Bought REO with existing occupants who created fraudulent lease

[Tony C.]

Hi BP, 

I recently purchased a REO property in Georgia. The occupants who are currently living there I suspect are squatters. I've seen the house and it's a total mess. Police have frequented the property on many occasions for calls of domestic violence and burglary. Cops have also been inside the house and have witnessed signs of extremely unsanitary conditions: pet waste/urine around the house, you get the picture.. I've tried to make contact with the occupants and have asked for a lease. They took a few days to get the "lease." However, when I got my hands on it via e-mail - it was clearly a lease they had hastily fabricated. They probably found a random residential lease form on google and used it. Not to mention that the address was partially wrong in a few places, every line filled in had the exact same handwriting, and one of the "care for premises" clauses was clearly being violated.

Now during this entire process before I was aware of any lease, fabricated or not, I knew I had to get these people out just based on the unsanitary and unsafe conditions the property was in (what's worse is..I'm not sure what these people are thinking seeing as how they also have a young daughter residing on the premises..). So immediately the next morning, I filed a dispossessory affidavit on the basis of "squatters on premises" at the county magistrate and found out the same day that the sheriff had served them a personal notice to respond within 7 days.

A few days after service of the notice by the sheriff, the occupant emails me the "lease" I had mentioned earlier. Now clearly this is a lease that the occupant single handedly prepared herself, likely in hopes of staying on the property as long as possible before facing eviction. 

Considering the 7-day countdown and the fact that I now have this fake lease - should I wait until their 7 days are up (and hope they don't submit a formal response) or should I take another course of action? (On the 8th day, assuming absence of a response to the court by the occupant, I can request signature on a writ of possession, which basically gives me the legal right to schedule time with the sheriff on-site for the removal of all their personal property from the house and potentially onto the front lawn aka actual eviction.) I've attempted cash for keys before they sent me the fake lease but they refused my offer.

Please provide your thoughts, comments and whether you would wait them out on the 7 days or take another course of action..

Is the lease even valid? Even if it's not, can fabrication be proven? and is it worth the effort/time?

[Gail K.]

Actually evictions are fairly easy in Georgia (although we live in Georgia so we're not dealing with doing this "long distance").

Yes: your option since they have refused the "cash for keys" offer is to wait to see if they respond within the required 7 days.  Sounds like they will likely do this in which case the next step would be a court date will be set up where the both of you can provide evidence as to why or why not the request for the dispossessory should or should not be granted.

IF this goes to court I'd STRONGLY suggest you call your local Code Enforcement and request they review the condition of the rental unit to document the unsanitary and/or unsafe living conditions...or, at the very least have the police reports to confirm the reports of domestic violence, burglary and unsanitary conditions.  All this would be excellent evidence to show in court to show that these are unsafe living conditions, especially with a child involved.

Hopefully these tenants will not respond within the required 7 days notice and the next step would be the actual eviction process.  Keep in mind that during the process the law enforcement agency that oversees this (in my county it's the Marshal's department) will do nothing to actually HELP with the process; they are simply there to make sure everything goes smoothly and without violence.    Bring help, lots of garbage bags, LOTS of disposable gloves and, possibly, face masks...and for heavens sake, DON'T open the tenants refrigerator.   It's also helpful to make sure the power is on since an eviction in Georgia even in the fall without power is NOT a pleasant experience.

Typically once the tenants possessions hits the curb the eviction is complete (at least in my county); there is no need to store these for any length of time in Georgia.

Gail