In this business, you develop a sense for when something’s off.

It’s not dramatic. It’s not one glaring red flag. It’s more like a texture — the way someone answers a question a half-beat too slowly, a pattern of small behaviors that individually you could explain away, but collectively you can’t ignore. The instinct that comes from spending enough time inside properties to know what normal looks like.

We trusted that instinct. We were right.

What We Noticed

The details aren’t entirely ours to share, but the pattern will be familiar to anyone who has spent time around rental properties: someone had settled into a short-term rental with more than a guest’s attitude toward the space. The behaviors were subtle. The kind of thing that, one by one, you’d dismiss — but stacked together, they told a story.

We flagged it. And then we looked.

What We Found

Ten eviction cases since 2005. Filed across multiple jurisdictions, fought by multiple landlords and property owners. One as recent as September 2025.

Meaning this wasn’t old history. This was an active, practiced pattern.

Each one of those ten cases represents a property owner who had to hire an attorney, file paperwork, appear in court, and wait — sometimes for months — while someone lived in their property, not paying, not leaving, and fully aware of how long the process takes.

Because here’s what a lot of property owners don’t know — and what this person clearly did:

The Tenant-Landlord Relationship Is Fuzzier Than You Think

In Georgia — and in most states — a tenant-landlord relationship doesn’t require a signed lease to exist. It can be established through behavior. Regular or recurring payments, extended stays, the expectation of continued occupancy, an understanding (even informal) that someone has the right to be there — these are all factors courts consider.

The legal definition is intentionally broad, and it is intentionally broad in ways that protect the occupant.

What this means for short-term rental hosts is serious: someone who understands the system can begin creating the conditions of a tenant-landlord relationship from inside your property. Once that relationship arguably exists, your options narrow dramatically. You can no longer simply ask them to leave or change the locks. You have to go through Georgia’s formal dispossessory process — which typically takes 30 to 90 days, and considerably longer if contested.

During that time, they stay. And experienced operators in this space know exactly how long they can stay.

The individual we encountered appeared to be doing exactly that — behaving in ways that could later be argued as consistent with an established tenancy. It wasn’t accidental. It was a pattern built over 20 years.

Why Platform Communication Matters More Than You Think

One of the most protective habits an STR host can build is this: keep all guest communication on the booking platform. Not text. Not personal email. The app.

Here’s the reason: platform messaging documents the nature of the transaction. It establishes — in writing, with timestamps, under terms of service — that this is a short-term rental stay, not a tenancy. It is one of your clearest lines of defense against a later claim that a different kind of relationship existed.

When communication moves off-platform, especially around extended stays, late checkouts, or informal arrangements, you begin losing that documentation trail. And documentation is everything when you’re standing in front of a judge.

Keep it on the app. Every time, every guest, no exceptions. Your booking platform’s terms of service are doing legal work you may not even realize.

What We Do

Part of what we provide for STR clients in Atlanta isn’t just repairs and maintenance. It’s presence. It’s eyes on the property from someone who knows what normal looks like — and what doesn’t. It’s noticing something that doesn’t sit right and saying so before it becomes a problem that sits in court for months.

Already OTW serves short-term rental owners across Atlanta. We’re EPA-certified, trade-licensed, and subscription-based — meaning we’re in and out of your property regularly, not just when something breaks.

If your gut is telling you something is off — trust it. And call someone who’s seen this before. We’re already OTW.