Local sheriffs' civil offices are on the front lines when it comes to renters getting evicted because their landlords have been foreclosed upon.

Tenants who have gotten wind that their home or apartment building is being foreclosed come into the Porter County Sheriff's Civil Bureau on a regular basis, according to supervisor Kathy Nichols.

It is the Civil Bureau that delivers foreclosure summonses and orders. The bureau also does evictions when tenants won't leave.

Sometimes the tenant has seen the legal notice in the newspaper months before the final foreclosure order is issued. In other cases, they don't find out about it until the sheriff's deputy knocks on the door immediately before an eviction.

Most tenants who come to Nichols want to know how long they have before they have to leave and if there is any way they can stay in the home or apartment.

Nichols carefully walks them through the process. But she also has to give them the bad news.

"I tell them they have to get out," Nichols said.

Porter County saw a 38 percent increase in foreclosures in the first half of the year. Nichols said it is impossible to say exactly how many of those foreclosures involve renters.

In Lake County, the climb in foreclosures this year has been even steeper, with the first six month's tally of 1,885 homes surpassing that for all of last year.

Lake County Sheriff's Civil Division Commander Lessie Smith said her office also gets numerous inquiries from panicked renters who suddenly discover their landlord is not paying the mortgage.

Smith has also seen a number of scams connected with the process, including people moving out of their own home when it is about to be foreclosed and then renting it out to an unwitting tenant.

She said foreclosure summonses and notices of sheriff's sale addressed to the landlord are sent to the property to be foreclosed.

Sometimes tenants simply pass them on unopened to the landlord. But others will open them.

"Sometimes it's good to be nosey," she said.