Georgia eviction law

Before you file a dispossessory affidavit for unpaid rent, late fees, utilities or other charges, give the tenant a notice to vacate or pay everything past due within three business days. Post it in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door of the home and also deliver it by any other method your lease names. If the tenant neither pays nor leaves, you may make the affidavit.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(c), (d)

• These rules came from a 2024 Act that applies to residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024. HB 404 (2024), section 6
• The affidavit may be made before a superior or state court judge or clerk, the judge or clerk of any other court with jurisdiction, a magistrate in the district where the land lies, or a notary public. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(c)
• A public housing authority may give the notice at the same time as the federally required notice of lease termination, in a separate writing. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(b)

When a tenant holds over past the lease term, or is a tenant at will or at sufferance, you may demand possession; if the tenant refuses or fails to leave, you may make a dispossessory affidavit. The statute states no number of days for that demand. Post the demand in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door and also deliver it by any other method your lease names. No section read gives a tenant a period to cure a lease violation.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(a), (d)

• The sealed-envelope rule covers both the demand for possession and the three-business-day notice to vacate or pay. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(d)

Georgia evictions are dispossessory proceedings. After the required notice or demand, the landlord makes an affidavit and the court issues a summons for service on the tenant. A judgment against the tenant after trial carries a writ effective seven days after judgment, subject to the appeal provision. Failure to answer and failure to make required registry payments follow the separate rules below.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51(a) O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(a) O.C.G.A. section 44-7-53, public Code access

• A sheriff, constable or approved process server serves the summons and affidavit personally; if that fails, service may be made on a competent resident. After reasonable efforts fail to find such a resident, posting on the door must be paired with first-class mailing that same day to the last known address and an entry of that action on the filed affidavit. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51(a)
• With service by posting and mail, the court may enter a default judgment for possession, but not for money unless the tenant answers or appears. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51(c)
• Apply to have the writ executed within 30 days after issuance unless an affidavit shows good cause for delay. This is an application deadline; section 44-7-55(e) sets no 30-day execution requirement. If the officer cannot execute within 14 days of the request, the statute permits an authorized certified off-duty officer at the landlord's cost, with written notice to the responsible officer at least five calendar days before execution. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(d) O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(e)
• An appeal must be filed within seven days after judgment. A tenant who appeals and wants to stay must pay the rent found due and future rent into the court registry. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-56(b)
• From January 1, 2027, a court may on motion seal dispossessory records when the tenant won, paid the judgment in full, or seven years have passed and the judgment is paid. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(e)
• The tenant may answer orally or in writing within seven days of actual service. If day seven is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the deadline moves to the next day that is none of those. An oral answer is recorded on the affidavit and may include legal or equitable defenses and counterclaims. The summons must state the last answer date; the landlord need not appear on the response date. O.C.G.A. section 44-7-51(b), public Code access
• In a nonpayment case, tendering all rent allegedly owed plus the dispossessory-warrant cost within seven days of service can be a complete defense under section 44-7-52(a). A landlord must accept that post-summons tender only once per tenant in a 12-month period. For a nonresidential tenancy covered by subsection (c), an accepted partial payment is considered in damages but is not itself a defense to the action. O.C.G.A. section 44-7-52(a), (c), public Code access
• If the court finds a qualifying tender defense and the landlord refused the tender, the court orders payment of rent owed and warrant costs within three days. Failure to pay that ordered sum leads to a writ. Payment under that order does not count as the tenant's once-in-12-months tender. O.C.G.A. section 44-7-52(b), public Code access
• If no timely answer is filed, section 44-7-53(a) provides for an immediate writ and default without a further evidentiary hearing, subject to the posting-and-mail money-judgment limitation above. If the tenant answers, the issues go to trial under the applicable court procedure, with efforts to expedite it; possession pending the outcome is tied to the registry-payment provisions. O.C.G.A. section 44-7-53, public Code access O.C.G.A. section 44-7-51(c), public Code access
• If possession cannot be finally determined within two weeks after service, section 44-7-54 requires registry payments of tenant-responsible rent and utilities payable to the landlord that become due after the warrant, and amounts allegedly owed beforehand. A receipt showing payment to the landlord may be submitted instead for the claimed earlier amounts. O.C.G.A. section 44-7-54(a), public Code access
• For disputed rent, the court considers the written agreement; without one, it uses the last payment accepted without written objection. Missing a required registry payment results in a writ. The court controls release of registry funds, generally releasing undisputed amounts while holding contested sums for determination, with separate provisions during appeal. O.C.G.A. section 44-7-54(a)-(c), public Code access

You may not knowingly and willfully suspend a tenant's utilities (cooling, heat, light and water service) until after the final disposition of a dispossessory proceeding against that tenant. A violator can be fined up to $500 on conviction. No section read addresses changing the locks to force a tenant out; removal happens under a writ of possession.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-14.1(a) O.C.G.A. § 44-7-14.1(b), (c) (Ga. L. 1988, p. 923), General Assembly site

• Cooling was added to the definition of utilities by a 2024 Act that applies to leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-14.1(a) HB 404 (2024), section 6
• A writ of possession authorizes removing the tenant and the tenant's belongings from the home. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(c) See Eviction (dispossessory) process on the Georgia page

Belongings removed under a writ of possession may be placed on part of your property or other property you designate and the executing officer approves. You are not a bailee of them and owe the tenant no duty for them, and after the writ is executed they are regarded as abandoned. No section read sets a procedure for belongings left behind in other cases.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(c)

• You may keep deposit money for abandonment of the home. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-34(a) See Returning the deposit on the Georgia page

A tenant makes a prima-facie case of retaliation by showing a protected action about a life, health, safety or habitability concern, and that within three months you filed a dispossessory action, took away use of the home, cut services, raised the rent or ended the lease, or materially interfered with the tenant's lease rights; the exceptions below and a rebuttable defense can defeat that case. Retaliation is a defense to eviction, and the tenant may recover a civil penalty of one month's rent plus $500, court costs, and attorney's fees where the conduct is wilful, wanton or malicious, less rent and other sums the tenant owes.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24

• Protected actions are exercising a right or remedy in good faith, giving a notice to repair, a good-faith complaint to a code agency or public utility about a problem you must fix, and organizing or joining a tenant organization about habitability. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24(b)
• There is no liability for rent increases under a written escalation clause for utilities, taxes or insurance, building-wide patterns of increases or service cuts, or government program terms, or for an eviction or termination because the tenant is behind on rent, intentionally damaged property or threatened the safety of you, your employees or another tenant, breached the lease by serious misconduct or criminal acts, held over after giving notice to vacate, or held over after you gave notice of termination at the end of the rental term agreed in the written lease. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24(d)
• An inspection within the prior 12 months certifying that the home meets building and housing codes is a rebuttable defense. O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24(f)