Georgia Landlord-Tenant Laws
Local rent regulation in Georgia
Georgia law bars every county and city from enacting, maintaining, or enforcing any ordinance that regulates rent on privately owned residential rental property, while leaving local governments free to set rents on housing they own and to make rent agreements for such properties.
Cited to O.C.G.A. § 44-7-19 (official O.C.G.A. portal) , O.C.G.A. § 44-7-19 (current-code mirror) · Verified August 12, 2026 · Full Georgia rent-increase rules →
Georgia Security deposits
Georgia caps security deposits at two months' rent for leases signed or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, and the landlord must return the deposit — or an exact written statement of deductions plus the balance — within 30 days of getting the unit back.
Georgia Rent increase notice
Georgia has no statute that directly regulates rent increases or requires a specific rent-increase notice; the practical floor comes from O.C.G.A. 44-7-7, which requires a landlord to give 60 days' notice to terminate a tenancy at will, so a month-to-month tenant who rejects a proposed increase is entitled to 60 days before the old tenancy can be ended.
Georgia Late fees
Georgia sets no statutory cap on residential late fees and mandates no grace period — the fee is whatever the lease provides, policed only by Georgia's general rule against contractual penalties.
Georgia Entry notice
Georgia has no statute setting how much notice a landlord must give before entering a rental unit — no 24-hour rule, no 'reasonable notice' standard, nothing.
Georgia Eviction process
Georgia's eviction — a 'dispossessory proceeding' filed most often in magistrate court — starts, for nonpayment under leases signed or renewed since July 1, 2024, with a written notice giving the tenant three business days to pay everything owed or vacate, posted in a sealed envelope on the door.
Georgia mobile home park laws
Georgia has no manufactured-home community tenancy act: a resident who owns the home and rents the lot is covered by the state's general landlord and tenant law, O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 7, which sets no ceiling on lot rent, requires no notice before a rent increase, and lets a community owner end a tenancy at will on sixty days' notice without giving a reason.
Lot-rent, closure, park-sale and home-sale rules with statute citations →
Georgia Fair Market Rents (FY 2026) — HUD's benchmark rents for every Georgia metro area and county.
Changes since last full verification
The Verified date above (July 8, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official state sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).
- Updated, August 16, 2026 — A pending-legislation row flags Georgia SB 406 (Ga. L. 2026, p. 988, § 8): effective January 1, 2027, new O.C.G.A. 44-7-50(e) allows a court, on motion and after a hearing, to make dispossessory-proceeding records unavailable to the public where the tenant prevailed, the judgment has been paid in full with interest and costs, or seven years have passed since a dismissal or a paid judgment; the landlord may still pursue amounts owed in a separate action or through collections. Current answers are unchanged until that date.
- Updated, August 12, 2026 — Georgia's eviction page now reflects the Eviction Service Act (Ga. L. 2025, Act 255, effective July 1, 2025): approved process servers may serve the dispossessory summons under O.C.G.A. 44-7-51(a), alongside the sheriff, deputies, and lawful constables, with the personal-service-first fallback ladder unchanged. Notes also record two dead bills readers ask about: the repeal attempts on the § 44-7-19 local rent-regulation preemption (HB 299, SB 106) and the seven-day notice bill (HB 1389) all died before the biennium's April 2, 2026 adjournment.
How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text: O.C.G.A. 44-7-30.1, 44-7-34, 44-7-35, 44-7-36, 44-7-7, and 44-7-19 read in full from the 2024 Code of Georgia (Justia mirror of the official code, which is not deep-linkable on the official legis.ga.gov LexisNexis portal), cross-checked against the official Georgia General Assembly HB 404 (2024 Ga. Laws 392) bill record on legis.ga.gov and the Georgia Appleseed / magistrate-judge bench card summarizing the Safe at Home Act. 44-7-31, 44-7-32, and 44-7-33 mechanics confirmed across the code mirror section listing and multiple consistent secondary sources.