Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia

RE: Jointly Owned Townhome (Divorce/Eviction)

My ex and I divorced in November 2011 and jointly own a townhome that has been leased to the same tenant since January 2009 and recently renewed the lease for another 12 months in July 2012.

Because the townhome is upside down in value due to the housing bubble burst, and per our divorce decree, my ex was given control of the lease payments and to use these funds to make the 1st mortgage and HOA payments. I agreed to make the 2nd mortgage payments.

The ex has decided she wants to let the townhome go into foreclosure and evict the tenant simply because she doesn't want any part of jointly owning it with me, although she agreed to extend the lease to the tenat just last month. The ex wants me to refinance the TH, take sole ownership, and release her of all obligations to the TH and to the mortage. I won't agree to do this for many reasons, most notably that because we still owe nearly twice as much as the the townhome is currently worth.

She pocketed the lease from the tenant in July and did not make the mortgage payment. She also has not paid the HOA dues on the property since January 2012. I scraped enough money to pay both the past due mortgage and the deliquent HOA dues (over $1,700) in order to avoid the negative impact on my credit score (currently 750+).

The ex now wants to evict the tenant and let the townhome fall into foreclosure. and has threatened to do so. Because we jointly own the townhome and because we are joint landlords of the townhome can she evict the tenant without my authorization, especially considering she just approved the tenant less than 30 days ago to renew the lease for another year??

Thanks in advance. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

T

2 Answers from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Real Estate and Real Property questions and answers in Georgia

Looking for something else?