What Is a Demand for Possession in Georgia?

In Georgia, a demand for possession is the written notice a landlord must give a tenant asking them to leave the property, and it is the required first step before any eviction case can be filed in court. The rules for this demand sit in O.C.G.A. 44-7-50, and the timing a tenant gets to respond depends entirely on why the landlord wants possession: three business days for unpaid rent, 60 days for a month-to-month tenant, and no built-in wait at all when a fixed-term lease has already ended.¹

What the Demand Actually Does

The demand is a gatekeeper. A Georgia landlord cannot walk into magistrate court and file a dispossessory affidavit without first demanding that the tenant hand over the property. Skipping the demand, or filing before the required waiting period has run, gives the tenant a clean procedural defense and can get the case dismissed.

The statute recognizes two broad situations where a demand is appropriate. One is a tenant holding over after the lease ends, or a tenant occupying property with no formal lease at all. The other is a tenant who has failed to pay rent, late fees, utilities, or other charges due under the lease.¹ Which category you fall into controls what the demand must say and how long the tenant has to react.

How Long the Tenant Has After the Demand

Unpaid Rent: Three Business Days

When the demand is based on nonpayment, the landlord has to give the tenant three business days to either pay the full amount owed or vacate. The landlord cannot file the dispossessory affidavit until that window closes without payment or surrender.¹ Business days matter here. A notice served on a Friday does not start running over the weekend, and landlords who miscount risk having the case thrown out on technical grounds.

Tenants at Will: Sixty Days

A tenant at will is anyone occupying the property without a written lease, or whose fixed-term lease has expired and rolled into a month-to-month arrangement. Before a landlord can demand possession from a tenant at will, Georgia law requires 60 days’ notice. A tenant at will who wants to leave only has to give the landlord 30 days.²

This catches a lot of landlords off guard. A month-to-month tenant you simply want out cannot be served a demand on Monday and sued on Tuesday. The 60-day clock has to run first.

Holdover After a Fixed Lease: No Waiting Period

When a tenant stays past the end of a fixed-term lease, the landlord can demand possession immediately. If the tenant still refuses to leave, the landlord can go straight to the courthouse and file the dispossessory affidavit. There is no additional statutory wait beyond the demand itself.¹

How the Demand Must Be Delivered

Georgia law specifies how the notice reaches the tenant. The landlord must post the demand in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door of the property. On top of that door posting, the landlord should also deliver the demand by any other method the rental agreement calls for, such as email or certified mail if the lease specifies those channels.¹

Public housing authorities have one variation. A PHA can deliver the demand for possession at the same time as the federally required lease termination notice, as long as the demand remains a separate document.

If the Tenant Does Not Leave or Pay

Once the applicable notice period runs without the tenant paying or vacating, the landlord’s next move is a dispossessory affidavit. This is a sworn statement describing who the tenant is, what property is involved, what the tenant did or failed to do, and the fact that the tenant is still in possession despite the demand. The affidavit can be filed in magistrate, state, superior, or any other court with jurisdiction, though in practice most of these cases are filed in magistrate court because it is faster and less expensive.¹

After the affidavit is filed, the court issues a summons. Service has to be made personally on the tenant by a sheriff, deputy, or lawful constable; the statute does not authorize private process servers for this step. Both the summons and a copy of the affidavit must be delivered.³

The tenant then has seven days from the date of service to answer, orally or in writing. If day seven lands on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day. A tenant who misses the window loses by default: the court issues a writ of possession without a hearing and enters judgment for all rent the landlord claimed, as if every allegation were proven.⁴

What a Tenant Can Do in Response

Pay and Stay

Residential tenants facing an unpaid-rent eviction have a tool many never use. Within the same seven-day answer window, the tenant can tender all rent owed plus the landlord’s filing costs. If the tender is made, it is a complete defense and the case ends.⁵

The limit is important: a landlord only has to accept this payment once every 12 months per tenant. If you used the option in March and fall behind again in September, the landlord can refuse and move forward with the eviction. If the landlord wrongly refuses a valid tender, the court orders the tenant to pay all rent and costs into the court within three days; paying on that order ends the case and does not count against the once-per-year limit.⁵ Commercial tenants do not get this defense; a partial payment on a non-residential lease does not block the eviction.

Challenge the Demand Itself

Procedural defects in the demand are often the strongest defense a tenant has. If the landlord did not post the notice properly, skipped the three-business-day wait for nonpayment, failed to wait the full 60 days for a tenant at will, or had someone other than a sheriff or constable serve the summons, the tenant can ask the court to dismiss the case. Judges take these requirements seriously, and procedural shortcuts are the most common reason evictions fail.

Habitability

Georgia law requires landlords to keep rental property in repair and, for residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, imposes an implied warranty that the premises is fit for human habitation.⁶ A tenant who can show the property fell below habitable standards may have a defense, particularly where the conditions affected the tenant’s ability to meet lease obligations.

Pay Rent Into Court if the Case Drags

If the case is not resolved within two weeks of service, the tenant has to begin paying ongoing rent and utilities into the court registry as they come due, along with any past-due amounts. Missing one of these registry payments is fatal: the court issues a writ of possession immediately, regardless of the merits of the defense.⁷

What a Landlord Cannot Do Instead

The demand for possession is not optional, and the court process is not optional either. Georgia prohibits self-help evictions: a landlord cannot change the locks, remove doors, haul the tenant’s belongings to the curb, or shut off services to pressure the tenant out. A landlord who knowingly shuts off cooling, heat, light, or water during an active dispossessory proceeding commits a misdemeanor and faces a fine of up to $500.⁸

If the tenant does lose the eviction and the writ is executed, personal property left behind is treated as abandoned. The landlord has no duty to store it, protect it, or return it, so a tenant who sees the case going badly should get valuables out before the sheriff arrives.⁹

For a landlord, the demand for possession is a procedural requirement to clear before the courthouse doors open. For a tenant, it is a signal that the clock has started and that each step from here, from the three-day window to the seven-day answer, carries hard deadlines with real consequences for missing them.