Georgia eviction laws require landlords to go through Magistrate Court using a dispossessory action, and for leases signed or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, a nonpayment case must start with a written three-business-day notice to pay or vacate.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-50 – Demand for Possession; Procedure Upon a Tenants Refusal; Notice to Vacate or Pay A landlord cannot change locks, cut utilities, or set belongings on the curb without a writ of possession signed by a judge and executed by a sheriff or marshal. Doing so is illegal regardless of how much rent is owed.
Grounds a Landlord Can Use
O.C.G.A. ยง 44-7-50 defines the situations that justify filing a dispossessory. The common ones are nonpayment of rent, holding over after a lease expires, remaining as a tenant at will or sufferance after the landlord ends the arrangement, and violating a material term of the lease.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-50 – Demand for Possession; Procedure Upon a Tenants Refusal; Notice to Vacate or Pay For a lease-violation case, the landlord first terminates the lease under its own terms; the tenant then becomes a holdover and the dispossessory follows from there.
Picking the wrong ground is a quick way to lose. The ground controls which notice is required, how long the tenant has to cure, and what the landlord must prove in court. A case filed under the wrong category can be dismissed outright.
Notices Required Before Filing
Nonpayment of Rent
A 2024 amendment added a mandatory three-business-day written notice for nonpayment cases. The notice must demand that the tenant either pay everything owed (past-due rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges under the lease) or vacate within three business days.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-50 – Demand for Possession; Procedure Upon a Tenants Refusal; Notice to Vacate or Pay If the tenant pays the full amount within the window, the landlord cannot file.
This rule applies to residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024. For older leases that have not yet been renewed, the previous version of the statute applies and the landlord can demand possession without a statutory waiting period.
Tenancies at Will
When no lease fixes an end date, or a fixed-term lease has lapsed and the tenant keeps paying monthly, Georgia treats the arrangement as a tenancy at will. Ending it requires 60 days’ notice from the landlord and 30 days’ notice from the tenant.2Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-7 – Tenancy at Will – Notice Required for Termination The landlord does not have to prove any wrongdoing to terminate; proper notice and the running of time are enough.
Holdover and Lease Violations
For a tenant who stays past the lease or breaches a material term, the landlord makes a written demand for possession. If the tenant refuses, the landlord can file the dispossessory affidavit immediately.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-50 – Demand for Possession; Procedure Upon a Tenants Refusal; Notice to Vacate or Pay Keep proof of how and when the demand was delivered; the court will want to see it.
Filing the Dispossessory Affidavit
The dispossessory affidavit is the sworn document that opens the eviction case. It is filed in the Magistrate Court of the county where the property is located. The filer must sign it under oath before a notary or deputy clerk, and it must identify every adult occupant, the full address of the unit, the specific ground being claimed, and (for nonpayment cases) the exact dollar amount owed.3Georgia Magistrate Council. MAG 30-01 Dispossessory Affidavit and Summons
Getting the money wrong is dangerous. If the affidavit claims $2,000 but the tenant produces proof of a payment that brings the real balance to $1,400, the credibility problem can sink the whole case. Filing fees run roughly $50 to $150 depending on the county and how many tenants are named.
Service and the Seven-Day Answer Window
Once the clerk processes the filing, a sheriff’s deputy or marshal serves the summons. Personal delivery is attempted first. If no one can be found at the property after reasonable effort, the officer can post the summons on the door and mail a copy to the tenant’s last known address.
The tenant then has seven days to file an answer. The answer can be oral or written; an oral answer is noted on the dispossessory affidavit itself.4Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-51 – Issuance of Summons; Service Any legal or equitable defense can be raised, and the tenant can bring counterclaims. If the seventh day is a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day.
Miss the deadline and the landlord can request a default judgment and a writ of possession on the eighth day.5Macon-Bibb County Government. Civil and Magistrate Court Instructions Most uncontested evictions end exactly this way, with no hearing at all because the tenant never responds.
The Hearing and What Defenses Actually Work
If the tenant answers, the court sets a hearing. A landlord typically brings the lease, a ledger of missed payments, copies of the notices served, and anything documenting the alleged violation. The tenant can show proof of payment, procedural defects in the filing or service, or facts supporting a counterclaim.
One defense that works almost everywhere else does not work here. Georgia is the only state without a statutory implied warranty of habitability. A tenant generally cannot withhold rent over repair issues and then use the conditions as a shield against a nonpayment eviction. If the lease itself imposes maintenance duties on the landlord, a breach-of-contract counterclaim is possible, but it is narrower than a true habitability defense.
Retaliation is recognized. If the eviction was filed within three months of the tenant exercising a protected right (such as reporting code violations or organizing with other tenants over health and safety concerns), the court can treat it as retaliatory and dismiss. A tenant who proves willful retaliation can recover one month’s rent plus $500, court costs, and reasonable attorney’s fees.6FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 44 Property 44-7-24
Judgment, the Writ, and Abandoned Property
A ruling for the landlord produces a money judgment for the unpaid amounts and a writ of possession. The writ does not take effect right away. It is enforceable seven days after judgment, which is the tenant’s last window to move out voluntarily or file an appeal.7Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlords Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property
After those seven days, the landlord applies to the clerk for execution of the writ. The application has to be made within 30 days; later than that, the landlord must file an affidavit showing good cause for the delay.7Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlords Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property A sheriff or marshal then oversees the physical removal. The officer is there to keep the peace, not to do the moving; the landlord arranges the labor.
Anything left in the unit after the writ is executed is considered abandoned. The landlord owes no duty to safeguard it and can set it on a portion of the landlord’s property or another location the executing officer approves, then dispose of it.7Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlords Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property A tenant who loses a dispossessory should treat the seven-day window as the real deadline for getting belongings out.
Appealing a Dispossessory Judgment
A tenant who loses at trial has seven days to file an appeal with the trial court clerk. Filing alone does not keep the tenant in the home. To stay in possession during the appeal, the tenant must pay all rent the trial court found due into the registry of the reviewing court and keep paying future rent into the registry as it comes due.8Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-56 – Appeal; Procedure
That requirement makes appeals impractical in most nonpayment cases. A tenant who could not pay rent is unlikely to deposit the past-due total plus ongoing rent with the court. For tenants with a strong procedural or retaliation defense and the resources to deposit the money, the appeal can preserve possession while a higher court reviews the case.
Security Deposit After an Eviction
An eviction does not wipe out the landlord’s deposit obligations. Within three business days after the tenant vacates or the lease ends (whichever comes first), the landlord must inspect the unit and prepare a written list of damage with an estimated dollar value for each item. The tenant has five business days to request an inspection and review the list.9Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-33 – Lists of Existing Defects If both parties inspect together and the tenant signs, the list is conclusive. If the tenant refuses to sign, they must put their disputes in writing.
The landlord then has 30 days to return whatever portion is not applied to unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear. Skipping the inspection or list procedures can forfeit the landlord’s right to keep any part of the deposit. In a nonpayment eviction, the deposit can typically be applied to the balance, but the deductions still have to be documented.
Federal Rules That Can Override State Timelines
Some tenants have protections beyond what state law provides, and these can change the picture entirely.
Active-duty servicemembers and their dependents are covered by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. A landlord cannot evict a covered tenant from a primary residence without a court order when the monthly rent falls below an annually adjusted threshold, and the court can stay the eviction for 90 days or longer if military service has materially affected the tenant’s ability to pay. Knowingly evicting a covered servicemember without a court order is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3951 – Evictions and Distress Status can be verified through the Department of Defense SCRA website.
Tenants with Section 8 vouchers or living in properties funded through programs like Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are entitled to 30 days’ written notice before the landlord files, regardless of state timelines. The notice obligation comes from the federal funding conditions, and landlords in these programs should confirm their requirements with the relevant housing authority.
Bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay. If a tenant files for bankruptcy before the landlord has a judgment, the eviction proceeding is generally paused until the landlord petitions to lift the stay. If the judgment is already in hand before the bankruptcy filing, the stay usually does not block execution of the writ. Bankruptcy can stop collection of back rent but does not erase the eviction judgment itself.