Chicago sheriff halts foreclosure evictions

It's another tiny step in beating back the foreclosure crisis - but this step is certainly welcome.

In Chicago's Cook County, Sheriff Tom Dart, a Democrat, has announced that he will not enforce foreclosure evictions. A foreclosure eviction is the eviction of a renter from a building whose owner has been foreclosed upon. Foreclosures against landlords are more common than you might think. Banks and mortgage companies that foreclose frequently evict tenants.

Dart pointed out that the tenants had faithfully paid rent - even if the building owners could not pay the mortgage. The lawman said, "These mortgage companies only see pieces of paper, not people. ... We're not going to do their jobs for them anymore. We're just not going to evict innocent tenants. It stops today."

Many folks are surprised that financial institutions are even allowed to evict tenants of foreclosed properties. There should be a law banning foreclosure evictions of renters. Foreclosure evictions are bad for communities and families.

Illinois law already says tenants must be given 120 days of notice before being evicted under a foreclosure, but banks and mortgage companies regularly ignore the law. As a result of the law being flouted, unsuspecting renters often come home from work to find their possessions sitting on the curb.

How does the Illinois Bankers Association react to Dart's policy? They accuse the sheriff of "vigilantism" and "martial law." Is that the WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHmbulance I hear again?

Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. Several jurisdictions won't enforce foreclosures at all. In the Windy City, big banks are actually getting off easier than they could, because sheriffs aren't even required to enforce foreclosures.

And how is it "martial law" to not enforce such a quirky eviction? Barging into an apartment with a battering ram and taking tenants' belongings out to the curb just because of a greedy bank's say-so sounds more like martial law than Tom Dart's new policy does.

Banks accuse the sheriff of not following the law when banks don't even follow the law requiring a 120-day notice?

Hopefully other counties will follow the new Cook County policy.

(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWQSAw_s2aqqnJS5Ib0-PbD24H5gD93MJAO00;
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/08/chicago.evictions)