With new court procedures, Cook County to resume evictions

With new court procedures, Cook County to resume evictions
Sheriff Tom Dart seeks and gets assurances that tenants in foreclosed buildings are notified
By Azam Ahmed Chicago Tribune reporter
October 17, 2008
After suspending all evictions related to mortgage foreclosures in Cook County, Sheriff Tom Dart announced Thursday that he would resume those evictions starting next Monday.

The reversal comes 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."

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.
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Renters below the radar on foreclosure mess

Sheriff Dart sees the people who paid their bills, lived within their means yet had to pay the price for someone else's mistakes. They were innocent. Renters across the country have been below the radar on their suffering in this mess from Wall Street with no one paying attention to them.

They could not afford to buy a house, so they rented houses, apartments and condos. Each and every month, they wrote out their rent check believing that if they paid their rent, they were safe. They took care of the property they were renting. Mowing lawns in front of the home they rented and being a good neighbor. They put their kids in school and they developed friendships. Yet someone else decided they were no one who mattered in all of this.

Some owners treated the property as a gain when they bought properties in order to flip them. The renter then had to worry about who would buy the property and increase their rent or evict them. It didn't matter if it was an apartment or a single family home. It happens to renters everyday. Imagine that renter happened to be you and your family?

Some owners took great care of their properties and treated the renters with respect. Yet they fell on hard times and could no longer make their mortgage payments. Again, it didn't matter to the bank that the people living in the property did the right, responsible thing every month.

Neighborhoods have been devastated in the process. Good neighbors suddenly gone leaving behind an empty property with grass growing wildly next to their freshly mowed lawn. Boarded up windows replace broken glass because vandals strike an easy target. The house sits empty for month after month.

Instead of the bank collecting the rent that was able to be paid until the property could be sold, the bank just let the property go to hell. Makes no sense at all. Empty houses decrease property value but the banks fail to understand this. Aside from the moral issue of evicting someone who has been paying their bills, there is the best interests of the share holders of the bank itself. No one wins when a property is left vacant.

Sheriff Dart, I say BRAVO!!!

Illinois sheriff: No foreclosure evictions on my watch
Story Highlights
Sheriff Thomas Dart says he is suspending foreclosure evictions in Cook County

Dart: "These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people."

Illinois Bankers Association opposes plan, says sheriff could be found in contempt

Cook County expected to exceed 43,000 foreclosure cases this year
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.

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."
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/chicago.evictions/index.html