CHICAGO — The Cook County sheriff who was sued by a subprimelender after he refused to carry out any more evictions says hisoffice will start the procedures on Monday.

Sheriff Thomas J. Dart has issued a statement that because of arecent overhaul of Cook County's eviction process, renters will nowbe notified that their building is in foreclosure. In addition,banks must prove to the sheriff's office that they informed tenantsof a 120-day grace period granted by state law that gives renterstime to obtain new housing.

Dart said the safeguards came as a result of several discussionsbetween his office and the Cook County Circuit Court's ChanceryDivision.

“Those steps not only protect tenants, but also taxpayers, whowill no longer foot the bill for conducting due diligenceinvestigations for the banks,” Dart said.

Foreclosure filings have climbed in Cook County since 1999 withthe number of foreclosure evictions tripling in just two years.Dart projected that his office will conduct more than 43,000evictions this year.

Dart said mortgage foreclosure evictions are also up with hisoffice on pace to conduct 4,500 mortgage foreclosure evictions thisyear compared to just 1,771 two years ago.