The Cook County's Sheriff's office — the second largest sheriff's department in the U.S. — said it will not carry out any foreclosure evictions filed by Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and GMAC/Ally Financial, until these servicers can "provide complete assurance that the foreclosure was done properly and legally."
In a statement, Sheriff Thomas J. Dart said the moratorium will start next Monday, giving the servicers five business days to respond to a letter Dart sent to them last week.
The action affects foreclosure eviction orders filed with his office by the three firms and their subsidiaries. According to the Sheriff, this accounts for one-third of the roughly 3,700 eviction orders filed with his office annually.
"In recent days, each of those lenders has admitted it is uncertain about the legitimacy of some of their foreclosure actions," the office said. "Specifically, some employees said they never read foreclosure documents before attesting that the foreclosures had been verified and were justified. Though some lenders put a freeze on new foreclosures or those in the midst of legal proceedings, nothing was stopping eviction orders already given to sheriff’s deputies from being carried out."
All three servicers are reviewing their foreclosure practices, and eventually plan to move ahead with foreclosures in states where they declared temporary moratoriums.
