Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia

Squater Rights

I have a farm house my family owns in GA since the mid 1800s. My in-Laws were being evicted from their residence and had no place to live so I recommended they move into my farm house until they got back on their feet. It has been 4 1/2 years and they have made no mention of ever leaving and have never offered to pay rent. The verbal agreement between them and myself has been they would repair the barns, cut the grass and keep the house up in exchange for rent. They have made minor repairs but no attempt to repair barns. I gnereally have to remind them to cut the grass or do it myself.

I mentioned to them in January 03 that we would have to put them on a rental agreement and start charging rent. However, everytime I get ready to give them a contract they have a disaster come up and can't meet with me. The main reason for the contract is to push them back on their feet and also to protect my family from them qualifying for squater rights. How does that work? Am I in jeopardy of looing my homestead? What should I do to keep that from happening?


Asked on 4/08/03, 7:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Ms. Tran Lankford Tran Lankford, Attorney at Law

Eviction

You need to evict them from the premises assuming there was a verbal agreement. There are usually forms already at the Magistrate Court in the county clerk's office to get a Dispossessory Warrant. You can also hire an attorney if you feel you are not up to performing the task yourself. You need to make sure you follow the law in order to avoid any violation in evicting the people from the premises.

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Answered on 4/08/03, 1:05 pm


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