15-1502.Nonrecord Claimants.

A nonrecord claimant -- someone with an interest in the mortgaged real estate that isn't reflected in the public record -- has a choice to make. Under subsection (a), that claimant can become a record claimant by recording notice of its interest under Section 15-1218, any time before a notice of foreclosure is recorded under Section 15-1503. Miss that window, and subsection (b) makes clear the consequence: a nonrecord claimant given notice of the foreclosure under paragraph (2) of subsection (c) is barred and terminated by the judgment of foreclosure just as if it had been made a party.

Subsection (c) supplies the mechanics for reaching those claimants. A party seeking to bar them files an affidavit naming known nonrecord claimants and their present or last known addresses, or stating that the claimants' existence, names, or addresses are unknown -- an affidavit that can rest on information and belief, without any obligation to have made inquiry. At least 30 days before the judgment of foreclosure is entered, everyone identified in that affidavit must be given notice of the foreclosure under Section 15-1503, following the manner and terms of Sections 2-206 and 2-207, with two adjustments: unnamed claimants can be addressed to "Nonrecord Claimants" without more, and in smaller counties publication runs in a newspaper generally circulated in the municipality where the property sits.

Errors don't undo the sale. An inaccurate affidavit, or a failure to file one or give the required notice, doesn't invalidate a sale made under this Article. But that protection for the sale doesn't erase the wronged claimant's own remedy: a nonrecord claimant whose interest was barred can still sue the party on whose behalf the flawed affidavit was filed, over that inaccuracy or the missed notice.