Georgia Eviction Notice: Demand for Possession Before Filing

In Georgia, the document many people call an “eviction notice” is the landlord’s demand for possession, the step the law requires before a court case can start. This article covers what that demand is, the three-business-day notice to vacate or pay that now applies to unpaid-rent cases, the separate 60-day notice for month-to-month tenancies, and how the demand has to be delivered. It is one of the procedures explained in Georgia landlord-tenant law. The court case that follows the demand is the dispossessory proceeding.

The demand for possession comes before any court filing

Georgia does not use a single statewide eviction-notice form. Instead, the process begins with a demand for possession. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50, when a tenant holds over past the lease term, or occupies as a tenant at will or at sufferance, the owner who wants the property back must demand possession before doing anything in court. The demand can come from the owner directly or from an agent, an attorney at law, or an attorney in fact.

Only after the tenant refuses or fails to deliver possession in response to that demand may the owner file the dispossessory affidavit that opens the case. The statute lets the owner go immediately before a magistrate, a state court or superior court judge, or a clerk of those courts once the demand has been ignored. There is no separate waiting period built into this general demand for a holdover or at-will tenant, but the demand itself is a prerequisite the landlord cannot skip.

The demand is not the eviction. Georgia law bars a landlord from forcing a tenant out without a court order, and the Judicial Council’s self-help overview of landlord-tenant cases explains that removal happens only through a dispossessory proceeding and the writ of possession a court issues at the end of it. A “writ of possession” is defined in O.C.G.A. § 44-7-49 as the writ that recovers possession of the property for the landlord.

Unpaid rent: the three-business-day notice to vacate or pay

Nonpayment cases now follow a stricter rule. The Safe at Home Act, passed in 2024 as House Bill 404 and effective July 1, 2024, added a subsection to the demand statute for tenants who fall behind. When a tenant fails to pay rent, late fees, utilities, or other charges owed to the landlord, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(c) requires the landlord to provide a notice to vacate or pay all past-due amounts within three business days before filing the dispossessory affidavit.

If the tenant neither pays the past-due amount nor delivers possession after receiving that three-business-day notice, the landlord may then file. This notice-to-vacate-or-pay requirement applies to residential lease agreements entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, so an older lease that has not been renewed since that date can fall under the earlier rule instead.

Ending a month-to-month tenancy takes 60 days

Ending a tenancy is a separate question from demanding possession for nonpayment. When there is no fixed lease term and the arrangement runs month to month, a tenancy at will, the tenancy has to be terminated before the landlord can treat the occupant as a holdover. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-7, 60 days’ notice from the landlord is required to end a tenancy at will, while a tenant who wants to move out needs to give 30 days’ notice.

That 60-day period is longer than many tenants expect, and it is not a cure period for unpaid rent. It ends the tenancy itself. Once the tenancy at will has been properly terminated and the 60 days have run, an occupant who stays becomes a holdover, and the demand-for-possession process under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 applies.

How the demand or notice must be delivered

Delivery of the notice has its own rule. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(d), both the general demand for possession and the three-business-day notice to vacate or pay must be posted in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door of the property and delivered by any additional method or methods the rental agreement specifies. A lease that calls for delivery by email or certified mail, for example, sets an additional channel the landlord uses on top of posting.

Public housing has a narrower accommodation. When a public housing authority issues the demand, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(b) allows it to provide the demand for possession together with the federally required notice of lease termination, as long as the demand is in a separate writing.

1. Identify why possession is sought

   The reason drives which notice applies. A tenant who is behind on rent falls under the three-business-day notice rule for covered residential leases. A month-to-month occupant has to have the tenancy terminated first. A tenant who stays past a fixed lease term is a holdover.

2. Provide the correct notice

   For unpaid rent on a lease entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, the notice gives three business days to vacate or pay. To end a tenancy at will, the notice gives 60 days. For a holdover, the owner demands possession.

3. Deliver it the way the statute requires

   Post the notice in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door and use any additional delivery method the rental agreement names.

4. Let the response period run

   If the tenant pays what is owed or moves out within the stated period, the matter resolves without a filing. If not, the landlord may make the dispossessory affidavit.

After the notice: the dispossessory and the seven-day answer

When the demand or notice goes unanswered, the landlord files the dispossessory affidavit, and the court issues a summons. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51, the summons and affidavit are served personally on the tenant. If the sheriff cannot serve the tenant personally, service can be made by leaving the papers with an adult residing on the premises, or by posting a copy on the door and mailing a copy to the tenant’s last known address the same day.

The tenant then has seven days from the date of actual service to answer, either orally or in writing. If the seventh day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the answer may be made on the next day that is not. The answer can raise any legal or equitable defense or a counterclaim. If no answer is filed after service by posting and mailing, the court may enter a default judgment for possession, though a money judgment in that situation requires the tenant to answer or otherwise appear. The Georgia courts’ landlord-tenant self-help page describes this seven-day answer window in the same terms.