Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

We just purchased a building in GA with 4 rental units. We just found out that one of the tenants has over $7000 in past due rent and the property mgr was about to start proceedings to evict but stopped because of pending sale. Do we have any legal entitlement to the past due balance owed to the previous owner, or are we to wipe the slate clean? Does the previous owner have any recourse against her? Also her lease dates are incorrect -start date is shown as 10/9/2012 and end date is 10/8/2012, so does this mean the lease is not valid? If she does not pay March rent within terms of lease, will we have grounds to begin eviction process even though the previous owners let her stay for so long without paying rent in full?


Asked on 2/27/13, 9:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

In the purchase of any rental units (residential or commercial) and important part of the contract process is a rent analysis and a provision setting forth exactly how past and future rent will be allocated. If your contract did not provide for this, as well as for the assignment of the leases, it was a major omission and you may have a difficult time collecting past due rent. The clerical error on the lease is not generally a problem. If you have no experience in managing rentals and evictions, sending money on a lawyer who handles landlord tenant issues and evictions will be money well spent. Not acting quickly and following the law to the letter will get you a non-paying tenant for months longer.

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Answered on 2/28/13, 4:38 am


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