In Georgia, you have seven days to move after a writ of possession is issued, and that clock runs from the date the judge entered the judgment, not the day the sheriff or your landlord tells you about it. If you live in a manufactured home, mobile home, or trailer on the landlord’s land, you get ten days instead. Stay past that window and the landlord can have law enforcement remove you and your belongings.
When the Clock Starts and How It Runs
Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55, when a court rules for the landlord in a dispossessory case, the judge enters a money judgment for the rent owed and issues a writ of possession. The writ becomes effective seven days after the judgment date.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlord’s Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property Those seven days are your window to leave voluntarily, file an appeal, or work something out with the landlord.
The statute counts calendar days from the judgment date. Georgia’s court rules extend some deadlines when weekends and holidays fall at the end, but the seven-day writ period runs from “the date such judgment was entered” without that adjustment.
The physical eviction almost never happens the second those seven days end. After day seven, the landlord has to apply to have the writ executed, and they have 30 days from the writ’s issuance to file that application. Miss that 30-day deadline and the landlord has to file a sworn statement explaining the delay or start over with a new writ.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlord’s Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property Once the application is in, the sheriff or marshal schedules the eviction. Local practice at many offices is to post a final notice on the door about 24 hours ahead, but that courtesy is not required by state law.
Do not assume a backlogged sheriff’s office buys you weeks. If the sheriff or marshal cannot get to your eviction within 14 days of the landlord’s application, the landlord can hire an off-duty officer certified by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council to execute the writ, at the landlord’s expense.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlord’s Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property
Ten Days for Manufactured and Mobile Homes
If your residence is a manufactured home, mobile home, or trailer sitting on the landlord’s property, Georgia gives you ten days after a final order to move the home. Miss that window and the landlord can hire a licensed carrier to move it at your expense, and the mover receives a lien on the home for moving and storage costs.2Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-59 – Removal of Transportable Housing
Ways to Extend or Stop the Timeline
Filing an Appeal
You can appeal the eviction judgment, but the appeal has to be filed within the same seven days you have to vacate.3Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-56 – Appeal; Procedure; Possession and Payment of Rent Pending Appeal Miss it and the appeal option is gone.
Filing alone does not let you stay. To remain in the property while the appeal is pending, you must pay into the court’s registry every dollar the trial court found you owed, and you have to keep paying future rent into the registry as it comes due until the appeal is decided.3Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-56 – Appeal; Procedure; Possession and Payment of Rent Pending Appeal Fall behind on those payments and you lose the right to stay during the appeal.
If filing fees are the barrier, you can submit an affidavit of indigence swearing you cannot pay court costs, and the court can waive them. The landlord or the court can challenge the affidavit, and if the judge finds you can afford the costs, you will be ordered to pay.4Justia. Georgia Code 9-15-2 – Affidavit of Indigence; Procedure
Requesting a Stay of Execution
A stay of execution asks the court to pause enforcement of the writ. It is not the same as an appeal. You file a written motion with the court that issued the eviction, explain why immediate removal would cause irreparable harm, attach supporting documents, and serve the landlord.
Common grounds include procedural flaws such as improper service of the original summons, a pending appeal the court is already reviewing, or evidence the landlord failed to maintain the property or violated fair housing requirements. The court can attach conditions, like depositing rent into escrow. Judges do not grant stays freely. Needing more time to find housing, standing alone, is generally not enough. If you are considering this route, file fast, because every day past the seven-day window weakens your position.
Bankruptcy After a Writ Is Rarely a Fix
Filing for bankruptcy triggers a federal automatic stay that halts most collection actions. The timing relative to the judgment matters. File before the landlord has a judgment for possession and the stay generally stops the eviction; the landlord would need bankruptcy court permission to keep going.
File after the landlord already has that judgment and the protection largely disappears. Federal law explicitly excludes evictions where the landlord obtained the judgment for possession before the bankruptcy petition. You can try to preserve the stay by filing a certification that Georgia law would let you cure the full monetary default, depositing any rent coming due in the next 30 days with the court clerk, then curing the entire default within that 30 days and certifying you have done so. The landlord can object, and if the bankruptcy court agrees the default is not truly cured, the eviction proceeds.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay If the writ has already issued, bankruptcy is almost never going to keep you in the property.
What Happens if You Stay Past the Seven Days
On the scheduled eviction day, a law enforcement officer arrives to oversee the removal. The landlord or their agent has to supply the labor and any tools needed to enter and clear the property.
Georgia’s rule on your belongings is blunt. Once the writ is executed, anything still inside is legally abandoned. The landlord has no duty to store it, protect it, or contact you.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlord’s Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property The statute lets the officer approve placement on the landlord’s property or another spot the landlord designates. At many apartment complexes that means the curb. There is no grace period to retrieve items once they are set out.
If you can see eviction day coming, get the essentials out first: medication, identification and legal documents, keys, electronics, anything irreplaceable. Assume everything left inside is at risk the moment the officer completes the eviction.
What Your Landlord Still Cannot Do
The seven days belong to you, and so does every day after until the sheriff or marshal actually executes the writ. Georgia requires landlords to complete the court process before removing a tenant.6Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-50 – Demand for Possession A landlord who changes the locks, shuts off utilities, removes your belongings, or otherwise forces you out without the writ being executed by law enforcement is acting illegally. If the court finds wrongful conduct, the tenant can recover all foreseeable damages caused by it.1Justia. Georgia Code 44-7-55 – Judgment; Writ of Possession; Landlord’s Liability for Wrongful Conduct; Distribution of Funds Paid Into Court; Personal Property If your landlord is trying to push you out without a writ, document what is happening and contact a legal aid organization right away.