How long is squatters' rights in Georgia?
Twenty years for a squatter with no paper, seven with written evidence of title. But the number that matters first in Georgia is three: since 2024, an occupant with no lease has three business days to produce documents before facing arrest for unlawful squatting.
If someone is living in your home now, the clock matters far less than getting them out lawfully, and that is where we can help.
- Statutory period
- 7 or 20 years
- What's different here
- 7 years with written title, 20 without, and unlawful squatting a crime since 2024
- Statute
- O.C.G.A. §§ 44-5-163, 44-5-164, 16-7-21.1, 44-11-30
Someone living in your home in Georgia? Dardaris helps you get them out.
Changing the locks or cutting the power turns the law against you. We hand it to people who remove squatters lawfully, for a living.
If they are moving in right now, call the police first. Once they have settled in, it takes a formal process, and that is where we come in.
Your contact at Dardaris
Dardaris is not a law firm and removes nobody itself. If you hire the specialist we introduce, they pay us a referral fee, and you deal with them under their own terms. We pass your details on only once you agree.
- Tell us what is happening, by email or on a call. Talking to us costs nothing.
- We put you in touch with a removal specialist who works through the court and the sheriff, never around them.
- Once the home is free, Dardaris manages the letting for you.
Georgia's adverse possession rules sit in O.C.G.A. sections 44-5-161 to 44-5-164. Twenty years of qualifying possession gives good title by prescription (section 44-5-163). Seven years is enough when the possession is under written evidence of title (section 44-5-164), except that a title the possessor knew was forged or fraudulent can never support the claim. A squatter with no deed and no lease has only the twenty-year route.
Georgia then did what most states have not: it made squatting a crime. The Georgia Squatter Reform Act, House Bill 1017, took effect on the governor's approval in April 2024 and added O.C.G.A. section 16-7-21.1. A person who enters another's land or premises and lives there for any period of time, knowing the owner has not consented, commits unlawful squatting, a misdemeanor. An accused squatter receives a citation and has three business days to show the issuing agency properly executed documentation of the right to be there, such as a lease or proof of rent payments. Without it, the person is subject to arrest. If documents are produced, a hearing is set within seven days.
The same act rewrote the intruder process in Code sections 44-11-30 to 44-11-33. An owner swears an affidavit that they claim possession in good faith and the occupant does not. A sheriff, deputy, constable, marshal or other certified officer shows it to the occupant and, once three days have passed, turns the occupant out unless the occupant files a counteraffidavit claiming a legal right in good faith. If one is filed, both parties stay in place and the case goes to a magistrate court trial. When the owner prevails, a writ of possession issues, and the court may award fair market rent for the time the occupant stayed.
Where Georgia sits against the rest of the United States, in years
Of 50 places in the United States on these pages, 5 have a shorter clock and 33 a longer one or none at all.
From the day someone moves in to the day a claim is possible
The same three stages in most places. The exact rule, and whether the last stage exists at all, is on each place's own page.
- Day oneMoving inCaught in the act, it is usually a matter for the police: a trespass, not a tenancy.
- Weeks to yearsSettled inOnce someone lives there, removing them usually takes a court order, the same route as for a tenant.
- After 7 or 20 yearsA claim becomes possibleOnly if every test held, without a break, for the whole period. Where the law allows no such claim, this stage never comes.
Not yours to do, once they have moved inChanging the locks, cutting the water or power, or removing belongings yourself. It is illegal in every US state and most places on these pages forbid it too. Each page says how removal works there.
The record a court asks for, kept as you go
Wherever your property stands, removing an occupant usually comes down to showing who had the right to be there, and since when. Dardaris files every lease, message and document for a building by date, so that record already exists on the day you need it.
- Every lease, with who signed it and when
- Every message with a tenant, on the thread it was sent in
- Every document, filed against the building it concerns
Frequently asked questions
What are the squatting laws in Georgia?
Georgia's adverse possession statutes are O.C.G.A. §§ 44-5-163 and 44-5-164: 20 years, or 7 with written evidence of title. What is different here: since 2024, unlawful squatting is a misdemeanor under § 16-7-21.1, and owners have an affidavit route under §§ 44-11-30 to 44-11-33. Squatting is trespassing, and an owner does not change the locks or cut the utilities to force someone out.
How long is squatters' rights in Georgia?
Twenty years of qualifying possession gives title by prescription under § 44-5-163. Seven years is enough with written evidence of title under § 44-5-164, but not if the written title is forged or fraudulent and the possessor knew it when possession began.
What applies to an ordinary squatter with no deed in Georgia?
Twenty years. A squatter with no deed, no lease and no written title has only the 20-year route, and in the meantime can be cited for unlawful squatting under § 16-7-21.1 and asked to produce documents within three business days.
What does Georgia's 2024 Squatter Reform Act do?
House Bill 1017, effective on the governor's approval in April 2024, makes unlawful squatting a misdemeanor, gives an accused squatter three business days after a citation to show a lease or other proof, and revises the affidavit route to the sheriff and magistrate court. The court may also award fair market rent for the time of occupancy.
Can a Georgia owner remove a squatter without a court order?
Partly. Under § 44-11-30 an owner swears an affidavit, an officer shows it to the occupant, and after three days the occupant is turned out unless a counteraffidavit is filed. Then both stay in place until a magistrate court trial. Changing the locks or cutting the utilities yourself is not the route. If you catch someone while they are still moving in, call the police.
Can someone help me get squatters out of my home in Georgia?
Yes. Removal specialists do it through the court and the sheriff. Changing the locks or cutting the power would put you in the wrong. Dardaris can put you in touch with one, and once the home is free, manage the letting for you.
Elsewhere in the United States
The same question, on a different clock. Every place sets its own period and its own shortcuts.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- See every place
This is general information, not legal advice.Laws change, and a county or a city can add its own wrinkle on top of the state rule, the way New York City does. Confirm the current rule for your address before acting on it, and talk to a local attorney before relying on any of it in a real dispute.