A bill sponsored by state legislators Jacqueline Collins and Will Burns, both Chicago Democrats, provides protection for renters who are living in residences that are being foreclosed. Gov. Pat Quinn signed the bill this summer and it took effect last week.

“We want to provide protection for renters who are doing the right thing by paying their bills,” said Burns, who represents the Near South Side.

Burns said that before this law took effect, renters who were paying their rent could be evicted from their homes with little to no notice if the landlords were not paying the mortgage. That, he said, is unfair.

Samantha Tuttle, a staff attorney at the Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, said it is no longer optional for landlords or new management to notify tenants of impending foreclosure. It’s a must.

Collins, who represents several neighborhoods on the South Side, said this bill guarantees notice to tenants living in foreclosed properties.

“Renters make up about 40 percent of the families facing the loss of their housing due to foreclosure and more than one in every five foreclosed properties is a rental property nationally,” Collins said. “It’s important renters are afforded the same rights that we’ve worked so hard to grant homeowners.”