Illinois' Residential Real Property Disclosure Act became effective October 1, 1994. The Act is a consumer protection law designed to give buyers the benefit of the seller's knowledge about the condition of the property they are buying.

The Real Property Disclosure Report form is a series of questions intended to have the homeseller disclose any known material defects about the property. Under the Act, a material defect is defined as a condition that would have a substantial adverse effect on the value of the residential real property or that would significantly impair the health or safety of future occupants of the residential real property, unless the seller believes the condition has been corrected.

How does the seller disclosure law affect you as a seller?

The seller and the seller alone is responsible for completing the disclosure form and shall be responsible for honestly disclosing only those matters of which the seller has knowledge. All owners of the property being sold are required to make any specific investigation or inquiry in an effort to complete the disclosure form. The seller is free to answer "no" (or not aware) about any of the items on the form if the seller has no actual knowledge regarding that issue.

The disclosure form is designed to allow sellers to fulfill disclosure requirements in a simple and comprehensive manner. the form includes 22 questions pertaining to the condition of the property, including but not limited to, the following areas: the structure, including the roof, foundation, walls and floors; flooding; furnace, electrical, plumbing and air conditioning system; well and drinking water; and presence of high levels of lead paint, radon and asbestos. The disclosure form is not a substitute for any inspections that the prospective buyer may wish to obtain or warranties that the parties may negotiate.

Updates to the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act
In the 1997 Spring Session of the General Assembly, the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act (the Act) was amended by House Bill 358. This amending language, signed into law by the Governor, took effect January 1, 1998. Revised forms are available from IAR. The amendments can be summarized as follows:

• The definition of seller is now defined as "all owners, beneficiaries of a trust, contract purchasers, or lessees of a ground lease, who have an interest (legal or equitable) in residential real property." A person or entity is not considered a seller for purposes of the Act if the person both never occupied the property and never had management responsibility for the property (emphasis added). In other words, if a person or entity has either legal or equitable title to property and he either occupied it, or had the management responsibility for the property, he is a seller and the Act applies to him.

• Another amendment, set forth in Section 30, now makes it the seller’s specific duty to supplement the disclosure in written form if the seller gains actual knowledge of a material defect after the original disclosure form was delivered to a prospective buyer. No particular form for supplemental disclosure is required so long as it is in writing.

• A statement has been added to Section 40 of the Act saying that if a seller discloses a material defect in a supplement to the original disclosure form, the buyer has no right to terminate the contract. The only exception to this rule is where the seller completes a supplement to the original disclosure form indicating a material defect that the seller had actual knowledge of before completing the original disclosure form. In other words, if the seller was not completely honest when he filled out the first form, and then had a change of heart, indicating a material defect in a supplemental form, the buyer may still have the right to rescind the contract.

• A statement has been added to the statutory disclosure form which reads as follows:
Note: These disclosures are intended to reflect the current condition of the premises and do not include previous problems, if any, that the seller reasonably believes have been corrected.