Even through an Agent’s primary responsibility is to the principal, the Leasing Agent also has duties to third parties. Any time a Licensee works with a third party or a customer, the Licensee is responsible for adhering to state and federal consumer protection laws as well as to the ethical requirements imposed by professional associations and state regulators. However, Illinois license law does set forth the duties that Licensees owe to third-party customers (Buyers/Renters/Tenants or Sellers/Landlords/Property Owners). Licensees are to treat all customers honestly. They cannot negligently or knowingly give false information.
Finally, Licensees must disclose all material adverse facts about the physical condition of the property to the customer that are actually known by the Licensee and that could not be discovered by a reasonably diligent inspection of the property by the customer.
Liability may be imposed when the Licensee is aware of facts that tend to indicate she is making a false statement. For instance, if the Landlord tells his Agent/Licensee that “the roof was replaced last year” and the Agent has good reason to believe that statement is untrue, the Licensee should attempt to ascertain the truth and pass the correct information on to the Renter. However, if the client provided the false information and the Licensee did not have knowledge that the information was false, the Licensee will not be held liable to the customer.
