concession lease, IDNR, and municipal prohibition
- Proof you are ready
- Classify 25 rentals under subsection (b), subsection (c), both, an exemption, or local prohibition.
- Session
- 2. Separate zone and history
- Focus
- FEMA SFHA, 100-year floodplain, current map, actual knowledge, rental flooding, parking flooding, unit flooding, property flooding, frequency, and last 10 years
- Proof you are ready
- Resolve 20 scenarios with different combinations of map status and event history.
- Session
- 3. Build the document sequence
- Focus
- Writing, before signing, lease, renewal, substantially similar form, known frequency, warning, landlord signature, tenant signature, and delivery proof
- Proof you are ready
- Audit 15 lease files for content, timing, placement, and signatures.
- Session
- 4. Master both remedy clocks
- Focus
- Awareness of omission, flood event, written notice, 30 days, advance rent, fees, 15 days, personal-property damage, habitability, access, and civil action
- Proof you are ready
- Calculate every deadline and identify the qualifying consequence in 15 timelines.
- Session
- 5. Separate sale, lease, and insurance
- Focus
- Landlord, tenant, seller, buyer, lease disclosure, residential seller report, FEMA map, flood insurance, renter's insurance, broker, attorney, and insurance producer
- Proof you are ready
- Assign each fact, form, remedy, and professional conclusion to the correct transaction or person.
- Session
- 6. Apply FLOOD
- Focus
- Find transaction, locate unit, obtain facts, outline statement, deliver and sign, and distinguish remedies
- Proof you are ready
- Score at least 90% on a fresh Illinois landlord-flood set and explain every answer from trigger to deadline.
Do not count recognition as mastery. Close the notes and explain the rule, apply it to a new fact pattern, and identify why each distractor fails.
Practice the Illinois rule in context
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Questions students ask about Illinois Flooding Disclosure for Landlords
What flood information must an Illinois landlord disclose?
Before lease signing, every landlord must make the written Section 25 disclosures concerning whether the rental property is in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area and known flooding of the rental property or its parking areas, including frequency. The required statement also belongs in the written lease or renewal and must be signed by both parties.
What is an Illinois lower-level unit for flood disclosure?
Section 25 defines a lower-level unit as a garden-level unit, basement-level unit, or first-floor unit. The phrase is broader than basement apartment.
What extra disclosure applies to a lower-level rental?
A landlord leasing a lower-level unit must disclose in writing before lease signing whether that unit or any portion of the real property containing it experienced flooding during the last 10 years and must disclose the frequency. The statement also goes into the lease or renewal and is signed by both parties.
Does a landlord have to disclose flooding outside a FEMA floodplain?
Yes, when the known-history provisions apply. Mapped Special Flood Hazard Area status and actual flooding are separate facts. The statutory form itself warns that a dwelling may still be susceptible to flooding even when the rental is not in the mapped area.
Do parking-lot floods matter under Illinois landlord disclosure law?
Yes. Section 25(b) expressly addresses the landlord's actual knowledge that the rental property or any portion of the parking areas of the real property containing the rental has been subjected to flooding, along with frequency.
When must the Illinois rental flood disclosure be delivered?
It must be clearly disclosed in writing before the lease is signed. The disclosure must also be included in the written lease or written renewal lease and signed by the landlord and tenant.
Can a tenant terminate if flood-zone information was not disclosed?
If the landlord failed to comply with Section 25(b) and the tenant later learns that the property is in the FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, the tenant may terminate by written notice no later than 30 days after learning of that failure. The landlord then returns advance rent and fees no later than 15 days after the notice.
What if flooding occurs after a required disclosure was omitted?
If the landlord failed to comply with subsection (b) or (c) and a flood damages the tenant's personal property, affects habitability, or affects access, the tenant may give termination notice no later than 30 days after the flood and may bring an action for personal-property damages. Advance rent and fees must be returned no later than 15 days after termination notice.
Which leases are exempt from Section 25?
The section does not apply to farm leases, concession leases, or rental properties owned or managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It also does not authorize a lower-level rental that a municipality otherwise prohibits.
Are these official PSI Illinois broker exam questions?
No. They are original questions aligned to the Illinois broker outline effective June 24, 2026. Section 25, including Public Acts 103-754 and 104-417, was reviewed through August 1, 2026.
Primary sources
- PSI Illinois Candidate Information Booklet dated June 24, 2026
- 765 ILCS 705, current Illinois Landlord and Tenant Act
- 765 ILCS 705/25, current landlord flood disclosure, form, remedies, and exemptions
- Public Act 103-754, original Section 25 enactment effective January 1, 2025
- Public Act 104-417, current Section 25 amendment effective August 15, 2025
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center
- FEMA definition of Special Flood Hazard Area
- 765 ILCS 77/35, residential seller report and flood questions
- 225 ILCS 454/15-25, Illinois licensee duties to customers
The current official outline controls the tested scope. Statutes, regulations, and official agency materials control when a general study rule and a jurisdiction-specific rule differ.
Editorial status
Checked against primary sources
The Pass Illinois editorial team last checked this guide on August 1, 2026. Every practice question is an original study item, and the source links above let you verify the rules that support the lesson.