Lake County sheriff halts evictions for the holidays

The Lake County sheriff's office is placing a 15-day moratorium on evictions beginning Dec. 21 to allow financially stressed families to remain in their homes over the holidays.

"Although the holidays are a special time, it's also time of year that can be very stressful for people who are down," Sheriff Mark Curran said Monday. "We're cognizant of that and don't see why evictions could not be put on hold until after the holidays."

The sheriff's office has enacted a similar moratorium every year since Curran became sheriff in 2006. His office typically conducts about 50 evictions a month.

Curran said he's received little push back from landlords over the moratorium.

"We understand that they have a business to run, and I don't want them to suffer either as a result of (tenants) who aren't keeping their obligations," he said.

The sheriff's office's civil process division will carry out its other duties during the moratorium, including serving court summons, subpoenas and other legal notices. The division processes, serves or enforces more than 10,000 civil papers, documents and orders annually, according to the sheriff's office.

Evictions will resume as normal when the moratorium ends Jan. 4, Curran said.