15-1508.Report of sale and confirmation of sale.

After the sale, the person who conducted it reports to the court, attaching copies of the receipts and any certificate of sale. On motion and notice, the court then holds a confirmation hearing, and must confirm the sale unless it finds that notice under Section 15-1507(c) wasn't given, the sale's terms were unconscionable, the sale was conducted fraudulently, or justice was otherwise not done. The confirmation order must name a contact for the certificate or deed holder (or, absent one, the purchaser) that a municipality or county can reach with concerns about the property, and it may also approve the mortgagee's post-judgment fees and costs, enter a personal deficiency judgment, and resolve priority disputes deferred under Section 15-1506(h) -- though confirmation itself can't be held up waiting on that priority determination. Abandoned residential property confirmed under subsection (b-3) follows a similar standard but on motion and mailed notice to the mortgagor, without the separate notice subsection (b-5) otherwise requires.

For residential real estate generally, subsection (b-5) requires notice to the mortgagor -- even one already found in default -- sent to the address on file or, absent one, the property's common address, by first-class mail, and, unless possession rights were already terminated, that notice must include specific boldface capital-letter language telling the mortgagor of the right to remain in possession for 30 days after an order of possession under Section 15-1701(c). Copies of the confirmation order also go to the municipality or county where the property sits (at the single address it's required to publish) and, for residential property, to the property's last known insurer -- though a missed insurer notice doesn't affect the mortgagee's, purchaser's, or the case's status. A party who missed the required sale notice under Section 15-1507(c)(3) can move, before confirmation, to set the sale aside, generally posting a bond matching the successful bid -- except a mortgagor occupying residential real estate at the time of the motion isn't required to post any bond. Sales otherwise stand despite notice or publication defects absent good cause shown at a confirmation hearing, though anyone entitled to that notice can recover damages, plus litigation expenses and attorneys' fees, from a mortgagee who failed to comply.

Subsection (d-5), tied to the federal Making Home Affordable Program created after the 2008 financial crisis under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (as amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) -- not a COVID-19 measure -- let a court unwind a sale before confirmation if the mortgagor proved by a preponderance of the evidence that it had applied for assistance under that program and that the property was sold in material violation of the program's requirements; that provision became inoperative on January 1, 2018 for cases filed after 2017 where the mortgagor hadn't applied by the end of 2016. Where authorized and requested, the court enters a deficiency judgment on confirmation, enforceable the same as any money judgment, but only against parties who were personally served or who appeared. Confirmation satisfies the underlying judgment to the extent of the net sale price, and any deficiency judgment becomes a lien like any other money judgment.

The confirmation order also awards the purchaser possession as of 30 days after entry, against parties whose interests were terminated -- but any resulting eviction order can be entered and enforced only against people personally named as individuals in the complaint or a Section 15-1701(h) petition, never against a bona fide residential lessee (party or not) or against anyone described only generically, like an unknown owner. That limit doesn't erase the purchaser's underlying right to possession; it just means removing an unnamed, unheard occupant requires a separate eviction proceeding under Article IX or Section 15-1701(h). For buildings with five or more dwelling units, the confirmation order also requires the mortgagor to transfer tenant security deposits (with accrued statutory interest) to the purchaser, along with an accounting identifying each tenant and the amount held.