Bought REO with existing occupants who created fraudulent lease
Hi BP,
I recently purchased a REO property in Georgia. The occupants who are currently living there I suspect are squatters. I've seen the house and it's a total mess. Police have frequented the property on many occasions for calls of domestic violence and burglary. Cops have also been inside the house and have witnessed signs of extremely unsanitary conditions: pet waste/urine around the house, you get the picture.. I've tried to make contact with the occupants and have asked for a lease. They took a few days to get the "lease." However, when I got my hands on it via e-mail - it was clearly a lease they had hastily fabricated. They probably found a random residential lease form on google and used it. Not to mention that the address was partially wrong in a few places, every line filled in had the exact same handwriting, and one of the "care for premises" clauses was clearly being violated.
Now during this entire process before I was aware of any lease, fabricated or not, I knew I had to get these people out just based on the unsanitary and unsafe conditions the property was in (what's worse is..I'm not sure what these people are thinking seeing as how they also have a young daughter residing on the premises..). So immediately the next morning, I filed a dispossessory affidavit on the basis of "squatters on premises" at the county magistrate and found out the same day that the sheriff had served them a personal notice to respond within 7 days.
A few days after service of the notice by the sheriff, the occupant emails me the "lease" I had mentioned earlier. Now clearly this is a lease that the occupant single handedly prepared herself, likely in hopes of staying on the property as long as possible before facing eviction.
Considering the 7-day countdown and the fact that I now have this fake lease - should I wait until their 7 days are up (and hope they don't submit a formal response) or should I take another course of action? (On the 8th day, assuming absence of a response to the court by the occupant, I can request signature on a writ of possession, which basically gives me the legal right to schedule time with the sheriff on-site for the removal of all their personal property from the house and potentially onto the front lawn aka actual eviction.) I've attempted cash for keys before they sent me the fake lease but they refused my offer.
Please provide your thoughts, comments and whether you would wait them out on the 7 days or take another course of action..
Is the lease even valid? Even if it's not, can fabrication be proven? and is it worth the effort/time?