Georgia · Landlord Forms

Free Georgia Landlord Forms

Every Georgia landlord form we publish, organised by the stage of the tenancy it belongs to, each one paired with the O.C.G.A. section behind it — including the notice the Safe at Home Act created, which is not where anyone is looking for it.

Every form linked on this page is free, fillable in your browser, and downloadable as a PDF with no account, no membership and no paywall. Georgia tenancies run on O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 7, and the chapter was changed more in 2024 than in the previous twenty years. Four separate acts landed that year, and one of them moved the nonpayment rule out of the subsection everyone still cites.

HB 404 Moved the Nonpayment Rule — and Most Pages Have Not Followed

And note the arithmetic. Subsection (c) says business days, while subsection (d) confusingly calls the same instrument “the three-day notice”. Three business days over a weekend is five calendar days; over a holiday weekend it is longer. Count business days.

The Demand for Possession, and Why It Should Now Be in Writing

Georgia’s structure differs from most states. A demand for possession is a condition precedent to the dispossessory affidavit for all grounds (§ 44-7-50(a)), and it carries no day count of its own — on refusal, the landlord may go before the court immediately.

Subsection (d) in full is worth reading, because it is conjunctive and search snippets routinely truncate it mid-clause: “The demand for possession notice under subsection (a) of this Code section or the three-day notice to vacate or pay under subsection (c) of this Code section shall be posted 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.” Posting alone does not satisfy it if the lease specifies a further method. See our Georgia eviction notice laws guide.

There Is No Cure Period in Georgia

This is a verified absence, established by enumerating every section of Article 3 from § 44-7-49 to § 44-7-59.

Every Georgia Landlord Form, by Stage of the Tenancy

An alphabetical list is the least useful arrangement, because a landlord arrives knowing what has happened, not what the document is called. The index below is ordered by where you are in the tenancy.

Sixty Days Out, Thirty Days In

Section 44-7-7 is one sentence and it is worth quoting whole: “Sixty days’ notice from the landlord or 30 days’ notice from the tenant is necessary to terminate a tenancy at will.”

Note that the section says tenancy at will, not month-to-month. Section 44-7-6 supplies the bridge: “Where no time is specified for the termination of a tenancy, the law construes it to be a tenancy at will.” A lease that states a term and then continues month-to-month by its own terms is governed first by the lease. Read the lease before reaching for sixty days. See our Georgia lease termination laws guide.

Georgia Has No Landlord Entry Statute

A related myth is worth killing at the same time. Several pages claim § 44-7-14.1 bans lockouts. Read whole, it bans only utility suspension: it is unlawful “knowingly and willfully to suspend the furnishing of utilities to a tenant until after the final disposition of any dispossessory proceeding”, with a fine not to exceed five hundred dollars. There is no lockout language in it at all. HB 404’s fourth and least-noticed change was adding “cooling” to the definition of utilities, which now reads “cooling, heat, light, and water service”. See our Georgia landlord entry laws guide.

Security Deposits: Four Deadlines, Not One

Georgia’s deposit regime spans two sections and carries four distinct numbers. Pages that report “thirty days to send an itemised list” have collapsed the three-business-day list into the thirty-day return.

Stage	Deadline	Section
Landlord’s damage list — a comprehensive list plus an estimated dollar value for each item	3 business days	§ 44-7-33(b)(1)
Tenant’s right to inspect the premises and the list, on request	5 business days	§ 44-7-33(b)(1)
Return plus the written statement of the exact reasons, accompanied by payment of the difference	30 days	§ 44-7-34(a)
Undeliverable refund, tenant not locatable after reasonable effort → the payment becomes the landlord’s property	90 days after mailing	§ 44-7-34(a)

The move-in list has its own timing rule that most landlords miss: it must be presented before the deposit is tendered, the tenant may inspect before taking occupancy, and both sign. The signed list is conclusive except as to latent defects. A tenant who disagrees may instead sign a specific written dissent. Where a tenant vacates without notifying the landlord, the move-out list is compiled within a “reasonable time” after discovering the vacancy and the landlord signs alone.

Rule	Value	Section
Cap	“No landlord shall demand or receive a security deposit in an amount that exceeds the equivalent of two months’ rent.” New in 2024. The section is one sentence and states no remedy — claims that over-cap amounts “must be refunded” are not in the text	§ 44-7-30.1
What the cap covers	Excludes nonrefundable fees, which § 44-7-30 carves out of the definition of “security deposit”	§ 44-7-30
Escrow	An escrow account in a state- or federally-regulated bank, established only for that purpose, held in trust, and the tenant must be informed in writing of the account’s location. Interest to the tenant is not required	§ 44-7-31
Surety bond alternative	Filed with the clerk of superior court; the amount is the total deposits held or fifty thousand dollars, whichever is LESS; the surety may withdraw on thirty days’ notice	§ 44-7-32
Permitted retentions	Unpaid rent, late-payment fees, abandonment, unpaid utilities, tenant-contracted repair or cleaning, unpaid pet fees, and actual damages from breach — provided the landlord attempts to mitigate	§ 44-7-34(a)
Penalty	“three times the sum improperly withheld plus reasonable attorney’s fees” — but with a bona fide error defence: liability drops to the sum erroneously withheld if the landlord shows by preponderance that the withholding was unintentional and resulted from bona fide error despite procedures reasonably designed to avoid it	§ 44-7-35(c)
Total forfeiture	Failing to provide the lists or statements within § 44-7-34’s periods forfeits all right to withhold any portion AND to sue the tenant for damages to the premises	§ 44-7-35(b)

The whole deposit article is non-waivable under § 44-7-2(b)(6), so neither the cap nor the deadline can be contracted around. See our Georgia security deposit laws guide.

What HB 404 Actually Did — and Who It Reaches

The Safe at Home Act, 2024 Georgia Laws 392, was signed on 22 April 2024 and took effect 1 July 2024. It made four changes:

1. An express warranty of habitability — Georgia’s first. Section 44-7-13(b) now deems every agreement for the rental of real property as a dwelling place to include “a provision that the premises is fit for human habitation”. It is non-waivable. The phrase “fit for human habitation” is undefined in the statute and is left to case law.
2. The two-month deposit cap at § 44-7-30.1.
3. The three-business-day nonpayment notice at § 44-7-50(c), with nonpayment removed from (a).
4. “Cooling” added to the definition of utilities at § 44-7-14.1(a).

Three further 2024 acts are in force and are worth knowing. House Bill 1203 (2024 Georgia Laws 484, effective on approval 24 April 2024) added § 44-7-55(e): if the sheriff or marshal cannot execute within fourteen days of the landlord’s application, the landlord may hire an off-duty POST-certified officer at their own cost, on five calendar days’ advance written notice to the sheriff. It is a genuinely useful remedy that almost no page covers. Separately, 2024 Georgia Laws 424 amended § 44-7-56, the appeal section.

And the Georgia Squatter Reform Act (House Bill 1017, 2024 Georgia Laws 483, effective 24 April 2024) created a new criminal offence and a civil intruder-ejectment track, giving an occupant three business days to produce documentation authorising entry or to file a counter-affidavit, failing which a writ of possession may issue instanter. It preserves the landlord-tenant line — where a real tenancy exists, ordinary Chapter 7 dispossessory applies, not the squatter statutes.

Service, Answer and the Tender Defence

Service of the dispossessory runs in three tiers under § 44-7-51(a): personal service; failing that, delivery to “any person who is sui juris residing on the premises”; and failing that, after reasonable effort, tack and mail — posting a copy on the door and, “on the same day of such posting,” mailing first class to the last known address, with an entry of that action made on the affidavit.

The answer is due seven days from the date of actual service, and it may be oral or written — an oral answer is endorsed on the affidavit. The landlord need not appear, and the summons must state the last possible answer date. If the seventh day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday it rolls to the next business day — but only the terminal day rolls; intermediate weekend days are counted.

The tender defence is a complete defence, and its details matter. Within seven days from service, the tenant may tender all rents owed PLUS the cost of the dispossessory warrant. The landlord is obliged to accept it only once in any twelve-month period, and it applies to nonpayment actions only. If the landlord wrongly refuses, the court orders payment within three days — and that payment does not burn the once-per-twelve-months right. Non-residential tenants get no tender defence at all.

Writs, Appeals and Two Different Timelines

Where possession cannot be finally determined within two weeks of service, the tenant remains in possession but must pay rent into the court registry; failure to pay means “the court shall issue the writ” (§§ 44-7-53(b), 44-7-54). Execution must be applied for within thirty days of issuance absent a good-cause affidavit, or a new writ is needed.

On the writ’s scope: it authorises removal of the tenant and their personal property, which may be placed on the landlord’s or a designated property; the landlord is not a bailee and owes no duty; and after execution the property is regarded as abandoned.

The appeal window is seven days after the date the judgment was ENTERED — not from service — and unlike the answer window it has no weekend or holiday rollover clause. Paying rent into the reviewing court’s registry is a condition of remaining in possession, not a condition of appealing. The trial judge may supplement the record within fifteen days.

Court, Forms and Fees

Dispossessories may be brought in the superior, state or magistrate court, or any other court with subject-matter jurisdiction, and the affidavit may be made before a notary public. The magistrate court’s general civil limit is fifteen thousand dollars — but note that § 15-10-2(a)(6) is a separate, freestanding grant of dispossessory jurisdiction with no dollar figure, so the fifteen-thousand cap does not limit a possession case.

Georgia does publish a statewide numbered form set, promulgated by the Council of Magistrate Court Judges:

Form	Title
MAG-30-02	Dispossessory Proceeding — the affidavit
MAG-30-03	Dispossessory Answer
MAG-30-04	Dispossessory Judgment
MAG-30-06	Dispossessory Notice of Trial Date
MAG-30-08	Application and Order for Default Writ
MAG-30-10	Dispossessory Default Writ, Tack and Mail
MAG-30-11	Dispossessory of Tenant and Transportable Housing

The Council also runs a free forms generator. Two cautions, though: the Council does not state that the forms are mandatory, and counties may require local variants. More importantly, we could not confirm that the MAG-30-02 affidavit in circulation has been updated to reflect HB 404’s three-business-day notice element. Check the version you are handed before you rely on it.

Which Georgia Form Do I Need?

1. First, check the lease date. If it was entered into or renewed before 1 July 2024 and never renewed since, HB 404 does not reach it.
2. The tenant has not paid rent. The three-business-day notice to vacate or pay, posted in a sealed envelope on the door plus any method the lease requires.
3. Any other ground. A demand for possession first — in writing — then the dispossessory affidavit. There is no waiting period on the demand itself.
4. The tenancy is at will and nobody is at fault. Sixty days from you, thirty from the tenant.
5. You want a cure period. Only if your lease gives one. The statute does not.
6. You need to get into the property. Whatever the lease says — there is no entry statute.
7. The tenant has moved out. The damage list within three business days, the tenant’s right to look over the premises within five, and the return plus written statement within thirty days of obtaining possession.

How to Fill Out a Georgia Three-Business-Day Notice

1. Name every tenant and describe the premises exactly as the lease does.
2. State the full amount owed — the statute covers “all past due rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges owed to the landlord”, so itemise them.
3. Give three BUSINESS days, and say “business days” on the face of the notice so nobody has to guess.
4. Offer the alternative the statute offers — vacate or pay.
5. Post it in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door. The envelope is not optional.
6. Deliver it by any additional method the rental agreement specifies. Subsection (d) is conjunctive.
7. Record the date and method of both steps.
8. Then diarise the case — the answer is due seven days from actual service, and the tender defence runs on the same clock.

What Happens If the Form Is Wrong

The distinctively Georgia error is counting calendar days on the nonpayment notice. Three business days spanning a weekend is five calendar days, and filing on the calendar date is filing early.

The second is posting without the sealed envelope, or without the lease’s additional delivery method. Both halves of § 44-7-50(d) are required.

The third is citing § 44-7-50(a) for a nonpayment case — the clause that supported it was deleted in 2024.

And the fourth is on the deposit side: treating the ten-unit exemption as a general exemption. It does not cover the thirty-day return, it does not cover the two-month cap, and it evaporates unit by unit wherever a third party manages for a fee.

What This Page Does Not Have

We would rather scope this honestly than promise documents we do not host. Georgia landlords also commonly want a rental application, a sublease or assignment, a roommate agreement, a commercial lease, a rent-to-own agreement, a rent receipt and an abandonment notice. Those are not published here as Georgia-specific forms.

We have also deliberately omitted several things we could not verify to our standard: a filing fee; whether oral demand survives for holdover grounds; whether the two-month cap carries any remedy; any definition of “fit for human habitation”; whether MAG-30-02 has been updated post-HB 404; and whether the Council’s forms are mandatory or merely models.

Bills That Did Not Pass

Georgia runs a two-year biennium, so 2025 bills carried over and died at sine die on 2 April 2026. None of the following is law:

• House Bill 299 and four companions — would have repealed § 44-7-19, allowing local rent control. Died in committee.
• House Bill 61, the “Anti-Squatting Act of 2026” — passed the House 165 to nil and the Senate 32 to 18, in different forms, and was then tabled by the House. Passing both chambers is not enactment.
• House Bill 875 — sealing dispossessory records. Died at second readers.
• Senate Bill 463 — would have capped corporate ownership at five hundred single-family rentals. Passed the Senate 49 to 3, no House floor vote.
• House Bill 1171 — would have broadened HB 404’s habitability standard to “clean and safe” with functional appliances. Never got a hearing.
• House Bill 1188 (on stating rental fees up front), House Bill 689 (eviction diversion and legal aid, passed the House, stalled in the Senate), House Bill 183, House Bill 305, House Bill 555 and House Bill 374 — all dead.

We also found no bill at all between 2024 and 2026 on just-cause eviction, a standalone right to counsel, source-of-income discrimination or landlord entry. Atlanta has a municipal source-of-income ordinance; the legislature declined to act statewide.

Common Georgia Landlord Form Mistakes

• Counting calendar days on the three-business-day notice.
• Citing § 44-7-50(a) for nonpayment. That clause was deleted in 2024.
• Posting without a sealed envelope, or without the lease’s additional delivery method.
• Relying on an oral demand for possession. Give it in writing.
• Calling the three business days a cure period or a grace period. It is neither.
• Offering a statutory cure for a lease violation. Georgia grants none.
• Giving thirty days to end a tenancy at will. Sixty from the landlord.
• Quoting a twenty-four-hour entry rule. No entry statute exists.
• Saying § 44-7-14.1 bans lockouts. It bans utility suspension only.
• Collapsing the deposit deadlines. Three business days, five business days, thirty days, ninety days.
• Running the thirty days from lease termination. It runs from obtaining possession.
• Reading “whichever occurs first” as “last” in § 44-7-33(b)(1).
• Treating the ten-unit exemption as covering the return deadline or the cap. It covers neither.
• Missing that the exemption dies unit by unit where a third party manages for a fee.
• Expecting a money judgment after tack-and-mail service. Possession only.
• Forgetting the warrant cost in the tender figure, or that the tenant gets it once in twelve months.
• Applying the seven-day writ delay to a default. A no-answer default produces a writ instanter.
• Assuming the appeal window rolls over a weekend. It does not, and it runs from judgment.
• Putting a one-way attorney’s-fee clause in the lease. Void unless reciprocal.

Free Fillable Forms Versus the Paid Georgia Form Sites

Georgia’s results page is dominated by rental-application funnels and housing-programme landing pages. The deepest measured ranker with real Georgia substance runs to about two thousand five hundred and forty words, and one of the highest-placed pages is a landlord-association stub whose forms sit behind a membership wall and which carries no Georgia law at all beyond a lawyer referral.

What none of them carries is the set of facts that decides a Georgia case in 2026: that nonpayment moved to a new subsection, that the notice runs in business days, that the envelope and the lease-specified delivery are both required, and that the ten-unit exemption leaves the cap and the return deadline fully in force.

Every form linked from this page is free, fills in the browser, and downloads as a finished PDF. There is no account, no trial and no upsell attached to the documents themselves. What we ask in return is straightforward: if you are about to hand keys to someone, run the screening first, because nearly every dispute described on this page is cheaper to prevent than to litigate.

Georgia Landlord Forms: FAQ

Related Georgia Guides

• Georgia landlord-tenant laws — the full statutory overview.
• The Georgia eviction process — step by step from demand to writ.
• Georgia eviction notice laws — every notice and its delivery rule.
• Georgia security deposit laws — the four deadlines and the exemption.
• Georgia lease termination laws — sixty and thirty days.
• Georgia breaking lease laws — early termination and mitigation.
• Georgia rent increase laws — and the rent-control preemption.
• Georgia late fee laws — why there is no cap.
• Georgia landlord entry laws — and why the lease is the rule.
• Georgia habitability laws — the new statutory warranty.
• Georgia pet and ESA laws — pet fees and assistance animals.
• Georgia tenant screening laws — background checks and adverse action.

About the Author

Published by Tenant Screening Background Check · Editorial Team

Established 2004. Our editorial team has spent two decades helping landlords and property managers run lawful tenant screening and follow state landlord-tenant codes across all fifty states. For Georgia we enumerated all six Articles of Chapter 7 by heading rather than searching for an entry statute and failing to find one — which is how we can state its absence as a finding. We also compared two publisher families against each other, which is how we caught that one of them is still serving the pre-2024 nonpayment text.

Updated 2026

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Last reviewed 2026. This page is general information about Georgia landlord-tenant law, not legal advice. Four acts changed Chapter 7 in 2024 and one of them reaches only leases entered into or renewed on or after 1 July 2024. The official Code publisher was unreachable during our research, so citations rest on cross-checked commercial reproductions whose currency predates the 2026 session. We have deliberately omitted a filing fee and other figures we could not verify. Confirm the current requirements with your magistrate court clerk or with a Georgia attorney before you serve a notice or file a case.