Urban exploration, the legal way.
July 1, 2006 10:44 PM Subscribe
We'd like to photograph [inside] an abandoned house in Atlanta, GA. How do we find out who owns it?
A friend of mine recently found a beautiful old abandoned house in the East Lake area of Atlanta. The property is in complete disarray. It's clear that no one lives there, but there is always a light on by the back door, and sometimes a car parked there, so someone must be taking "care" of the house.
We would like to photograph inside this house if possible, but we only want to do it legally. How do we go about finding out who owns the property?
Bonus points for Atlanta-specific answers and online solutions.
A friend of mine recently found a beautiful old abandoned house in the East Lake area of Atlanta. The property is in complete disarray. It's clear that no one lives there, but there is always a light on by the back door, and sometimes a car parked there, so someone must be taking "care" of the house.
We would like to photograph inside this house if possible, but we only want to do it legally. How do we go about finding out who owns the property?
Bonus points for Atlanta-specific answers and online solutions.
This may help you. It's sort of what you can use for an abbreviated title search. Also, try calling the Clerk of Superior Court in Fulton County and seeing if they can look up the property owner for you -- if they want to know why, just tell them you've observed something the owner may want to know about or whatever. (IE, you may want to say something that doesn't sound like, "I'm asking out of idle interest," because in my experience, they're not as helpful as they could be unless they think it matters. And maybe not then. But they will know/be able to find who has title to that land.)
posted by Medieval Maven at 10:53 PM on July 1, 2006
posted by Medieval Maven at 10:53 PM on July 1, 2006
Post a note?
posted by parallax7d at 10:54 PM on July 1, 2006
posted by parallax7d at 10:54 PM on July 1, 2006
Best answer: Bear in mind that when the average landlord hears, "Can I come onto your property to do X," it is immediately translated to "Will you accept financial liability for injuries suffered while I am doing X on your property?" Because, although you may not realize it, the law says that the landlord's answer to question 1 automatically, and non-disclaimably, serves as the answer to question 2.
I say this not to discourage you, but to improve your ability to communicate with the landlord once you find her.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:36 PM on July 1, 2006
I say this not to discourage you, but to improve your ability to communicate with the landlord once you find her.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:36 PM on July 1, 2006
Grab some GIS data from the county. It'll be viewable at the last in ArcView, but you should able to use something like http://www.mapwindow.org/. What you want is probably tax lot/parcel data.
posted by devilsbrigade at 11:51 PM on July 1, 2006
posted by devilsbrigade at 11:51 PM on July 1, 2006
Ask the neighbours?
posted by flabdablet at 4:03 AM on July 2, 2006
posted by flabdablet at 4:03 AM on July 2, 2006
Best answer: East Lake is in Dekalb County. Enter the street address into Dekalb County's excellent online real estate parcel data system. You'll have your answer in 15 seconds.
Then try not to enter in all your neighbors' addresses ...
posted by intermod at 8:02 AM on July 2, 2006
Then try not to enter in all your neighbors' addresses ...
posted by intermod at 8:02 AM on July 2, 2006
I think eastlake is in Dekalb, but if it is in Fulton, go to www.fultonassessor.org. I know a site like this exists for Dekalb, but I'm on a PDA.
posted by Frank Grimes at 8:04 AM on July 2, 2006
posted by Frank Grimes at 8:04 AM on July 2, 2006
Response by poster: Thanks, everyone.
intermod hit the nail on the head, pretty much. That site also gave me a lot of other useful information, like when the house was built.
Also, ikkyu2, thanks for the tip. The two of us are about the least litigious people on earth, so we'll emphasize that when we (hopefully) speak to the landlord.
If I get some photos out of this, I'll try and post them in projects. Thanks again!
posted by anjamu at 9:49 PM on July 2, 2006
intermod hit the nail on the head, pretty much. That site also gave me a lot of other useful information, like when the house was built.
Also, ikkyu2, thanks for the tip. The two of us are about the least litigious people on earth, so we'll emphasize that when we (hopefully) speak to the landlord.
If I get some photos out of this, I'll try and post them in projects. Thanks again!
posted by anjamu at 9:49 PM on July 2, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 10:51 PM on July 1, 2006