CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said Wednesday he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County, which had been on track to reach a record number of evictions, many because of mortgage foreclosures.


Sheriff Thomas J. Dart of Cook County, Illinois, says proper eviction procedures aren't always been followed.

He said many of the evictions involve renters who are paying their rent on time but are being thrown out because the landlord has fallen behind on mortgage payments.

Mortgage companies are supposed to identify a building's occupants before asking for an eviction, but sheriff's deputies routinely find that the mortgage companies have not done so, he said.

"These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people, and don't care who's in the building," Dart said. "They simply want their money and don't care who gets hurt along the way.

"On top of it all, they want taxpayers to fund their investigative work for them. We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today."
CNN

Hopefully other Sheriffs will follow Officer Dart.

This is really kind of complicated, sorta like between a rock and a hard place. It's nice that the sheriff is taking this approach, but it seems that a mortgage company has the right to evict if they are not getting paid. The problem lies with the landlord. It seems that the tenant has some sort of action against the landlord since they are current with their rent. I really don't see how a sheriff can enforce it. On the other hand, what do I know?

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Originally posted by honilov:
It's nice that the sheriff is taking this approach, but it seems that a mortgage company has the right to evict if they are not getting paid. The problem lies with the landlord. It seems that the tenant has some sort of action against the landlord since they are current with their rent. I really don't see how a sheriff can enforce it.

In Britain he couldn't evict.The court couldn't make an eviction order because the law is that whoever takes the property takes it with whatever tenancy there is. The new owner's rights and obligations are the same as the current landlords.It follows that a company repossessing the property cannot evict the tenants any more than the defaulting landlord could.

At a guess, that's the law there too. However, it doesn't follow that lenders won't try to take advantage of tenants and not obey the law, here or there !