Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Illinois

Tenants are always part of a foreclosure of rental property, although usually not specifically named; normally the defendants include "unknown owners" and "nonrecord claimants". The purpose of foreclosure is to wipe out interests in real estate that are "junior" or lesser than the mortgagees. You are effectively a "nonrecord claimant" because you claim the right to possession through a rental arrangement. But that would not normally cause a problem credit-wise on its own. Especially in the current economy innocent tenants can easily get caught up in their landlord's credit isse, but since the tenants did nothing "wrong" it is not their credit at stake.

The more important thing here is, however, that if you have a written lease, however, and the landlord demands payment regardless of having forgiven some months, and you don't pay, you run the risk of having the landlord report you as a slow/late pay on rent to the credit reporting agencies, and fighting your way out of the credit paper bag may not be worth it. If what she's done is tell the mortgage company that the reason she can't pay her mortgage is that you are a deadbeat, then she's using you and making you into the bad guy and yes you could wind up causing yourself credit heartburn. Normally a lender in a foreclosure situation of a rental property (ESPECIALLY in today's economy) would want to retain a good rent-paying tenant; this could also jeopardize your situation if your landlord loses the property and the next owner learns you didn't pay rent, etc.

So if you have a lease you need to obey it to the extent you can. If your landlord refuses rent, that's a different story. Otherwise you're at risk in part as the monkey in the middle.