I’m a tenant of this property,The owner has passed no kids, no family, no one has came forward to take on business. What steps must I do to continue living in house

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I’m a tenant of this property,The owner has passed no kids, no family, no one has came forward to take on business. What steps must I do to continue living in house

Landlord pasted

Asked on October 24, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Georgia

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

There may be nothing you can do keep living there. A tenant has no right to take over the home. You cannot get the legal right to the home, or to even do necessary things to it (e.g make repairs). If the owner has passed away and he has no heirs, then the taxes and mortgage (if there is one) will go unpaid and so the home may be foreclosed on; utilities will presumably not be paid, which can make it uninhabitable; there may be problems with service contracts, repairs, maintenance; and eventually, if there are no other heirs, it will go to the state (i.e. the state is the ultimate "heir" for property which has no other heirs). One way or another, at some point, you will have to leave. You should hold onto your rent (there is apparently no one to pay it to), unless and until someone shows up with a legal right to the home (i.e. some heir does appear); accumulate the money, take advantage of living there "rent free" as long as you can, and while doing this, look for a new place to move to.
If and when the home is foreclosed upon for taxes and/or the mortgage, you can try to buy it at the tax sale or foreclosure auction, assuming you have the money to do that.


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