When the building is sold or foreclosed: does your Skokie lease survive, whom do you pay, and where does the deposit go

Three questions arrive together when a Skokie landlord sells, or a lender forecloses: does the lease still stand, whom do you pay next month, and who is holding the deposit. For a voluntary sale the Cook County ordinance answers all three for a covered unit — the buyer is the “landlord” from the day it takes over, with every duty the ordinance puts on one, including the 60-day no-fault notice and the deposit it now owes you — and Illinois state law answers the foreclosure case in detail: a bona fide lease is not ended by the lender or the auction buyer taking possession, it can be ended only through the ordinary eviction article and only on 90 days' written notice, and within 21 days of the sale's confirmation the new holder must tell you in writing who it is, where to send rent, and that the notice “is NOT a notice to vacate.” Underneath sits a federal 90-day floor that older guides still describe as expired; it is not.

What this page is: the statutes, ordinance and federal law that decide what happens to a Skokie tenancy when the owner sells the building or loses it to foreclosure — each quoted from and linked to its official text. It is not legal advice. Where a rule could not be read from a primary source, the page says so instead of guessing. A sale or a foreclosure is also exactly the moment a landlord's mistakes get expensive, so when it matters, read the linked source or use the free legal help on our tenant rights page.

At Skokie's current average rent of $2,371/month (September 2026 — how we compute this), the deposit that has to follow the building to its new owner is up to $3,556 (1.5 months' rent, the ceiling where the ordinance applies); the per-ZIP figures and the return rules are on the security-deposit page. Nothing on this page changes the rent you owe: the rules below are about who you owe it to and whether the tenancy continues, not the amount.

A sale does not end the lease — and for a covered Skokie unit the buyer is the “landlord” from day one, 60-day notice and all — RTLO Sec. 42-803, 42-809(C)(2), 42-810(F)

No Illinois statute we read says in words that a voluntary sale leaves a lease in place; the rule renters are usually given — that a buyer takes the building subject to the leases on it — is the common law of leases, and we did not read it in an Illinois case. For a unit the Cook County Residential Tenant Landlord Ordinance covers, the ordinance does the work by definition: “Landlord means the owner, agent, lessor, sublessor, or the successor in interest of any of them of a dwelling unit or the building of which it is part” (Sec. 42-803), and “Owner” includes “a mortgagee in possession.” A successor in interest is simply the landlord, with every duty Sec. 42-810 puts on one — including the one the ordinance makes explicit for a change of hands: the disclosure of the owner's and agent's names and addresses “shall be kept current” and “This section extends to any successor landlord, owner or manager” (Sec. 42-810(F)). So the no-fault ending a new owner may want is the same one the old owner had: for a month-to-month tenancy or a non-renewal, “The landlord shall notify the tenant in writing at least 60 days prior to the stated termination date,” and a tenant not given that notice “may remain in the dwelling unit for up to 120 days after the date on which such required written notice is given” (Sec. 42-809(C)(2)(b)); a fixed lease runs to its end date. Whether your unit is covered at all — the ordinance excludes owner-occupied buildings of six units or fewer and a few other categories — is set out on the tenant rights page, and the eviction page has the notices and court steps that apply whoever owns the building. Outside the ordinance, the state's 30-day notice for a month-to-month tenancy (735 ILCS 5/9-207) is what a buyer must give. Source: Cook County RTLO — ordinance text as posted by the county (PDF, dated January 2021), Sec. 42-803, 42-809(C)(2), 42-810(F) · 735 ILCS 5/9-207

Who holds your deposit after a sale: the buyer, and the seller too until you are told in writing — RTLO Sec. 42-811(D), (J)–(L); 735 ILCS 5/15-1508(h)

The ordinance's deposit section follows the money through a sale in three steps. First, the deposit never belonged to the landlord's creditors: a security deposit “shall continue to be the property of the tenant making such deposit, shall not be commingled with the assets of the landlord, and shall not be subject to the claims of a creditor of the landlord or of the landlord's successors in interest, including a foreclosing mortgagee or trustee in bankruptcy” (Sec. 42-811(D)). Second, the buyer owes it to you: “If a landlord, who has received a security deposit, sells, leases or transfers ownership or otherwise transfers control or other direct or indirect disposition of residential real property, the successor landlord of this property shall be liable to that tenant for any security deposit which has been paid to the transferor” (J). Third, the seller is not released by selling: “The transferor shall remain jointly and severally liable with the successor landlord to the tenant for such security deposit unless and until this transferor transfers the security deposit to the successor landlord and provides written notice to the tenant of the transfer, specifying the name, business address and business telephone number of the successor landlord or their agent within ten (10) days of the transfer” (K), and “Within 14 days from the date of the transfer, the successor landlord shall notify the tenant, in writing, that the security deposit was transferred to the successor landlord and that the successor landlord is holding the security deposit” (L). Two letters, then, within two weeks of a sale — and until they arrive, two people owe you the deposit. State law adds one rule for foreclosures of larger buildings: in a building of five or more units, the order confirming the foreclosure sale “shall also provide that (i) the mortgagor shall transfer to the purchaser the security deposits … as well as any statutory interest that has not been paid to the occupant, and (ii) the mortgagor shall provide an accounting of the security deposits that are transferred” (735 ILCS 5/15-1508(h)). The Illinois Security Deposit Return Act, which governs buildings of five or more units outside the ordinance, says nothing we could find about a successor; for a unit the ordinance does not cover, the deposit after a sale rests on that silence and the lease. What the deposit may be, its interest and the return clock are on the security-deposit page. Source: Cook County RTLO — ordinance text as posted by the county (PDF, dated January 2021), Sec. 42-811(D), (J)–(L) · 735 ILCS 5/15-1508 · Security Deposit Return Act (765 ILCS 710/1)

Foreclosure: the lender or the auction buyer taking possession does not end your lease — 735 ILCS 5/15-1701(e), (i); 15-1508(g)

The Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law says it three times, from three directions. On possession: “A lease of all or any part of the mortgaged real estate shall not be terminated automatically solely by virtue of the entry into possession by (i) a mortgagee or receiver prior to the entry of an order confirming the sale, (ii) the holder of the certificate of sale, (iii) the holder of the deed issued pursuant to that certificate, or (iv) if no certificate or deed was issued, the purchaser at the sale” (15-1701(e)). On termination: the holder of the certificate or deed, or the purchaser, “shall not terminate a bona fide lease of a dwelling unit in residential real estate in foreclosure except pursuant to Article IX of this Code” (15-1701(i)) — Article IX being the ordinary eviction article, with the notices and court steps on the eviction page. And on the foreclosure case itself: “No eviction order issued under this Section shall be entered against a lessee with a bona fide lease of a dwelling unit in residential real estate in foreclosure, whether or not the lessee has been made a party in the foreclosure” (15-1508(g)). The order that confirms the sale awards the buyer possession “against the parties to the foreclosure whose interests have been terminated,” thirty days out — the borrower, not a bona fide tenant. The whole structure turns on the words “bona fide lease,” defined two sections down. Source: 735 ILCS 5/15-1701 · 735 ILCS 5/15-1508

After a foreclosure the new owner needs 90 days' written notice — even a buyer who will move in — 735 ILCS 5/9-207.5

The one no-fault route a foreclosure buyer has is this section, and its floor is three months. A mortgagee, receiver, holder of the certificate of sale or deed, or the purchaser at the judicial sale “who assumes control of the residential real estate in foreclosure … may terminate a bona fide lease … only: (i) at the end of the term of the bona fide lease, by no less than 90 days' written notice or (ii) in the case of a bona fide lease that is for a month-to-month or week-to-week term, by no less than 90 days' written notice.” A fixed lease therefore runs to its end date, with 90 days' notice before that date; a month-to-month tenancy gets 90 days, three times the state's usual 30. Subsection (b) closes the owner-occupant gap that the federal Act leaves open: an individual who buys at the judicial sale “and who will occupy a dwelling unit of the residential real estate in foreclosure as his or her primary residence may terminate the bona fide lease for the dwelling unit subject to the 90-day notice requirement of subsection (a)” — the same 90 days, not fewer. What survives is cause: subsection (c) keeps every for-cause notice in Article IX — nonpayment (9-209), a lease violation (9-210) and the rest — available to the new owner, so a tenant who stops paying because the building changed hands has not bought ninety days; the section after next says when the new owner may actually demand rent. Whether the ordinance's 60-day notice adds anything to a 90-day one is moot; whether its 120-day penalty for a missed notice (Sec. 42-809(C)(2)(b)) binds a foreclosure buyer of a covered unit is a question neither text answers, and this page does not guess. Source: 735 ILCS 5/9-207.5 · 735 ILCS 5/9-210

What makes a lease “bona fide” — and what happens to one signed after the foreclosure started — 735 ILCS 5/15-1224

Every protection above is for a “bona fide lease,” and the definition is a four-part test: “(1) the mortgagor or the child, spouse, or parent of the mortgagor is not the tenant; (2) the lease was the result of an arms-length transaction; (3) the lease requires the receipt of rent that is not substantially less than fair market rent for the property or the rent is reduced or subsidized pursuant to a federal, State, or local subsidy; and (4) either (i) the lease was entered into or renewed on or before the date of the filing of the lis pendens … or (ii) the lease was entered into or renewed after the date of the filing of the lis pendens … and before the date of the judicial sale … and the term of the lease is for one year or less.” The lis pendens is the notice of the foreclosure case recorded against the property under Section 2-1901, which the definition names; a landlord who signs new leases after it is filed is signing leases the statute cuts down. The cuts: a written lease of more than a year signed after the lis pendens “shall be deemed to be a bona fide lease for a term of one year” (b); an oral lease made before the sale is a bona fide lease “for a month-to-month term” unless the tenant proves a longer one, never more than a year (c); and a lease signed after the judicial sale but before the court confirms it is month-to-month (d). The family exclusion is not absolute — a child, spouse or parent of the borrower “may prove by a preponderance of evidence” that the lease is bona fide (e). A tenant whose lease fails the test is not without rights; the last section covers that case. The same three-part core — not the borrower's family, arm's length, not far below market unless subsidized — is the federal definition, so a lease that is bona fide here is bona fide under the federal floor too. Source: 735 ILCS 5/15-1224

Within 21 days of the sale's confirmation the new holder must tell you who it is and how to pay — and may not collect rent until it does — 735 ILCS 5/15-1508.5

This is the section that answers “whom do I pay.” After the court confirms the sale, the holder of the certificate or deed, or the purchaser, must “no later than 21 days after the confirmation of sale … make a good faith effort to ascertain the identities and addresses of all occupants,” and within the same 21 days “notify all known occupants of dwelling units of the mortgaged real estate that the holder or purchaser has acquired the mortgaged real estate.” The notice must be written and must: name you; say the property “is the subject of a foreclosure and that control of the mortgaged real estate has changed”; give “the name, address, and telephone number of an individual or entity whom the occupants may contact with concerns about the mortgaged real estate or to request repairs”; carry the words “This is NOT a notice to vacate the premises. You may wish to contact a lawyer or your local legal aid or housing counseling agency to discuss any rights that you may have.”; give the case name, number and court; and “provide instructions on the method of payment of future rent, if applicable.” A copy goes on the door of every unit as well, within the same 21 days (e). The teeth are in subsection (d): a holder or purchaser that has not served the notice “may not collect any rent due and owing from a known occupant, or terminate a known occupant's tenancy for non-payment of such rent, until the holder or purchaser has served the notice” — and “An occupant who previously paid rent for the current rental period to the mortgagor … shall not be held liable for that rent by the holder or purchaser, and the occupant's tenancy shall not be terminated for non-payment of rent for that rental period.” Rent paid to the old owner for a month before the letter arrived is paid. Subsection (f) is the limit: this remedy is the only one for a missing notice, and the section does not take away the new owner's right to bring an Article IX case or, against an occupant without a bona fide lease, the petition in the next section. Source: 735 ILCS 5/15-1508.5

If the lease is not bona fide: the supplemental petition, the 120 days, and a sealed file — 735 ILCS 5/15-1701(h)

An occupant whose lease fails the 15-1224 test — the borrower's relative, a below-market deal, a lease signed too late — can be removed inside the foreclosure case itself, by a “supplemental eviction petition” that the lender, receiver, holder or purchaser may file “at any time during the pendency of the foreclosure and up to 90 days after the date of the order confirming the sale,” and that “does not apply to any lessee with a bona fide lease.” It is still a court process: the petition and a notice of hearing must be served, the hearing is “no less than 21 days from the date of service,” and the proceeding “shall in all respects comport with the requirements of Article IX.” Then the cushion. Where the occupant “is current on his or her rent, or where timely written notice of to whom and where the rent is to be paid has not been provided to the occupant, or where the occupant has made good-faith efforts to make rental payments in order to keep current, any eviction order must allow the occupant to retain possession … (i) for 120 days following the notice of the hearing on the supplemental petition that has been properly served upon the occupant, or (ii) through the duration of his or her lease, whichever is shorter.” Four months, in the usual case, for an occupant who kept paying or was never told where to pay. The record of such a case, like one brought under 9-207.5, must be sealed — the rule is in 9-121(c), quoted on the eviction page. Source: 735 ILCS 5/15-1701 · 735 ILCS 5/9-121

The federal floor under state law: 90 days' notice for any bona fide tenant — Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act §702

Whatever state law adds, a federal statute sets the floor after a foreclosure. Under section 702 of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, “any immediate successor in interest in such property pursuant to the foreclosure shall assume such interest subject to” two things: “the provision, by such successor in interest of a notice to vacate to any bona fide tenant at least 90 days before the effective date of such notice,” and the tenant's right “under any bona fide lease entered into before the notice of foreclosure to occupy the premises until the end of the remaining term of the lease, except that a successor in interest may terminate a lease effective on the date of sale of the unit to a purchaser who will occupy the unit as a primary residence, subject to the receipt by the tenant of the 90 day notice.” A tenant “without a lease or with a lease terminable at will under State law” gets the same 90 days. The Act then yields to anything stronger: “nothing under this section shall affect the requirements for termination of any Federal- or State-subsidized tenancy or of any State or local law that provides longer time periods or other additional protections for tenants.” Its definition of a bona fide tenancy is the one Illinois borrows — not the borrower or the borrower's child, spouse or parent; an arm's-length deal; rent “not substantially less than fair market rent for the property” unless subsidized. One piece of history matters because older web pages still get it wrong: the Act was written to expire at the end of 2014 and did, and section 304 of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act of 2018 repealed the sunset and provided that sections 701 through 703 “are restored and revived.” It is in force. It is also not codified as a section of its own: it sits as a note under 12 U.S.C. §5220, which is where the link below lands. Source: Pub. L. 111-22, Title VII §702 (govinfo enrolled text) · Pub. L. 115-174 §304 (govinfo enrolled text) · 12 U.S.C. §5220 and notes (LII)

What this page does not know

Honest caveat: no public dataset counts Skokie rental buildings sold or foreclosed in a given year, so there are no local figures on this page — only the rules and their sources. No Illinois statute we read states what a voluntary sale does to a lease; for a covered Skokie unit the ordinance's definition of “landlord” carries that weight, and for an uncovered one the answer rests on the common law we did not read in a case and on the lease itself. Whether the ordinance's 60-day notice and its 120-day penalty bind a foreclosure buyer alongside the state's 90 days is a question neither text answers. The Security Deposit Return Act has no successor-landlord clause we could find. We read no Illinois case on any section cited here. The Village of Skokie's own code could not be read from any source we can fetch, so this page cannot say whether the village adds anything. What a receiver appointed during the case may and may not do with a tenancy (15-1704) was read only for context and is not summarized here. Where the page says a rule is silent, that is a statement about the text we read, not a promise that no other rule exists.

Where this usually goes next

If the new owner wants you out, every route runs through the eviction page — the notices, the court steps, and what a tenant can raise in defense. The money that has to follow the building is on the security-deposit page; if you decide to leave instead, moving out has the notice you owe and the deposit clock; and a building being shown to buyers raises the entry rules, which do not change because the person at the door is a purchaser. A tenant whose rent is subsidized is the one tenant both states and the federal Act treat as untouched by a foreclosure — the programs are on the rental-assistance page. If the building's economics are the real problem, each Skokie ZIP's current average (60077, 60076) says what moving costs instead.

Page last updated October 25, 2026 · rent index data through September 2026.