Muir v. Merano

              1
NOTICE
Decision filed 01/30/08. The text of
this dec ision may be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a
Petition for Rehea ring or the
disposition of the same.
NO. 5-06-0626
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
FIFTH DISTRICT
___________________________________________________________________________
CURT MUIR and VALORIE MUIR, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiffs-Appellees, ) Christian County.
)
v. ) No. 06-SC-353
)
SCOTT MERANO, ) Honorable
) David W. Slater,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding.
__________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE WELCH delivered the opinion of the court:
This is an action brought under the Residential Real Property Disclosure Act (the Act)
(765 ILCS 77/1 et seq. (West 2006)) to recover a $10,000 earnest money deposit paid by the
plaintiffs, Curt Muir and Valorie Muir, to the defendant, Scott Merano, on a contract to
purchase a house. "The purpose of the *** Act is to provide prospective [home] buyers with
information about material defects [in the home] known to the seller ***." Coughlin v.
Gustafson, 332 Ill. App. 3d 406, 413 (2002). "A prospective buyer may choose to rely on
this information in deciding whether and on what terms to purchase the property."
Provenzale v. Forister, 318 Ill. App. 3d 869, 876 (2001).
Section 20 of the Act requires the seller of residential real property to complete a
"disclosure document" and deliver it to the prospective buyer "before the signing of a written
agreement by the seller and prospective buyer." 765 ILCS 77/20 (West 2006). The
disclosure document is described in section 35 of the Act. 765 ILCS 77/35 (West 2006).
Section 40 of the Act provides that in the event this disclosure document is not delivered to
the prospective buyer until after the signing of a written agreement, then upon the receipt of