eviction in georgia

[priscilla]

i have been behind on my rent for 3 months. i have been giving him money every week since at least 100.00 a week trying to catch up. there is no lease. also he came last monday and told us to be out by friday then called friday wanting to know when we would be out sunday(yesterday). he has not fixed any repairs in the home either we have had a sinking bathroom floor and a broken toilet for a month now and he won't fix it . what are the eviction laws in georgia? does he have to give us 30 days and get a eviction notice before he puts us out. i am worried he will come here today trying to put us out and we have a 1 year old and we haven't found a place to go yet? help me out please.

[OHlandlord]

Has he given you any notices in writing yet? A 30 day notice is not an eviction notice. (Eviction notices come from the court.) The 30 day notice is merely stating that he will no longer renew your month to month agreement for the next month and that you must move out at the end of that period. Without a lease, he can give you this notice at any time without a reason. You don't have to be late on your rent to get this notice. He can give this notice to a tenant who is current on rent and who has no violations. No reason is needed to not renew.

If he gives you 30 days notice to not renew, you will have to move out within that 30 days. If you fail to, he can then file for eviction with the court.

More importantly, if you are behind in your rent, he can give you a notice for non-payment of rent (you are not current). This will either be a pay or quit notice or an unconsitional quit notice. Sometimes this is also referred to as a ___ day notice. (The number of days notice that is required varies per state and I don't know how many days notice this is in your state.) If you don't pay in full or move out by the end of this notice, he can also go to file eviction with the court. This will be much faster than the 30 days to not renew above. You need to get caught up on your rent fast if you want to stay.

About the repairs needed, have yyou notified him in writing of these repairs? (not called him or just told him, but written to him.) You need to do it in writing to have proof of these. Write this repair request up immediately, send it to him by certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy. If he does not repair, you can call the health dept. or a building inspector. Good luck.

he has not given me anything in writing. just all verbally. i have written to him about the repairs. he still don't want to do anything except run his mouth. i thought i had to have something in writing but i wasn't sure what the law was without a lease.

[OHlandlord]

Did you send the repair requests CM, RRR? If not, you have a copy, but will a judge believe you when you say you sent it to him? (The LL may claim he never got it!) Always send repair requests this way to PROVE the LL got it.

You are really in a bad situation. You have no lease to protect you at all. You are far behind in your rent. Any requests you make now may be seen as retaliation for the LL trying to get his rent money you owe. And once he files for an eviction, it will be on your record for years. Anyone can pull it up on the court site since it is public information. Any future LL can see it. I really don't see much I can do to help unless you can come up with the rent you owe. He is already asking when you will be out. It appears an eviction is imminent. I'm sorry.