Security deposit return deadline in Georgia

In Georgia, a landlord has 30 days to return your security deposit.

Work out your Georgia deadline

Your move-out day — when the keys went back.

When the lease or agreement ended. Often the same day you moved out. Georgia counts from whichever of the two comes first.

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The part you have not had back. Georgia measures its penalty on this, not on the whole deposit.

Not legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice, and it is calculated only from the dates you entered. Whether a penalty applies is for a court to decide, not this site — and your landlord may dispute the dates or the reason for any deduction. Deadlines and penalties change and vary by jurisdiction. Verify with the cited statute or consult a licensed attorney in your state before you rely on any of this.

What Georgia law requires

  • 30 days to return the deposit, counted from whichever comes first: the day the tenancy ended, or the day you handed back the property.

    The clock runs 30 days from when the landlord obtains possession, as provided in 44-7-33(b)(1), which applies “whichever occurs first” of the two events. On delivery, the statute says the landlord “shall be deemed to have complied with this Code section by mailing such statement and any payment required to the last known address of the tenant via first-class mail.” First-class mail is the only method the section names, so posting on time is enough and your landlord does not have to show you received anything. The courts have read it that way: in Cannon v. Wesley Plantation Apts., 256 Ga. App. 244, a tenant who said the notice never arrived was “without merit as the applicable statute did not require that the notice actually be received.” Practically, that means post sent to an old address can still count, so make sure your landlord has a current one.

    44-7-34(a), cross-referencing 44-7-33(b)(1)

Do you have to give a forwarding address?

Statute uses 'last known address' (whatever address the landlord already has), not a tenant-supplied forwarding address. No forwarding-address duty on the tenant is described anywhere in 44-7-30 to 44-7-37.

What to do next

  1. Write it down. Put the date you handed back the property and the date your tenancy ended in one place. Every deadline on this page is counted from one of those.
  2. Ask in writing. Email is fine and it timestamps itself. Say what you are asking for, cite the subsection above, and give a date by which you expect a reply.
  3. Keep the receipt. If you post a letter, pay for tracking. It costs a few dollars and it is the difference between "I sent it" and proof that you did. You do not need to buy a service to do this — the post office will.

There is a longer walkthrough, including what an itemised statement should contain and when small claims is worth it, in what to do if your landlord won't return your deposit.