Foreclosure Eviction Law in Georgia
Landlords, like homeowners, sometimes fail to pay their mortgage. If you live in Georgia and your rented home goes into foreclosure, state law offers little protection if the new owner wants you to move. A new federal law passed in 2009 gives you more time before you go; but if the new owner wants you gone, you'll have to move eventually.
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Foreclosure
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Georgia allows mortgage lenders to foreclose by filing a lawsuit or through nonjudicial foreclosure. Most lenders use the nonjudicial approach, which enables them to sell a foreclosed property in about two months. State law does not require lenders to notify property owners before starting the nonjudicial process. Once the bank or other lender sets the sale date, however, it has to give the owner 30 days advance notice of the sale. Typically, the entire process will wrap up in less than a couple of months.
Eviction
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Once the lender sells the rental property, Georgia law gives the new owner the power to evict you quickly. Regardless of the length of your lease, a foreclosure sale makes you a "tenant at sufferance" with no right to stay. The owner can file a dispossessory affidavit with the appropriate court in your county, then the county sheriff will serve you with a summons. You will have seven days to respond or the court will probably find in favor of the new owner. If you respond the case will be heard in a couple of weeks. If the owner wins, you have to leave.
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Protection
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The federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act helps tenants in Georgia and other states.The law guarantees that after a foreclosure, month-to-month tenants must be given 90 days notice before the new owner can evict them, while renters with a lease are guaranteed to stay until the end of the lease. The only exception is if the new owner plans to move into the property, in which case a lessee has to leave in 90 days, no matter how much time is left on the lease.
Transition
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Your landlord is legally obligated to tell you any material information about the property before you move in. If the landlord knew foreclosure was imminent at the time you signed the lease, you could sue in Georgia small claims court and possibly collect for the cost of moving and any increase in rent. The outcome of any suit could depend on how certain foreclosure was: A landlord worried he might have to default some day is in a different category from one who knows foreclosure is inevitable.
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