Paul Callins, Dekalb, Georgia homeowner locked out of his own home after squatters move in with fake lease as he was preparing to rent out refurbished home.
‘Why are all the bad guys winning in America??’ A Georgia homeowner has lost access to his home after squatters moved in while he took absence to take care of his sick wife, with the homeowner saying police were powerless to force the squatters out after being presented with what the homeowner decries as a ‘fake lease’.
Paul Callins of Dekalb returned to the home only to find squatters who had moved into the property and changed the door locks.
Believing he had a criminal case on his hands, Callins to his shock was told by police that they were powerless to intervene on account of the issue being a civil one after the new dwellers presenting what they stated was a lease to the property.
Legal loophole
‘Basically, these people came in Friday, broke into my house and had a U-Haul move all their stuff in. It’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating. I can’t even sleep,’ Callins told WSB-TV.
Callins explained having poured thousands of dollars into the home and renovating it upon inheriting it from his father three years ago but now unable to return to the home after squatters moved in and took over and unable to ‘evict the intruders.’
‘I guess they have done this before, because when I called the police, they said since they have a fake lease, that they can’t do anything. That it’s a civil matter,’ Callins said.
Callins believes the squatters targeted him after posting a rental advertisement online. He’d been planning to rent to a government-subsidized tenant when he lost the house, WSB-TV reported.
The property which sat vacant during a lengthy home refurbishment allowed plotting schemers a window of opportunity to ‘lawfully’ trespass the property and stake their claim on it. In most states in the United States, a home dweller who can show having lived in the property for more than 30 days has what is called tenant rights and must therefore be taken through civil courts if a homeowner demands the dweller leave the residence.
And here’s where the legal loophole works itself in.
Rather than forcibly evicting the squatters, Georgia law requires homeowners file an ‘Affidavit of Intruder’ which in practical terms can take months in a backlogged housing court system to make its way through before city Marshalls can effect a state sanctioned eviction- allowing squatters to effectively live at a residence rent free for months on end.
Once a squatter is in, it’s hard to get them out. It can take three months to get a court hearing for an eviction, and another three months to get a deputy or marshal to clear out the home.
Is there relief? Georgia Squatter Reform Act
‘I have to go through the court system, and I understand it could take 60 to 90 days,’ the homeowner said.
In the interim, two men and a woman are now living in the home after having broken into the rental home and switching locks and locking the homeowner out.
When confronted by a local television news reporter as the squatters entered the home, the trio refused to answer questions.
Situations like Callins’ have become all too common in Georgia.
About 1,200 homes across DeKalb County are currently occupied by squatters, according to the National Rental Home Council trade group.
The problem is exacerbated by its status as a civil matter, which prevents homeowners from easily evicting intruders, according to critics.
But there might be relief on the way as Georgia lawmakers are nearing the passage of a bill which would allow police to arrest squatters for trespassing along with making a fake lease a criminal offense.
The proposed bill, named the Georgia Squatter Reform Act, expands criminal trespassing to include persons who enter property without the consent of the owner for any period of time.
Reckoning with unaffordable housing crises
‘These are people that know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re stealing other people’s most valuable capital, which is their home,’ Rep. Devan Seabaugh, a Republican co-sponsoring the bill, told Fox News.
‘I’ve heard from a lot of people. This has caused them to file bankruptcy. They’re mentally harmed by it. It’s a tough situation, and we have to do something. I don’t know how it took us this long to get here … but no more free rides,’ Seabaugh said.
‘What we’ve done is create new code in the Georgia law that says, if you’re squatting in a home, and you do not have the consent or legal authority to be in it, you’ll be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor of a highly aggravated nature.
‘You’ll be fined, and you may spend up to a year behind bars.’
Seabaugh added that the new law would also speed up court proceedings, with hearings being held in a non-jury magistrate court to decrease the time it takes to remove squatters from a property.
Despite the nearing of a new law, the unaffordable housing situation and the prevalence of illegal squatters becoming rampant, desperate homeowners are increasingly offering to pay off squatters to get them out of their homes, rather than risk losing months of rent and court backlogs.
Social media responds
And then there were these comments on the web that caught this author’s attention, see what you think?
‘How is there not a database of verified lease agreements that could be checked quickly to avoid cases like this? The laws need to be changed because this stuff is getting to be way too commonplace.’
‘HOW is this not ‘breaking and entering ‘,’trespassing ‘ etc. I don’t get it.’
‘This is a criminal matter not civil.’
‘If this happened to a judge the new law would be passed in 2 minutes.’
‘I’m not calling no police they will be removed by force!’
‘Why are all the bad guys winning in America??’
