Georgia Landlord-Tenant Laws

Security Deposits

Now capped at two months' rent (HB 404), with a 30-day return deadline, escrow/bond handling rules, and inspection lists for larger operators.

HB 404 capped security deposits at two months' rent for residential tenancies — Georgia's first-ever cap. The 30-day return clock and itemization duty are older law: within one month of the tenancy ending you must return the deposit or deliver a written statement listing exact deductions, with damage claims limited to amounts beyond normal wear and tear.

Georgia's handling rules depend on scale. Landlords who own more than ten rental units (or use a management agent, regardless of size) must hold deposits in a Georgia escrow account or post a surety bond, and must complete the statutory move-in and move-out inspection lists — the tenant signs the move-in list, and the move-out list is the foundation for any deduction. Owner-operators of ten or fewer units without an agent are exempt from the escrow and list requirements, but the return deadline and itemization still apply to everyone.

Wrongful withholding is expensive: a landlord who fails to comply forfeits the right to retain any portion, and bad-faith retention exposes three times the amount improperly withheld plus attorney fees. Non-compliant landlords also lose the right to deduct at all until the statutory duties are met.

Rent & Late Fees

No rent control (and cities can't adopt it), no statutory late-fee cap — reasonableness and the lease control.

Georgia prohibits local rent control, so rent amounts and increases are purely contractual. For month-to-month tenancies, a rent increase is effectively a termination-and-reoffer, which means it rides the 60-day landlord notice period — announce increases at least 60 days before you want them effective.

There's no statutory cap on late fees, but they must appear in the lease and survive a reasonableness look — Georgia courts enforce agreed fees that approximate real costs and refuse naked penalties. Market practice runs $50–$100 flat or around 5% with a short grace period, commonly starting the fee on the 5th of the month.

Lease Requirements & Disclosures

Light disclosure requirements: ownership/agent identity, flooding history, and the federal lead-paint rules are the core list.

Leases over one year must be written; shorter oral agreements are enforceable but unwise. Georgia's mandatory disclosures are among the shortest lists in the country:

• Owner and agent identity: the names and addresses of the record owner and any authorized manager must be disclosed in writing at or before lease commencement, and kept current.
• Flooding: if living space has flooded three or more times in the past five years, that history must be disclosed in writing before the lease is signed.
• Lead-based paint (federal, pre-1978 housing).
• Move-in inspection list, where the deposit rules above require it.

The lease can allocate many responsibilities (utilities, lawn care, minor maintenance) to the tenant, but after HB 404 it cannot waive the duty to keep the premises fit for human habitation.

Landlord Entry & Notice

No entry-notice statute — the lease is the whole ballgame, so write a real entry clause.

Georgia law is silent on landlord entry, which cuts both ways: nothing requires notice, and nothing authorizes entry either. Without a lease clause, a landlord entering an occupied unit risks trespass and quiet-enjoyment claims. Put a specific entry provision in every lease — purposes, notice period (24 hours is the norm), and emergency exceptions — and follow it consistently.

Evictions

Since HB 404, nonpayment evictions require a 3-business-day notice before filing; dispossessory cases then move fast, with a 7-day tenant answer window.

The Safe at Home Act added a statutory pre-filing step for unpaid rent and charges: the landlord must deliver and post a written notice giving the tenant three business days to pay everything owed or vacate before a dispossessory affidavit can be filed. Payment in full within the window stops the filing. Before HB 404, Georgia required only a demand for possession with no fixed waiting period — old form notices need updating.

The dispossessory proceeding itself is quick: after service, the tenant has seven days to answer; no answer means a default writ of possession can issue immediately, while answered cases get a fast hearing. In nonpayment cases the tenant can cure once in a 12-month period by paying all rent, costs, and fees within seven days of the summons. Self-help — lockouts, utility cutoffs, removing doors — remains flatly prohibited.

Habitability & Repairs

HB 404 wrote 'fit for human habitation' into Georgia law; the older repair duty and repair-and-deduct case law continue alongside it.

Georgia landlords have long had a statutory duty to keep the premises in repair, and HB 404 added an explicit requirement that rentals be fit for human habitation at lease-up and maintained that way — a duty the lease cannot shift away. Utilities themselves can still be the tenant's account, but the systems delivering them are the landlord's responsibility.

Georgia has no statutory rent-withholding scheme; the recognized tenant remedy is repair-and-deduct under case law — after written notice and a reasonable opportunity to repair, the tenant may fix a covered defect and offset the reasonable cost against rent. Landlords are also liable for damages arising from failure to repair after notice, which is why documented, fast make-ready and work-order response matters more in Georgia than the thin statute suggests.

Termination & Renewal

Tenancy-at-will terminations: 60 days from the landlord, 30 from the tenant; fixed terms end per the lease.

For tenancies at will (including month-to-month), Georgia requires 60 days' notice from the landlord and 30 days' notice from the tenant to terminate. Rent increases for at-will tenancies follow the same 60-day landlord timeline. Fixed-term leases end on their stated date without statutory notice, though well-drafted leases set their own renewal and non-renewal mechanics — enforceable as written.

Fair Housing

Federal protections plus the Georgia Fair Housing Act; source of income is not a protected class statewide, but tread carefully with voucher policies.

The Georgia Fair Housing Act tracks federal law: race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Georgia does not add source-of-income protection statewide, and state law limits what localities can require of landlords — but federal rules still constrain voucher-related practices where policies produce discriminatory effects, and Atlanta has pursued source-of-income protections for city-connected housing.

Compliance fundamentals apply everywhere: uniform written screening criteria, consistent documentation, individualized assessment of criminal history per HUD guidance, and assistance animals processed as reasonable accommodations rather than pets.