Republican lawmakers in Georgia are taking aim at the ongoing squatting problem in Atlanta, proposing a bill that would make it a criminal offense.
According to the National Rental Home Council trade group, 1,200 homes have been taken over by squatters in the city.
With law enforcement bound by tenant right laws, homeowners are left with limited options to reclaim their property, but the new law could make it easier.
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.
The new law means that anyone caught squatting in a home without consent or legal authority will be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor and hit with a fine.
Republican lawmakers in Georgia like Devan Seabaugh, seen here, are backing the new proposal
According to the National Rental Home Council trade group, 1,200 homes have been taken over by squatters in the city
Rep. Devan Seabaugh, a Republican co-sponsoring the bill, told Fox News Digital on Monday: ‘We have to do something about this. We’re dealing with criminals.
‘These are people that know exactly what they’re doing, and they’re stealing other people’s most valuable capital, which is their home.
‘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.
‘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.
The Republican also told Fox that Democrats were also on board with the new measures as well.
A property at 4951 Wewatta Street in South Fulton, Atlanta – where four squatters were said to have run an illegal strip club
A SWAT team arrested the four squatters after neighbors complained of the stench of marijuana, gunshots – and live horses on the premises
The situation has become so dire in the city that homeowners have offered to pay off squatters to get them out of their homes, rather than risk losing months of rent.
One squat in the Georgia city was even being run as illegal secret strip club and had to be cleared out by an entire FBI swat team.
The FBI had to get involved and arrested four people who had taken up residence at 4951 Wewatta Street in South Fulton without permission.
The 4,000 square foot five bed home with three bathrooms was trashed by the squatters.
Photos from inside the home after the FBI cleared it out showed the halls eerily empty, except a cartoonish green lizard painted on one wall.
Trash littered the property with a half-finished water bottle, a crumpled plastic bag and a bottle of Pink Whitney – the popular lemonade-infused vodka – sitting atop a railing.
Neighbors said they were running a strip club on the weekend, noisy parties and car races in the street.
DeAnthony Maddox (left) and Jeremy Wheat (right) were arrested on the premises
Kelvin Hall, left, and Tarahsjay Forde, right were also arrested
Four young men – DeAnthony Maddox, Jeremy Wheat, Kelvin Hall, and Tarahsjay Forde – were arrested on the premises.
All four were booked into Fulton County Jail on multiple charges, including several counts of theft by receiving stolen property.
Last year, a deployed Lt Colonel Dahlia Daure said she felt ‘violated’ when she learned a man was squatting in her home while she was away on active service.
Daure told local media that Vincent Simon – a man who has been convicted on guns, drugs, and theft charges – was living in her $500,000 home.
The Army officer had been away from her Ellenwood residence for duty in Chicago – and only found out he had moved in as the house was in the process of being sold.
‘I felt violated. Had I not been serving my country, I would have been in my home,’ Daure told WSB-TV.
Simon was later kicked out and arrested following his unwelcome stay, after telling Daure she would need to go through the courts.
CEO of the National Rental Home Council, David Howard previously explained to DailyMail.com: ‘Incidents of illegal trespassing in the Atlanta metro area are disproportionately higher than comparable markets across the country.
‘The sheer volume and consistency of practice in terms of how these incidents happen are clearly indicative of some kind of organized criminal effort.’
Lt. Colonel Dahlia Daure said a man with a lengthy criminal history was squatting in her Atlanta-area home while she is away on active duty – he was later removed
The massive 4,300 square foot estate where Simon was holed-up has five beds and five baths, Zillow states, and is valued around $495,000
Simon was later kicked out and arrested following his unwelcome stay , after telling Daure she would need to go through the courts
He added: ‘This is obviously a property rights issue first and foremost, but the impact of this kind of activity extends well beyond the concerns of the individual property owner.
‘There are serious public safety issues at play here – who is in the home? What is happening in the property? What is the risk to others in the neighborhood? Also, there’s a real concern here about the availability of affordably-priced housing.
‘Every incident of illegal occupation means there’s one less home available for a family in need of quality, single-family rental housing.’
‘As well as individual homeowners, the squatting crisis is making business hard for some of the country’s largest single-family-rental businesses.’
Online listings and virtual real estate agents can allow squatters to find vacant addresses and gain access by booking fake appointments.
Some people may not even know they are squatters as scam artists can set up fake listings for empty properties and fake lease agreements.
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.