15-1224.Bona fide lease.

Section 15-1224 supplies a limited-purpose definition used only in Sections 9-207.5, 15-1225, 15-1506, 15-1508, and 15-1701. A bona fide lease is a lease of a dwelling unit in residential real estate in foreclosure that meets four conditions: the tenant is not the mortgagor or the mortgagor's child, spouse, or parent; the lease resulted from an arms-length transaction; the rent is not substantially below fair market rent, unless it is reduced or subsidized under a federal, State, or local program; and the lease was either entered into or renewed on or before the lis pendens filing date under Section 2-1901, or entered into or renewed after that filing but before the judicial sale with a term of one year or less.

The remaining subsections handle timing edge cases. A written lease for more than one year, entered into or renewed after the lis pendens filing and before the judicial sale, is deemed a bona fide lease for a one-year term if it otherwise meets the four conditions. An oral lease entered into any time before the judicial sale that otherwise qualifies is deemed a month-to-month bona fide lease unless the tenant proves a longer term by a preponderance of the evidence, and in no case can an oral lease count as a bona fide lease for more than one year. A written or oral lease entered into on or after the judicial sale but before the court's order confirming the sale is deemed a month-to-month bona fide lease if it otherwise qualifies.

Finally, subsection (e) softens the family-member exclusion: even though a child, spouse, or parent of the mortgagor is presumptively not a bona fide tenant under subsection (a), that family member may still prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a lease otherwise meeting the other requirements is a bona fide lease.