Landlord Atlas

What are the security deposit rules in Georgia?

Verified July 8, 2026 All Georgia topics →

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.

Deposits must sit in a dedicated escrow account (or be covered by a surety bond filed with the court), no interest is owed to the tenant, and ordinary wear and tear can never be deducted. Wrongful withholding costs the landlord three times the amount improperly kept plus attorney's fees, and missing the statutory paperwork deadlines forfeits the right to keep anything or to sue for damage at all. One large carve-out: owners of ten or fewer units who self-manage are exempt from the escrow, inspection-list, and treble-damages sections — but not from the two-month cap or the 30-day return duty.

Georgia security deposits at a glance

Maximum deposit 2 months' rent — O.C.G.A. 44-7-30.1 (added by the 2024 Safe at Home Act, HB 404): no landlord may demand or receive a security deposit exceeding the equivalent of two months' rent. Applies to residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024; older leases are uncapped until renewal. The cap covers refundable deposits combined, including pet deposits.
Return deadline 30 days
Deadline conditions Within 30 days after the landlord obtains possession of the premises (as provided in 44-7-33(b)), the landlord must return the full deposit or deliver a written statement of exact reasons for retention together with payment of the balance. Mailing the statement and payment to the tenant's last known address by first-class mail is deemed compliance; if the mailing is returned undelivered and the tenant cannot be located after reasonable effort, the payment becomes the landlord's property 90 days after mailing.
Itemization required Yes
Itemization rules The written statement must identify the exact reasons for retention and, where retention is based on damage, must include the comprehensive damage list prepared under 44-7-33. Ordinary wear and tear from intended use cannot be charged absent negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse. Permitted retention grounds under 44-7-34(a): unpaid rent, late-payment fees, abandonment, unpaid utility charges, third-party repair or cleaning contracted by the tenant, unpaid pet fees, and actual damages from the tenant's breach (with a duty to mitigate).
Separate account required Yes
Interest owed to tenant No
Account & interest rules Deposits must be held in a dedicated escrow account in a state- or federally-regulated depository with written notice to the tenant of its location (44-7-31), or the landlord may instead post a surety bond with the superior court clerk of the county where the property sits, in the amount of the deposits held or $50,000, whichever is less (44-7-32). No interest on the deposit is owed to the tenant. NOTE: the escrow/bond duty does not apply to exempt small landlords under 44-7-36 — see notes.
Pet deposits Refundable pet deposits are permitted but count toward the two-months'-rent cap of 44-7-30.1; unpaid pet fees are an enumerated retention ground under 44-7-34(a).
Non-refundable fees allowed Yes
Penalty for violation Failure to provide the required lists and written statements within the 44-7-34 time periods forfeits all rights to withhold any portion of the deposit or to sue the tenant for damages to the premises (44-7-35(b)). A landlord who fails to return any part of a deposit required to be returned is liable for three times the sum improperly withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees, unless the landlord proves the withholding was an unintentional, bona fide error despite reasonable error-avoidance procedures, in which case liability is limited to the sum erroneously withheld (44-7-35(c)).
Tenant forwarding-address duty Not addressed by statute

Notes and caveats

The 44-7-36 exemption is precise and frequently misstated: natural persons who (with spouse and minor children) own ten or fewer rental units are exempt from 44-7-31 (escrow), 44-7-32 (bond), 44-7-33 (damage lists), and 44-7-35 (forfeiture/treble remedies) — but NOT from 44-7-30.1 (cap) or 44-7-34 (30-day return and itemized statement). The exemption evaporates entirely if any third party manages the units for a fee, including mere rent collection. 44-7-33 mechanics for covered landlords: comprehensive move-in list before collecting the deposit, signed by both parties, with tenant inspection rights; move-out inspection by the landlord within three business days of lease termination and possession, and tenant right to inspect and dissent within five business days. tenant_forwarding_address_duty is null because 44-7-34 imposes none — mailing to the last known address is deemed compliance, and the 90-day unclaimed-funds rule handles undeliverable payments. Citation caveat: Georgia's official code is published via a LexisNexis portal on legis.ga.gov that does not support stable deep links, so section citations link to the 2024 Code mirror at Justia (official: false) with the official HB 404 bill record cited for the 2024 changes.

Statute citations

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.