Georgia Title 44: Deeds, Liens, and Landlord-Tenant Rights

Georgia’s Title 44 is the section of the state code that governs property law, and it sets the rules for nearly everything you can do with real estate in Georgia: recording a deed, holding title with another person, dealing with a lien on your home, renting a house out, evicting a tenant, or asserting an easement across a neighbor’s land. If you own property, rent property, or lend against it in this state, the Georgia Title 44 property law framework is where your rights and obligations live.

What follows walks through the parts of Title 44 that most often come up for owners, buyers, tenants, and landlords, along with the deadlines and dollar consequences that make each one matter.

Recording a Deed and Protecting Your Title

Every deed transferring land in Georgia has to be recorded with the clerk of the superior court in the county where the property sits.¹ Recording is not a formality. An unrecorded deed loses its priority to a later-recorded deed from the same seller if the second buyer had no knowledge of the first transaction. If you buy property and never record, someone else can buy the same land from the same seller, record their deed first, and walk away with the superior claim.

The clerk is required to file, index, and permanently record deeds, mortgages, liens, and plats affecting real property.² Those records form the public chain of title anyone can search before a purchase to confirm the seller owns what they claim and to spot outstanding liens.

What Makes a Georgia Deed Valid

A valid Georgia deed must be an original written document, signed by the person transferring the property, attested by an authorized officer and one additional witness, and delivered to the buyer or the buyer’s representative. It also has to reflect good or valuable consideration, meaning something of value must change hands.³ A deed that is signed but never physically or constructively delivered has no legal effect. The attestation requirement is where informal family transfers often fall apart: the parties skip the witness, and years later the deed turns out to be unenforceable.

Owning Property With Someone Else

When two or more people take title together in Georgia, the default form of ownership is tenancy in common. Each co-owner holds an undivided interest, and shares are presumed equal unless the deed says otherwise. There are no survivorship rights. When a tenant in common dies, that share passes through the deceased owner’s will or by intestacy rather than automatically going to the other owners.⁴

Joint tenancy with survivorship exists in Georgia, but you have to create it on purpose. The deed or other title instrument has to use specific language such as “joint tenants,” “joint tenants and not as tenants in common,” or “joint tenants with survivorship.” Without one of those phrases, courts treat the ownership as tenancy in common no matter what the parties intended.⁵ Where survivorship is properly established, the surviving owner receives the deceased owner’s share automatically, without probate. This is one of the most common titling errors in estate planning.

Adverse Possession: When Someone Else Can Claim Your Land

Georgia allows a person to claim ownership through adverse possession if they occupy land openly, continuously, exclusively, and peaceably long enough. The possession has to be under a claim of right, and it cannot start as permissive use. Someone who moves in with the owner’s permission can’t start the prescriptive clock until they assert an adverse claim and give the owner actual notice.⁶

The standard prescriptive period is 20 years. Meet every requirement of adverse possession for that long, and you gain title valid against everyone except the state and individuals with certain legal disabilities.⁷ A shorter period applies when someone buys land in good faith under a recorded deed, believing they are getting good title. In that case, seven years of continuous, peaceable possession can ripen into a valid prescriptive title even if the original deed was defective.⁸ The practical implication for absentee owners is direct: land you don’t watch is land someone else can eventually claim.

Liens Against Georgia Property

A lien is a legal claim against property that secures an unpaid debt. Georgia recognizes many lien types, including tax liens, judgment liens, and liens in favor of laborers, landlords, mechanics, and contractors.⁹ Only liens established by statute, federal or state law, government ordinance, or a written declaration running with the land can be recorded. Anything else is nonconforming and cannot be filed.

Mechanics’ and materialmen’s liens matter most to homeowners who hire contractors. To enforce one, the claimant has to have substantially complied with the underlying contract and must file the lien with the county clerk within 90 days after work is completed or materials are furnished. The filing has to include a statement about lien expiration and a notice that the property owner has the right to contest it. Within two business days of filing, the claimant also has to send the owner a copy by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery. If no lawsuit to enforce the lien is filed within 365 days of recording, the lien expires.¹⁰ An owner who receives a lien notice should not ignore it: the claimant has nearly a full year to sue.

Landlord and Tenant Rights Under Title 44

Habitability and Repairs

Georgia law requires landlords to keep rental premises in repair. Every residential lease, written or oral, is deemed to include a promise that the property is fit for human habitation.¹¹ Georgia does not, however, give tenants a statutory right to make repairs and deduct the cost from rent. If a landlord fails to maintain the property, the tenant’s recourse is a claim in court, not unilaterally withholding or redirecting rent. Repair-and-deduct remedies that are available in some other states can put a Georgia tenant in a risky position.

Security Deposits

Georgia does not cap the amount a landlord can charge for a security deposit, but it regulates how the deposit is handled. It has to be placed in a dedicated escrow account at a regulated financial institution, and the landlord must give the tenant written notice of the account’s location.¹²

After the tenant moves out and the landlord takes possession, the landlord has 30 days to return the full deposit. A portion may be retained for actual damages beyond normal wear and tear, unpaid rent, late fees, unpaid utilities, or pet fees, but only if the landlord provides a written statement itemizing the exact reasons for each deduction. The remaining balance has to accompany that statement.¹³

The penalties for mishandling a deposit are steep. A landlord who fails to provide the required damage lists and written statements within the statutory deadlines forfeits all rights to withhold any portion of the deposit and loses the ability to sue the tenant for property damage. A landlord who wrongfully withholds funds is liable for three times the amount improperly kept, plus the tenant’s reasonable attorney’s fees. The treble-damages penalty drops to the amount actually withheld only if the landlord proves the error was unintentional and resulted from a good-faith mistake despite reasonable procedures.¹⁴

Evictions (Dispossessory Proceedings)

Georgia landlords evict through a court process called a dispossessory proceeding. Before filing, the landlord has to demand possession of the property. If the tenant refuses to leave, or if the tenant has failed to pay rent and does not pay or vacate within three business days of a written notice, the landlord can file a dispossessory affidavit with the court.¹⁵

Once served with the dispossessory summons, the tenant has seven days from the date of service to file an answer, either orally or in writing. The answer can raise any legal or equitable defense and can include counterclaims. If the seventh day falls on a weekend or holiday, the deadline extends to the next business day.¹⁶ Tenants who ignore the summons lose the chance to present defenses, which is why the seven-day window matters so much.

Easements Across Georgia Land

An easement lets someone use another person’s land for a specific purpose without owning it. Georgia recognizes several ways to create one. Express easements come from a written agreement between the parties. Easements by necessity can arise when a parcel is landlocked and needs access to a public road; the superior court has jurisdiction to grant private ways up to 20 feet wide for that purpose, and a landlocked owner can petition the court to condemn an easement of access across a neighbor’s land.¹⁷

Georgia also recognizes prescriptive easements. When a private way has been in constant and uninterrupted use for seven or more years without legal challenge, no one may lawfully interfere with that use.¹⁸ Georgia courts have consistently held that an easement has to be used reasonably and cannot be expanded beyond its original scope. If the purpose for which the easement was created no longer exists, the burdened owner can seek to have it terminated or modified.

Homestead Exemption for Georgia Homeowners

Georgia homeowners who occupy their property as a primary residence can apply for a homestead exemption that reduces their property tax bill. The standard exemption is $2,000, deducted from the 40% assessed value of the home, and applies to county and school taxes, with certain exceptions for municipal school taxes and bonded indebtedness. To qualify, you must own and occupy the home as of January 1 of the tax year and file an application by the county’s property tax return deadline.¹⁹ Homeowners away from their residence for health reasons do not lose eligibility. Many counties and municipalities offer additional local exemptions beyond the state standard, so it is worth checking with your county tax commissioner.

Resolving Property Disputes

Not every Georgia property dispute has to go to trial. Mediation lets both sides negotiate with the help of a neutral third party, and arbitration produces a binding decision without a full courtroom proceeding. Both are usually faster and cheaper than litigation. When a real estate contract contains a mandatory arbitration clause, the Federal Arbitration Act generally makes that clause enforceable even if one party would rather sue.

For disputes that do go to court, Georgia offers targeted remedies beyond money damages. Specific performance is available when damages would be inadequate, and that standard is often met in real estate because each parcel is considered unique; a court can order the breaching party to complete the sale as agreed. Injunctions are available when an owner needs to stop ongoing harm, such as a continuing trespass or an unauthorized expansion of an easement. Together with the damages remedies built into individual chapters of Title 44, these tools give Georgia property owners real ways to protect what they own.