Police in South Fulton, Georgia, finally took action to defend property rights in their area, arriving in force at a home that had been taken over by squatters around Christmas in 2023 and arrested all six of the squatters involved. The arrested individuals also apparently stole a car and were using it, which the police recovered for its rightful owner as well.
The incident comes amidst a national recognition of the squatter problem, with property owners around the nation struggling to deal with squatters who take over their houses and then are bizarrely protected by the law when they do so. Often, getting rid of them requires fighting lengthy and expensive courtroom battles, all while the property is still taken over and utilities cannot be turned off.
In any case, this incident took place in the South Fulton, Georgia, neighborhood of Hampton Oaks. According to Fox 5, Hampton Oaks Homeowners Association Vice President Kendra Snorton said that the squatters moved into the property on Christmas Day of 2023 and have been there ever since. She added, “The ringleader, we see him walking his dog all the time. He’s very courteous and polite when he interacts with the community.” Snorton said.
Snorton also said that the situation with the squatters was creating a sense of unease for neighborhood residents, as it’s impossible to feel safe with the unknown characters prowling around and illegally occupying a home. She said, “Not knowing who’s living amongst us, it really makes you feel uneasy, and you just don’t feel safe. You don’t feel safe.”
Further, the HOA President, Mel Keyton, added more details about the alleged squatters, saying that they stole a car from a neighbor’s home and brought it back to the home they were illegally occupying. Describing how their responsibility for the theft was discovered, Keyton said, “When the police showed up, the car was behind us in the yard. That’s how we put two and two together.”
Keyton added that the squatters were known in the neighborhood as being responsible for home break-ins, saying, “They use our amenities. They walk through the neighborhood. They break into houses.” But, unfortunately for residents, it was not until now, months after they moved in, that the police dealt with the lawbreakers.
Ketyon also added that Georgia’s recently signed Squatter Reform Act will hopefully make things better and stop the situation from getting so bad in the future. “Hopefully, it won’t get this bad. Hopefully, we won’t have to use this amount of police,” Keyton said.
The Georgia Squatter Reform Act, signed into law recently by Governor Kemp and going into effect in July, takes squatter matters out of the hands of juries and gives the court just a week to look at a supposed lease and determine if it is real or fake.
Describing it, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Devan Seabaugh, said, “What we’ve done with this bill is it will go to magistrate court, a non-jury trial, to expedite that. If they present a lease, they have three days to present that lease to the court. The court has seven days to make a determination if that’s a good lease or a fake lease.”
Watch the South Fulton squatters getting arrested and moved out of the home here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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