Georgia security deposit law
Your landlord is on a clock, and most tenants never find out it exists. Here is what the statute actually says - quoted, with a link so you can read it yourself.
30 days after the landlord takes possession back, they must return the deposit in full or hand you a written statement setting out what they are keeping and why.
- Itemization
- Required. Failing to provide the lists and statements on time works a forfeiture of all the landlord's rights to withhold any portion of the deposit or to sue you for damage to the premises.
- If they get it wrong
- Three times the sum improperly withheld, plus reasonable attorney's fees - unless the landlord proves the withholding was unintentional and resulted from a bona fide error despite procedures designed to avoid it.
- Statute
- O.C.G.A. §§ 44-7-34, 44-7-35, 44-7-36
The part most people miss
Georgia has the harshest penalty of any state here - treble damages - but also the narrowest reach. The section that carries that penalty does not apply to an individual landlord who, with their spouse and minor children, owns ten or fewer rental units. The exemption falls away if a third party manages the property or collects the rent for a fee. Establish which side of that line your landlord sits on before anything else. There's also an earlier clock most tenants never hear about: the landlord is supposed to inspect the unit and compile a written damage list within three business days of move-out, with your right to inspect that list and dispute items in writing - well before the 30-day return deadline below.
Any landlord who fails to return any part of a security deposit which is required to be returned to a tenant pursuant to this article shall be liable to the tenant in the amount of three times the sum improperly withheld plus reasonable attorney's fees.
O.C.G.A. § 44-7-35(c)
Where that leaves you
The date you handed back possession, plus the 30-day window above, is the number that matters. If that date has passed and nothing arrived, that fact carries weight under Georgia law - the statute is quoted above, and the conditions attached to it (if any) are noted on this page too.
If you are still living there, or about to move out, the most useful thing you can do takes fifteen minutes. Nearly every dispute reduces to a single question - was that damage there before you were - and dated photographs are the strongest evidence you can bring to that question.
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Last reviewed: 24 Aug 2026 · How this was sourced: IMPORTANT: § 44-7-34 sets the deadline but carries no penalty; the penalty lives in § 44-7-35, and § 44-7-36 exempts small natural-person landlords from § 44-7-35 entirely. All three sections read separately at law.justia.com, 19 Aug 2026. Reading only the deadline section gives a badly wrong answer. Independently re-verified 24 Aug 2026: confirmed § 44-7-33(b)(1)'s separate three-business-day inspection/damage-list requirement (with tenant inspection and written-dissent rights), distinct from and earlier than § 44-7-34's 30-day return deadline - added a note so tenants know about the earlier process too.