Blog

When you buy land in Georgia, you are not always buying everything under the surface. In many properties, the “mineral estate” (oil, gas, minerals) has been severed from the surface estate, sometimes decades ago. That split can affect your rights, your risk, and how...

In Georgia, a landlord who is frustrated with a tenant does not get to “take the law into their own hands.” Changing the locks, cutting off utilities, or otherwise forcing a tenant out without going through court is called a self‑help eviction, and it is illegal....

Short answer: Georgia law protects tenants from many common forms of landlord retaliation, but protection isn’t automatic—tenants must show they engaged in protected activity and that the landlord then took adverse action in response; landlords retain legitimate,...

In Georgia, a landlord can usually decide not to renew a lease when the term ends, as long as they give the notice the lease requires and are not doing it for an illegal retaliatory reason. Nonrenewal is different from eviction, but it still has rules and timelines...

In Georgia, there is no built‑in grace period for rent and no statewide dollar cap on late fees for residential leases. Instead, almost everything turns on what the lease actually says and whether a judge would view the fee as reasonable rather than a...

Most Georgia tenants are surprised to learn there is no single “24‑hour notice” rule in the statutes. Instead, the law protects your right to quiet enjoyment and leaves most entry details to leases and basic reasonableness. That makes it important to know when your...

In Georgia, a landlord cannot just change the locks or throw your things on the curb the day you miss a rent payment. They have to follow a court process called a “dispossessory,” and recent changes to the law added extra steps before most nonpayment cases can even be...

If you rent a home or apartment in Georgia, you are not stuck living with unsafe or broken conditions forever just because your landlord will not pick up a wrench. Georgia law now recognizes that landlords have a legal duty to keep rental homes habitable, and tenants...

Georgia landlords do not have to renew a lease forever, but they cannot use “we’re not renewing” as payback when tenants complain about unsafe conditions. Georgia’s retaliation law gives tenants some protection when a non‑renewal closely follows a good‑faith repair or...