15-1510.Attorney's Fees and Costs.

Fee-shifting in an Illinois foreclosure runs in both directions, but on different terms. Subsection (a) lets the court award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to a defendant who prevails on a motion, an affirmative defense, a counterclaim, or the foreclosure action itself. But a defendant who exercises the right to reinstate the mortgage or redeem the property doesn't count as a prevailing party for this purpose -- reinstating or redeeming resolves the debt, it doesn't mean the defendant beat the case.

That limit on the defendant's side doesn't touch the mortgagee's separate right to recover fees and costs under contractual terms in the mortgage or another written agreement, or as this Article otherwise provides. Subsection (b) makes that mortgagee-side recovery specific: fees and costs tied to preparing, filing, or prosecuting the foreclosure suit are recoverable only to the extent the mortgage or other written agreement specifically sets out, or as this Article otherwise provides.