Georgia Landlord Tenant Specific

[Lane Mobley]

My wife and I just bought our first quadplex and we are actively screening tenants. As a self-manager, what are some of the important Georgia specific landlord tenant laws I need to focus on?

[Richard Balsam]

You need to continue searching for tenants meeting the 3x rule- or you will be asking us for eviction rules next! I'm serious...

What I did in the past that I will no longer do regarding tenants (please pay attention): 

Drop my requirement of mid-high 500's credit score to accommodate these nice people that met me at the house. They "almost" make it...a 500 and 525 score. So- I bent the rules - multiple times for multiple houses. Try and guess who is still in those houses. Hint: none of them. All evicted. All played the fuzzy math game of almost paying on time, a few bounced checks here and there, a missed half month payment (since they couldn't quite pay in full each month, after a few months in the house), and my the favorite excuse: "I just switched jobs - first check arrives in two weeks"... after being behind for the past month.

Unfortunately, I made my mistakes and had to learn from them, once I figured out the pattern. Here on BP- you find out immediately from those that can tell you the truth - they lived through it. It's really not that difficult to find tenants. It is your job to filter them down. A good tenant will make your life much easier - a poor one, makes your life difficult. 

One more piece of advise: Watch out for those renters that must move by the end of the week. Usually leases run monthly, (even those that are month-to-month) and they should wait until their lease ends (or close to it) before moving. If they are available to rent now- why? Don't they know when their lease expires? Or...maybe they were evicted for non payment and need a roof asap. I always listen for the phrase "I can move at the end of my lease in ___ weeks" - it gives me more faith in selecting them as tenants. 

Also - they will give you the name of their landlord - double check this. Many times - it's a friend, uncle, or someone else pretending to be their landlord. Ask me how I know! Good luck.