Buying Mountain Land in Georgia: Title Issues in Lumpkin County

Buying mountain land in Georgia brings title issues that a lot in a newer subdivision rarely raises. In Lumpkin County much of the land was first granted by lottery in 1832, a large share of the county is national forest, many tracts are reached by private roads or across a neighbor’s land, and some family land has passed for generations without an estate being opened. Each issue has a Georgia rule behind it, and each shows up somewhere specific: in the deeds, on the survey or in the title commitment. This page gives one short, sourced answer for each and links to the deeper guide.

Descriptions built on the 1832 land-lot grid

Between 1805 and 1832 Georgia held lotteries to distribute land seized from the Cherokees and Muscogee (Creeks), and nearly three-quarters of the state’s land was allocated that way (New Georgia Encyclopedia). In 1832 the Cherokee territory that became Lumpkin County was split into 160-acre land lots and 40-acre gold lots (Georgia Archives). That is why a Lumpkin deed places land by land lot, district and section, and why some old descriptions are hard to fit to the ground. Our article on reading a Lumpkin County legal description explains each call.

Access: private roads and neighbors’ land

Georgia recognizes four ways a private way over another’s land can arise: “from an express grant, from prescription by seven years’ uninterrupted use through improved lands or by 20 years’ use through wild lands, by implication of law when the right is necessary,” or by court-ordered purchase (O.C.G.A. § 44-9-1). Only the first is in the deed records. The county code adds its own limits: access to every subdivision lot must be over a public street, not a private easement or private right-of-way (Lumpkin County Code), and only minor subdivides and the code’s exemptions may divide land reached by an easement or private road (Lumpkin County Code). A quick field clue: Lumpkin County road signs are green, and privately maintained road signs should be blue with white lettering (Lumpkin County Roads). The 2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy lists “No right of access to and from the Land” as a covered risk (2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy), subject to the policy’s exceptions. More in easements and landlocked land.

Old surveys and boundary lines

Georgia’s survey standards say every surveyed parcel should be made to conform with its record title boundaries, and when it cannot, the surveyor must say why. The listed reasons include possession lines, acquiescence, adverse possession, unrecorded deeds and “dubious and nebulous deed descriptions” (Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. 180-7). On the policy side, encroachments and boundary overlaps are covered only if an accurate and complete land title survey would have disclosed them (2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy), and the owner’s policy excludes any discrepancy in acreage (2021 ALTA Owner’s Policy). See surveys and boundaries.

Family cemeteries

A landowner may not knowingly disturb a known cemetery or burial ground to develop or change the use of the land without first getting a permit from the city or county governing authority (O.C.G.A. § 36-72-4). Plats must show observed evidence of human burials or cemeteries (Ga. Comp. R. and Regs. 180-7). On visits by descendants, Georgia DCA says there is no specific statute, and that case law has been read to give the heirs of those buried an implied easement (Georgia DCA). See family cemeteries on private land.

Gold-era mineral rights

Lumpkin County dates the start of its gold rush to 1828; the first documented evidence of Georgia gold is August 1, 1829 (New Georgia Encyclopedia). Old deeds here sometimes split the minerals from the surface. Georgia lets a surface owner gain title to severed mineral rights by adverse possession when the mineral owner has neither worked them nor paid taxes on them for seven years (O.C.G.A. § 44-5-168). See mineral rights and gold mining history.

National forest boundaries

Lumpkin County describes itself as 283 square miles, 44% of which lies within the Chattahoochee National Forest (Lumpkin County). A driveway or anything else built on National Forest System land needs a Forest Service special-use authorization (USFS). See national forest boundaries.

Creek buffers and flood zones

Lumpkin County Planning states stream buffers of 25 feet for warm-water streams and 50 feet for primary and secondary trout waters, and land inside a buffer cannot be disturbed without a variance from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (Lumpkin County FAQ). FEMA’s flood maps for the county carry an effective date of April 4, 2018 (FEMA NFHL). A buffer or flood zone is not a title defect, but it limits where you can build, and a survey is where you see it.

Heirs property and family land

A Georgia deed to two or more people creates a tenancy in common without survivorship unless it uses joint-tenancy language (O.C.G.A. § 44-6-190). When those owners die without their estates being settled, the land can pass to a widening circle of heirs, and the Georgia Heirs Property Law Center notes that heirs property cannot be sold or mortgaged without the agreement of all heirs (Georgia Heirs Property Law Center). See heirs property in Georgia.

Where these issues show up

In the commitment, Schedule B, Part I lists what must be done before a policy issues, and Part II lists the exceptions the policy will carry unless they are cleared to the insurer’s satisfaction (2021 ALTA Commitment). Our title commitment guide decodes both. To see which of these checks apply to a tract you are looking at, start with the Risk Finder below.

If you are weighing a piece of mountain land and want to talk through what the records show before you make an offer, Gold Peach Realty works with buyers and sellers of Lumpkin County land. For what a record means for your title, ask a Georgia real estate attorney.

Questions people ask