ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers want to let property and homeowners sue their governments over lost property values caused by failures to clear out homeless encampments and other public nuisances.
According to House Bill 295, if a city or other municipal government adopts policies or patterns of not complying with bans on immigration sanctuary policies or blocks on various public nuisance activities, leading to a “local government maintaining a public nuisance,” the property owners would be entitled to sue for loss of value at their properties.
The legislation says that if an owner “incurs documented expenses to mitigate the effects” of those policies on their property, or if the fair market value is reduced by those policies, then they are entitled to seek compensation.
As far as how much, the bill says it would be equal to:
- The documented expenses that were reasonably necessary, at the discretion of the owner, to mitigate the effects
- The reduction in fair market value resulting from the policy
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Claims made to seek this money would have to be submitted in writing, contain the full measure of compensation being sought and state which policy caused the loss or necessity to spend money to mitigate the effects.
The claim must be presented within two years of occurring, according to the legislation, and must be responded to within 30 days of being presented to a local governing body.
Among the items marked out for what counts as a public nuisance, the lawmakers who filed the legislation named:
- Illegal public camping
- Loitering
- Obstructing public thoroughfares
- Panhandling
- Possessing or using controlled substances
- Shoplifting
- Public intoxication or public urination while trespassing on private property
The owners would also have to provide an itemized list of costs and losses from the situation to form the factual basis of the claim, the bill says.
If governments agree to responsibility, they would have to then pay the amount requested within 30 days. If they reject the claim or do not respond within 30 days, owners can instead bring legal action in superior court against the government in question.
This means that if a homeowner believes their city’s policies have caused their home to lose value, they can ask for monetary compensation. If they are denied, they can sue the city they live in for those funds in court.
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The legislation did not contain provisions for limiting overall numbers of claims per owner, nor did it provide specifics for burdens of proof on the claimant, meaning that it’s solely up to the government being accused of causing value loss to prove it has not done so.
As written, the property owners can sue over any policy they believe caused them to lose property value, so long as they provide an itemized list of what they’ve spent to reduce more losses and which policies they say are doing so.
The proposed bill also says the government has the burden of proof in court cases as far as demonstrating why their policies do not cause property value losses.
Explicitly, the bill would remove sovereign immunity from municipal governments in these particular cases.
Additionally, property owners would be able to pursue claims once per tax year for each property parcel they own.
If a government loses in court, they would owe the property owner the amounts sought as well as awarding attorneys fees and costs.
Amounts, however, are capped at the total ad valorem tax for the property in question.
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