15-1702.Specific Rules of Possession.

No mortgagee has to take possession of the property, and passing up that option once doesn't waive the right to ask later. But if a mortgagee entitled to possession asks the court to appoint a receiver instead, the court must do so, and appointing a receiver doesn't stop the mortgagee from later seeking to be placed in possession directly.

When a receiver is needed, the mortgagee gets to name who fills the role. The mortgagor or another party can object with good cause, or the court can reject the choice, but either way the mortgagee gets to make another pick rather than losing the right to designate.

A mortgagee holding a senior lien can override a subordinate mortgagee's attempt to take possession or name a receiver — the court will instead place the senior mortgagee in possession, or let the senior mortgagee pick the receiver, once it makes the priority finding described in subsection (d). Once a mortgagee is in possession, removal is limited to specific triggers: misconduct, death, legal disability or other inability to act, appointment of a receiver under Section 15-1704(a), or a good-cause showing by a mortgagee with priority. A receiver named by a mortgagee later found to lack priority doesn't get removed on that basis alone, since the court's priority call is only an interim determination that can change again later in the case.

One more wrinkle covers crops growing on the property: the rights of anyone in possession — a mortgagee, a receiver, or a collateral-assignment holder — give way to a security interest properly perfected under UCC Article 9, at least where that person took possession on or after the 1988 amendatory act's effective date.