How long does a landlord in Georgia have to return a security deposit?
30 calendar days after you move out
In plain terms, the statute says
Under § 44-7-35(b) a landlord who fails to return any part of a deposit required to be returned is liable to the tenant for three times the sum improperly withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees, and § 44-7-35(a) denies the landlord any retention at all where the escrow, initial-damage-list and final-damage-list duties were all skipped. The trebling is not strict: the landlord is liable only for the sum erroneously withheld if it shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the withholding was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error that occurred in spite of procedures reasonably designed to avoid such error.
Who this covers
The § 44-7-34 thirty-day return duty applies to residential tenancies generally, but § 44-7-36 switches off §§ 44-7-31, 44-7-32, 44-7-33 and 44-7-35 — the escrow duty, the surety-bond alternative, the damage-list duties and the treble-damages remedy — for rental units owned by a natural person where that person, his or her spouse and his or her minor children collectively own ten or fewer rental units; the exemption does not apply where management, including rent collection, is performed by a third party for a fee. A small individual landlord in Georgia therefore still owes the thirty-day return but is not exposed to the § 44-7-35 remedy.
Read the law yourself
Where are you in this?
Have you moved out?
Questions people ask
How long does a landlord in Georgia have to return a security deposit?
Georgia: 30 calendar days after you move out.
Who does Georgia's security-deposit law cover?
The § 44-7-34 thirty-day return duty applies to residential tenancies generally, but § 44-7-36 switches off §§ 44-7-31, 44-7-32, 44-7-33 and 44-7-35 — the escrow duty, the surety-bond alternative, the damage-list duties and the treble-damages remedy — for rental units owned by a natural person where that person, his or her spouse and his or her minor children collectively own ten or fewer rental units; the exemption does not apply where management, including rent collection, is performed by a third party for a fee. A small individual landlord in Georgia therefore still owes the thirty-day return but is not exposed to the § 44-7-35 remedy.
What happens if a landlord in Georgia is late?
Under § 44-7-35(b) a landlord who fails to return any part of a deposit required to be returned is liable to the tenant for three times the sum improperly withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees, and § 44-7-35(a) denies the landlord any retention at all where the escrow, initial-damage-list and final-damage-list duties were all skipped. The trebling is not strict: the landlord is liable only for the sum erroneously withheld if it shows by a preponderance of the evidence that the withholding was not intentional and resulted from a bona fide error that occurred in spite of procedures reasonably designed to avoid such error.
Where can I read Georgia's security-deposit law?
Georgia's rule is in Ga. Code Ann. § 44-7-34. The link on this page goes to the official text, so you can read the section yourself rather than take our word for it.
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