Chicago Evictions Resume Today; Sheriff To Halt Process Again If Necessary

In Chicago, Illinois, the Chicago Tribune reports:

• After suspending all evictions related to mortgage foreclosures in Cook County, Sheriff Tom Dart announced he would resume those evictions starting today. The reversal came Thursday, after a week of discussions with the court officials responsible for handling mortgage foreclosures to create language that would ensure the rights of good-standing tenants in foreclosed buildings. "After these extensive discussions, we've been assured that we're not going to be asked to evict innocent tenants," Dart said. "But if we find it going on again, we will halt evictions again if necessary."(1)

For more, see With new court procedures, Cook County to resume evictions (Sheriff Tom Dart seeks and gets assurances that tenants in foreclosed buildings are notified).

(1) According to the story, Dart suspended all mortgage-foreclosure evictions Oct. 9 because his sheriff's deputies, who are responsible for evictions, were showing up at properties where tenants had not been informed that the buildings they were renting in were in foreclosure. As a result, the deputies were doing the work of notifying tenants that their buildings were in foreclosure, a procedure that Dart said should have fallen on banks, and was costing the taxpayers money. The new order will require banks to document the names of all tenants in a foreclosed building as well as when they were notified about impending foreclosure proceedings. The new order, drafted by Dorothy Kinnaird, the presiding judge of the Cook County Chancery Division, does not create new laws. Instead, it is formalizing those laws and offers another measure to make sure that the proper procedure is followed when it comes to tenant notification.