Georgia eviction laws and process: a step-by-step guide for landlords

A tenant can owe months of rent, ignore your demand, and still leave you with only one legal path to possession in Georgia: a dispossessory. A landlord files that court proceeding in the magistrate court of the county where the property sits. Without a writ of possession, Georgia law makes lockouts and utility shutoffs illegal. The same rule bars setting the tenant's property on the curb. Uncontested cases outside Fulton County typically close in two to four weeks; a contested case with an appeal can run six months or longer. Georgia is one of the more landlord-friendly states, and that quick dispossessory timeline is part of why.

What is the eviction process in Georgia?

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 and the sections that follow govern Georgia's summary dispossessory process. You swear out an affidavit stating why the tenant must leave, an officer serves the tenant, and only a sheriff or marshal (or an off-duty POST-certified officer under HB 1203) executing a writ of possession can remove anyone.

The full sequence runs:

1. Serve the tenant a demand for possession (and, for nonpayment, a three-business-day notice to vacate or pay).
2. File a dispossessory affidavit in magistrate court.
3. Have the sheriff or marshal serve the summons.
4. Wait out the tenant's seven-day answer period.
5. Attend the hearing if the tenant answers, or take a default judgment if they don't.
6. Apply for a writ of possession and schedule the physical eviction with the sheriff or marshal.

Legal grounds for eviction in Georgia

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 recognizes the statutory grounds below. Everything else, including what landlords call "lease violations," runs through one of those doors.

• Non-payment of rent covers rent plus "late fees, utilities, or other charges owed to the landlord" under § 44-7-50(c), meaning any nonpayment of rent or related charges that become due. You need not terminate the lease first, though for leases the parties entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024 the three-business-day notice must run before you file.
• Holding over occurs when a tenant stays past the end of the lease term, holding possession over and beyond the period for which they were rented or leased. Your demand for possession must come upon or after termination, not before. A lease violation that lets you terminate, such as unauthorized subletting, becomes a holding over situation once the lease ends and the tenant refuses to leave. So does a nonrenewal: let the term end, and a tenant who stays is holding over.
• A tenancy at will, which typically arises from a month-to-month lease, requires 60 days' written notice to terminate under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-7 before you demand possession. A tenant at sufferance entered lawfully but holds over wrongfully without your consent, so no 60-day notice is required, only a demand for possession. If you expressly or impliedly permit the tenant to remain, the tenancy converts to at-will and the 60-day requirement kicks back in.

Georgia's statute does not list illegal activity as a standalone ground. Treat criminal conduct as a lease violation: terminate under the lease, then file a holdover once the termination is effective. A tenant who committed serious misconduct or criminal acts also loses the retaliation defense under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24.

Step 1: Serve a notice to vacate (demand for possession)

A timely demand for possession is a condition precedent to a dispossessory. Skip it and your case gets dismissed at trial, even if the tenant never raised it in the answer. The notice you owe depends on the ground:

• Nonpayment on residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024: written notice giving three business days to vacate or pay all past-due rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges under § 44-7-50(c).
• Holdover and at-sufferance cases: no statutory waiting period, so you demand possession and file the same day the tenant refuses.
• Tenancy at will: 60 days' written notice to terminate, then the demand.
• Federally subsidized dwellings: 30 days' pre-filing notice for public housing and project-based rental assistance properties under HUD's final rule, and for CARES Act covered dwellings; the HUD rule does not reach Housing Choice Voucher tenants. Landlords should also be aware of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act as an additional federal overlay: where a rental property was acquired through foreclosure, that Act can require additional notice to bona fide tenants before eviction proceeds.

Older leases predating July 1, 2024 follow the earlier demand-and-file-immediately practice, so check which standard each lease falls under.

Section 44-7-50(d) requires you to post the notice "in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door of the property and delivered via any additional method or methods agreed upon in the rental agreement." A verbal demand won't satisfy that rule, so put it in writing, post it in a sealed envelope, and photograph the posting.

Accepting rent after you give the 60-day notice but before you file waives the notice entirely (Cheeves v. Horne). Once you've decided to terminate, stop taking payments.

Step 2: File a dispossessory affidavit in magistrate court

You file the dispossessory affidavit with the magistrate court clerk in the county where the property sits and swear it before a judge or clerk. The official statewide form is MAG-30-01. Individual owners can file for themselves; an LLC or corporation can designate a full-time officer or employee as its agent in magistrate court, but only a licensed attorney can represent it in a court of record.

The affidavit must name every occupant in a landlord-tenant relationship, state the complete property address, allege exactly one ground ("or" or "and/or" between grounds makes it defective), verify that you demanded possession and were refused, and list exact amounts owed if you want a money judgment.

Filing fees vary by county:

• County | Base filing fee
• Fulton | $60.00
• Gwinnett | $60.00
• DeKalb | $54.00 to $104.00 (posted figures conflict)
• Cobb | $60.50
• Clayton | $50.00

Some county schedules are outdated online, so confirm the amount with the clerk before filing.

Clayton County requires e-filing for every dispossessory through Odyssey eFileGA; the mandate has covered all civil filings since July 1, 2022.

Step 3: Serve the tenant with the eviction summons

After filing, the sheriff or marshal serves the summons under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51. Personal service comes first, typically hand-delivery to the tenant or to a person over 18 at the residence. If a reasonable effort at personal service fails, the officer may use tack and mail service: posting the summons on the door and mailing a copy first-class to the last known address the same day.

If a tenant never answers after tack-and-mail service, you can get possession but not a money judgment; back rent in the same proceeding requires personal service or a tenant who answers or appears.

Serving agency and fee depend on the county:

• County | Serving agency | Service fee
• Fulton | Marshal | $35.00 plus $8.00 per additional defendant
• Gwinnett | Sheriff | $25.00
• DeKalb | Marshal | $50.00 (posted figures conflict)
• Cobb | Sheriff | $25.00
• Clayton | Sheriff | $50.00 per appointment (verify with the clerk)

Fulton allows a private process server for the summons. Clayton uses tack and mail service by default unless you request personal service, so Clayton landlords who want a money judgment should request personal service at filing.

Step 4: The tenant's 7-day answer period and default judgment

The tenant has seven calendar days from actual service to answer, orally or in writing, under § 44-7-51(b). Intervening weekends and holidays count; the deadline rolls forward only if the seventh day is a weekend or legal holiday.

If no answer arrives, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-53 directs the court to issue a writ of possession "instanter," with no hearing, plus a default judgment for all rents due as if your affidavit were proven (subject to the tack-and-mail limit). In Fulton County, request the writ on the eighth day after service. The Georgia Court of Appeals held in Mt. Nebo Baptist Life Center v. Abbey Lending (2024) that trial courts cannot open a dispossessory default once the seven days run.

Step 5: The court hearing and obtaining a judgment

If the tenant answers, the court sets an expedited hearing date, typically within about ten business days in Clayton and one to two weeks in Fulton. Bring the lease and rent ledger, plus the posted demand notice with proof of delivery and photographs. In Fulton, a landlord who fails to appear gets the case dismissed. When both sides show, the magistrate hears evidence and can award possession plus a money judgment for all rents due and related claims under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55.

Expect one of these defenses:

• The tender defense: a tenant who pays all rent owed plus warrant costs within seven days of service has a complete defense in a nonpayment case under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-52. You are required to accept such a tender only once per tenant in any 12-month period, so a repeat nonpayer loses the shield on the second filing.
• Failure-to-repair claims under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13 reduce the rent owed as counterclaims or setoffs; the tenant must prove damages exceeding the balance to keep possession.
• O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24 applies where the landlord acts within three months of the tenant's protected activity, such as a code enforcement complaint or exercising a lease right; remedies are one month's rent plus $500, court costs, and possibly attorney's fees. The statute exempts landlords when the tenant was delinquent at filing, so a documented nonpayment case is largely insulated.
• No demand, a premature demand, or a demand made after filing is fatal (Trumpet v. Brown).

A contested dispossessory built on these defenses is often where a landlord decides it is worth hiring an eviction attorney.

Step 6: Enforcing the writ of possession with the sheriff

After a contested judgment, the writ becomes effective seven days after judgment; after a no-answer default, § 44-7-53 directs the court to issue it instanter. You must apply for execution within 30 days of issuance unless you file a good-cause affidavit. In Cobb County, judges no longer issue writs automatically, so request one.

Sheriffs execute the writ in most counties; Fulton and DeKalb use marshals. In Fulton, a deputy marshal schedules the eviction and deputies must make the initial entry. If the sheriff or marshal cannot execute within 14 days of your application, HB 1203 (2024) lets you hire an off-duty POST-certified officer at your own cost, with five calendar days' written notice to the marshal.

You supply the labor. Fulton and DeKalb require at least five workers; Gwinnett requires two per bedroom and its deputies do not assist with the physical removal.

Under § 44-7-55(c), once you place property on some portion of your land or another officer-approved spot, the law treats it as abandoned, and you owe no bailee duty. In Washington v. Harrison (2009), a landlord who had a salvage company haul the property away instead of setting it out was liable for conversion. No Georgia statute or case fixes a minimum set-out period, so set the property out and leave it there.

Tenant appeals and the pauper's affidavit

A tenant has seven days from the judgment date to appeal under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-56; the court dismisses a late filing for lack of jurisdiction. To stay in the property during the appeal, the tenant must pay all rent the trial court found due into the registry of the court, the reviewing court's registry on an appeal to superior or state court, or the trial court's registry on an appeal to the Court of Appeals or Supreme Court, and continue paying future rent as it comes due.

A pauper's affidavit under O.C.G.A. § 9-15-2 waives the tenant's filing fees, but it does not excuse the registry payments. In Sanders v. Daniel (2010), the court held that the tenant's continued possession depended on complying with the order to pay, despite her affidavit of indigence. Monitor the registry each month; if the tenant misses a payment, move for the writ despite the pending appeal.

Recovering unpaid rent after eviction

The dispossessory judgment doubles as a money judgment for all rents due and related claims if personal service reached the tenant or the tenant answered. Use the collection tools that fit the debtor:

• A continuing wage garnishment under O.C.G.A. § 18-4-4 runs 1,095 days, roughly three years; § 18-4-5 caps the amount withheld at 25% of disposable earnings per week, with a floor of 30 times the federal minimum wage.
• A bank garnishment freezes the tenant's funds the day of service and for the next five days; the bank must answer within 15 days and remit what it holds.
• Recording the judgment on the county's General Execution Docket issues a writ of fieri facias (FiFa), which liens the debtor's real property in that county and personal property statewide. The sheriff can levy and sell at the monthly courthouse auction.

Judgments earn post-judgment interest at the federal prime rate plus 3%, and post-judgment discovery under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-69 lets you depose the former tenant about where they work and bank before you spend money on garnishment fees.

Illegal eviction methods landlords must avoid

Only a writ of possession executed by the sheriff, marshal, or an off-duty POST-certified officer under HB 1203 authorizes removing a tenant or their property. Skip the court and you face criminal and civil exposure, whatever the tenant owes:

• Since July 1, 2024, Georgia has defined utilities as cooling, heat, light, and water. Shutting them off before final disposition of the dispossessory violates O.C.G.A. § 44-7-14.1, a criminal offense carrying a fine up to $500.
• Changing the locks or forcibly ejecting a tenant is trespass, with punitive damages available for aggravating conduct.
• Removing doors, going through belongings, or harassing the tenant out compounds it. In Anglin v. Moore (2015), a landlord cut off water, changed locks, and rifled through a tenant's belongings; the court entered a $43,061.86 judgment: $5,328 actual damages, $5,000 punitive, and over $32,000 in attorney fees and expenses.

How long does the Georgia eviction process take?

An uncontested case outside Fulton runs two to four weeks; a contested case with an answer and appeal runs three to six months or longer, and our state-by-state eviction timeline shows how Georgia compares. Whether the tenant answers and how fast the sheriff or marshal executes drives most of the variance; Fulton's marshal's office was averaging about three months to execute writs, according to industry reporting in March 2025. The stages break down as follows:

• Stage | Timeframe
• Pre-filing notice | 0 days (holdover/sufferance); 3 business days (nonpayment, covered leases); 60 days (tenancy at will)
• Filing the affidavit | 1 day
• Service of process | 1–7 days after filing
• Answer period | 7 calendar days from service
• Default judgment (no answer) | Day 8; writ issues instanter
• Contested hearing | ~10 business days (Clayton); 1–2+ weeks (Fulton); 30+ days (DeKalb)
• Writ effective | Contested: 7 days after judgment; default: instanter
• Sheriff/marshal execution | Days to weeks; longest in Fulton
• Appeal (if filed) | Adds months

How landlord insurance protects your rental income

An eviction usually ends with a unit that needs work and a stretch of vacancy. Landlord insurance in Georgia won't reimburse the rent a nonpaying tenant never sent; that loss belongs in your money judgment. It pays when a covered peril makes the unit uninhabitable during or after turnover and the rent stops while repairs run.

Loss of rental income coverage pays the property's fair rental value for up to 12 months while it's uninhabitable. Steadily includes loss of rental income alongside dwelling and liability coverage. It also covers vacant units and fix-and-flip properties, plus short-term rentals.

If a dispossessory has you looking hard at your coverage, you can get a quote in minutes at quote.steadily.com without a phone call.

FAQ

These are the questions Georgia landlords ask most about dispossessories.

What are the legal grounds for eviction in Georgia?

Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50, the grounds are:

• Nonpayment of rent, late fees, or utilities.
• Holdover past the term.
• Tenancy at will or sufferance.

What notice do I have to give before filing?

Three business days for nonpayment under leases dated on or after July 1, 2024; 60 days for tenancy at will; 30 days for public housing and project-based assistance units. Holdover and sufferance cases need only the demand.

Where do I file the dispossessory affidavit?

You file in the magistrate court where the property sits and swear it before a judge or clerk. Clayton requires e-filing through Odyssey eFileGA.

What if the sheriff can't find my tenant?

The officer can post the summons and mail a copy the same day, which gets you possession but no money judgment unless the tenant answers or appears.

How long does the tenant have to respond?

Seven calendar days from actual service, rolling forward if the seventh day is a weekend or legal holiday.

What happens at the hearing?

The magistrate hears both sides' evidence and can award possession plus a judgment for all rents due.

How do I get the writ of possession?

Apply after judgment; it takes effect seven days later in a contested case, and in Cobb County you must request it specifically.

Can I change the locks or shut off utilities instead?

No. Utility shutoffs before final disposition carry a fine up to $500 under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-14.1, and lockouts are trespass.