Georgia Landlord-Tenant Law: Leases, Deposits, and Evictions

Most of the rules for renting a home in Georgia sit in one place: Title 44, Chapter 7 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, titled “Landlord and Tenant.” That chapter defines the landlord-tenant relationship, sets the landlord’s duty to repair, controls how security deposits are held and returned, and lays out the dispossessory process a landlord must follow to remove a tenant. Federal law adds a layer on top, mainly the Fair Housing Act’s ban on housing discrimination. This article orients renters and landlords to how those pieces fit together and links to detailed articles on each procedure.

What Georgia landlord-tenant law covers

Georgia is generally a landlord-friendly state. It has no rent control, no statutory cap on the size of a security deposit, no statutory grace period for late rent, and no statute that lets a tenant repair a defect and deduct the cost from rent. Where Chapter 7 is silent, the written lease and general contract law fill the gap, which is why the lease itself is usually the most important document in a Georgia tenancy.

The chapter is organized into articles that track the life of a tenancy: general rules on the relationship and repairs, security deposits, and dispossessory (eviction) proceedings. Two courts matter most in practice. Disputes over money and possession usually run through the magistrate court, while some counties route dispossessory cases to state court. The rest of this guide walks through each stage in the order a tenancy moves.

Key terms Georgia renters and landlords should know

Georgia uses vocabulary that surprises people who rented in other states.

A tenancy for years is a lease with a fixed end date, such as a standard 12-month lease. A tenancy at will has no fixed end and continues until either side ends it; Georgia treats most month-to-month arrangements as tenancies at will.

Georgia also classifies most residential leases as a usufruct rather than an estate for years. A usufruct gives the tenant the right to use and occupy the property but not the full bundle of rights an owner holds. The distinction affects matters like property-tax treatment and whether the tenant can assign the lease without permission.

A dispossessory is Georgia’s name for the court eviction case. Landlords cannot use “self-help”, changing the locks, removing belongings, or shutting off utilities, to force a tenant out. Possession is recovered only through a dispossessory filed in court and carried out under a writ.

Leases and what Georgia requires in one

Georgia does not require a written lease for a month-to-month tenancy, and an oral agreement to rent can be enforceable. A lease for a term longer than one year must be in writing to be enforced under Georgia’s Statute of Frauds. Below that line, the parties can agree orally, though a written lease is what makes rent, term length, and late-fee terms provable later.

The lease controls rent, late fees, renewal, and most day-to-day obligations, because the code leaves those terms to the parties. Georgia sets no statutory limit on late fees and no required grace period, so whatever the lease says on those points generally governs. One boundary matters most: a residential lease cannot sign away the landlord’s duty to keep the property in repair, discussed next. A lease clause that tries to shift that duty entirely onto the tenant runs against O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13 and is vulnerable to challenge.

The landlord’s duty to repair

Georgia’s repair rule is short and old. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13, “the landlord must keep the premises in repair.” Courts read that duty to include keeping the structure and its fixtures reasonably safe and functional. For a residential tenancy, the duty cannot be waived by a lease clause.

Georgia has no separate “warranty of habitability” statute of the kind many states passed in the 1970s, and no statutory repair-and-deduct remedy. A tenant who faces an unaddressed defect generally has to notify the landlord, give a reasonable chance to fix it, and, if the landlord still does not act, pursue the issue through the courts rather than by withholding rent or hiring a repair crew and subtracting the cost. Withholding rent in Georgia is risky because unpaid rent is itself a ground for a dispossessory. The safer paths are documenting the defect, the notice, and the landlord’s response.

Security deposits: escrow, return, and penalties

Georgia does not cap how large a deposit can be, but it regulates how a deposit is held and returned. A landlord who collects a deposit must place it in an escrow account or post a surety bond; a landlord who does neither loses the right to keep any part of the deposit under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-35. The same article requires a move-in damage list and a move-out inspection so that both sides have a record of the unit’s condition.

After the tenant moves out and the landlord regains possession, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-34 gives the landlord 30 days to return the full deposit, minus any amounts kept for specific, itemized reasons such as unpaid rent or damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. If the landlord keeps part of the deposit, the tenant must receive a written statement listing the exact reasons.

Ending a tenancy: notice and the dispossessory process

How a tenancy ends depends on its type. A fixed-term lease ends on its own date, though the lease may require notice of non-renewal. For a tenancy at will, Georgia’s default month-to-month arrangement, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-7 requires 60 days’ notice from the landlord or 30 days’ notice from the tenant.

When a tenant stays past the term or fails to pay rent, the landlord cannot simply lock them out. The landlord must first demand possession under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50. If the tenant refuses to leave, the landlord files a dispossessory affidavit with the court, which issues a summons the tenant must be served with.

Once served, the tenant has seven days to answer, in writing or orally, and can raise defenses such as improper notice or that the rent was actually paid. A tenant sued for nonpayment can also stop the eviction by paying all rent owed plus the court costs within seven days of being served, a complete defense the landlord must accept, but only once in any 12-month period, under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-52. If the tenant does not answer, the court can issue a writ of possession, and only a sheriff or marshal, never the landlord personally, carries out the removal.

Fair housing and discrimination

Federal law overlays the state rules. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to refuse to rent, set different terms, or otherwise discriminate in housing because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or disability, as set out in 42 U.S.C. § 3604. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development enforces those protections and takes complaints; its overview of the Fair Housing Act explains the seven protected classes and how the law applies to rentals.

Disability protections go further than a simple ban on discrimination. A landlord generally must allow reasonable accommodations, such as an assistance animal despite a no-pets clause, and must permit reasonable modifications a tenant pays for. These federal rules apply in Georgia regardless of what a lease says, and they operate alongside Chapter 7 rather than replacing it.

Specific procedures and topics