will try to make this long story short...my youngest daughter attending college in georgia, she has a room mate, they are both on the lease of an apartment. room mate went away for 6 months for an internship, paid half of rent and utilities while gone for this internship, now has not gone back to school after internship, has not paid rent or utilities for 5 months, personall belongings are still in apartment, but refuses to pay share of rent,

my daughter has been paying all of the rent since she is on the lease, we want this room mate to move out so she can get another room mate, but not sure what to do from here.

i have been researching the georgia law, but it is all about tennat/landlord...this is a room mate thing... she is due to move out in august, the office has told her she has to get everything out of the aparment when she moves and clean it...yes we know that..but can we move this other stuff out before she moves? i know we have to follow georiga laws, but cant find anything about abandoned property...is this property abandoned? i know she can file a small claims suit, but you cant get blood out of a rock ya know....
my daugheter is done with school in august, but would like some help with the rent. the roommate is down in florida, while the apartment is up in georgia, has stated "dont touch my stuff" but yet refuses to pay rent saying he is just storing his stuff there, not living...

thanks i know its hard to make a long story short..just not sure where to turn on this matter...beside small claims court...then can we do this down in florida, or does it have to be in georgia while she is still there?
thanks for any advice or help any of you legal minds have out there,
debby

I"m not a lawyer, but small claims court is probably your best recourse. I would, however, send the deadbeat room-mate a certified letter explaining that if rent is not paid up by the time the lease expires, your daughter has the right to keep her property to help defray any costs (not that she particularly wants the stuff!). I would ask that the locks be changed prior to the letter so that your daughter can't be "cleaned out" some evening when she's gone. Whew, what a mess....

Get a Georgia attorney who specializes in landlord-tenant law. Most do evictions for a flat fee. For collections mine works on contingency. No doubt the lease has a joint and severally liable clause so your daughter is on the hook for the whole amount to the landlord thanks to the deadbeat.
You can't just take the other person's belongings. But the LL-T attorney will know what constitutes abandonment under GA law. You may end up storing it somewhere and paying the first month's storage fees. She may have already met the legal definition of storage but I doubt it unless you can prove by certified mail that you notified the other party. If you do end up using a storage facility--after the first and only month is paid let the storage facility auction it off. The laws are different for them.
Getting a judgement is one thing. Collecting is another. But since a judgement would hit the deadbeat's credit report just as they are job hunting, looking to get credit, buy a car etc it can sure hurt them. The apartment is in GA so you would want to file there. You might have to file the judgement in FL also.
Most landlords *****nt to students try to get parents to co-sign. Was there a co-signer?

Without doing extensive research on GA laws ...
 
I would say small claims is the best area to start. Begin the process for an eviction. Do not change the locks (that can be seen as an unlawful eviction and the roommate could end up collecting damages). The eviction process I would handle in GA small claims court ... then any additional damages you could probably take up in FL small claims court since both your daughter and the roommate have substantial ties to FL. You are going to want GA laws to have authority over the eviction though since the physical property & apartment are in GA and you may need LEOs to accompany the roommate when/if he finally gets his stuff. Tell your daughter to gather all emails, text msgs & receipts she can find as well as a copy of the lease.

**Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer & my opinions shouldn't be taken as legal advice. I'm a paralegal student studying in FL and just going off of my very basic knowledge from class. (No real world experience so please don't sue me )

This is a situation when I would pay a lawyer for an hour of advice. A certified letter may not give her the right to keep anything. You may have to go to court in Georgia. It might be OK to just tell the roommate the stuff will be on the sidewalk and he can pick it up. But every state has different laws.

Hire  a GA real estate attorney to get advise and send the room mate a letter.