Title Theft, Unsolicited Real Estate Solicitations and Unsolicited Brokerage Solicitations

Title Theft 

Title theft occurs when a criminal impersonates a property owner and sells or takes out a second mortgage on the owner’s property. In the worst-case scenario, the home goes into foreclosure and/or is deeded to a new purchaser. It is a complicated and expensive process to rectify, if it can be rectified at all. HB 1292 is legislation signed by Governor Kemp to create greater safeguards. This law creates a process, effective January 1, 2025, to validate a person’s identity when he or she files a title deed and other real estate and personal property records.

Unsolicited Real Estate Solicitations

This law also addresses predatory and unsolicited real estate purchase offers that often target older adults. As of May 2, 2024, solicitations of this nature must state that the monetary offer may not be the fair market value of the property. A solicitation that includes a monetary offer is also required to include the following text in capital letters:  “THIS OFFER MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE FAIR MARKET VALUE OF THE PROPERTY.” Furthermore, if the monetary offer is less than the value of the previous year’s assessed value for ad valorem taxation by the county tax assessor for the county in which the property is located, the following text is required in capital letters: “THIS OFFER IS LESS THAN THE COUNTY ASSESSED VALUE FOR THIS PROPERTY.”

The bill also creates a private right of action for those individuals who believe they were deceived.

Unsolicited Brokerage Solicitations

SB 90 is another piece of legislation that addresses real estate and went into effect on January 1, 2024. This law deals with brokerage engagement solicitations. Georgia law imposes strict requirements on unsolicited agreements that inquire into consumers’ interests in selling their land or real property. Such agreements are required to make clear to consumers that the inquiry is a solicitation, that the proposed agreements are not legally binding, and that consumers have no obligation to do anything upon receiving these inquiries, including responding to or even opening the solicitations. This exact language can be found in SB 90, or O.C.G.A. § 10-1-393.18.

Any unsolicited solicitation shall contain the following:

  • At the top of and at least two inches apart from any other text on such written inquiry or mailing, the following notice in capital letters:

    “THIS IS A SOLICITATION. THE SENDER IS CONTACTING YOU TO INQUIRE AS TO YOUR INTEREST IN SELLING YOUR HOME OR OTHER REAL ESTATE. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO RESPOND.”
     

  • On front of the envelope or, if there is no envelope, on the part of the written inquiry or mailing that bears the postage stamp or postage amount, the following notice in capital letters:

    “SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO OPEN OR TO RESPOND.”

If you believe that you’ve received a solicitation that failed to meet the requirements explained above, or contained any misleading or false representations, please contact our office at (404) 651-8600 or by filing an online complaint.

This office will also be monitoring this area and will take appropriate enforcement action.  

Tips

To help property owners stay apprised of any unauthorized changes to their deed, they can sign up to receive notifications of certain changes in filing status through the Filing Activity Notification System (FANS) at https://fans.gsccca.org/. Many local County Clerks offer this service as well.

Another step you can take to protect yourself from these scams, while not foolproof, is to place a Google alert for your property address. That way if someone places an online ad or listing that references your property, you should get an email alert. 

Read more about title theft here.