How to File a Dispossessory Affidavit in Georgia: A Landlord's Filing Guide

A Georgia eviction is a paperwork race with real money on the line — every week of delay is another week of unpaid rent. The good news: the dispossessory process is one of the most standardized filings in Georgia courts, and a landlord who gets the sequence right can move from demand to writ without a single wasted trip. Here is the filing side of that sequence. (For the service side, our eviction process serving guide is the companion to this post.)

Before You File: The Demand for Possession

Georgia law requires a demand before a dispossessory. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50, the landlord must demand possession of the premises — pay the overdue rent or move out — before filing with the court. There is no mandatory waiting period between the demand and the filing, but skipping the demand entirely gives the tenant a clean defense. Put it in writing and keep proof you delivered it.

Where to File: The County Where the Property Sits

Dispossessory venue follows the property, not the tenant and not you. A Sandy Springs landlord who lives in Cherokee County files in Fulton, because that is where the rental sits. Almost all dispossessories go to the county's Magistrate Court.

The Dispossessory Affidavit

The filing document is a sworn dispossessory affidavit. Every magistrate clerk provides the form. You identify the landlord and every adult tenant, state the grounds (unpaid rent, holdover after the lease ended, or another lease violation), state what is owed, and swear to it. Name every tenant on the lease — a writ against 1 of 3 leaseholders is a writ against a third of your problem.

Have your paper assembled before you fill it out: the lease, a rent ledger that totals cleanly, the exact property address as it appears on the lease, the full legal names of every adult on it, and your delivered demand. Sloppy inputs here become defects later — an affidavit that says "$3,200 owed" while your ledger shows $2,950 hands the tenant a talking point at the hearing you didn't need to give them.

What It Costs: Fulton County Worked Example

Fees vary by county; here are Fulton County Magistrate Court's, as a concrete example:

• $60 to file the dispossessory affidavit
• $35 for marshal service of the summons
• $8 for each additional tenant named
• $75 later, if you need a writ of possession

So a single-tenant Fulton dispossessory is $95 to file and serve, and $170 all-in if it goes to a writ. Confirm current figures with your county clerk before filing — a fee shortfall is a rejected filing and a lost week.

The Tenant's 7 Days

Once served, the tenant has 7 days to answer under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51 — and the answer may be oral or written. Two details landlords regularly miss:

• The weekend rollover. If day 7 lands on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day. Count your calendar accordingly before you ask for a default.
• The clock starts at service, not filing. A dispossessory that sits unserved is a dispossessory that has not started. This is why we serve dispossessories on 2–3 business day standard timing, or next business day with rush.

A concrete rollover: if the 7th day after service lands on a Saturday, the tenant's answer is due the following Monday — and a Monday holiday pushes it to Tuesday. Requesting default on that Saturday's math gets you nothing but a denied request and a longer file.

If the Tenant Answers: The Hearing

An answer — oral or written — gets the case set for a hearing. Come with the lease, the complete rent ledger, your written demand and proof it was delivered, and the service affidavit. The dispute is usually arithmetic: what was owed, what was paid, when. The landlord with organized paper tends to have the shorter morning.

No Answer: Default and the Writ

If the 7 days (plus any rollover) pass with no answer, you can seek a default judgment and then a writ of possession — $75 in Fulton. The writ is what turns your judgment into a key: it authorizes the marshal to schedule the set-out, supervise the removal of the tenant's belongings, and restore the property to you. Until the writ executes, the property is still legally occupied — budget for that gap when you plan the turnover, and have your crew ready for the marshal's scheduled date, because the set-out happens on the marshal's calendar, not yours.

Why the Service Date Is Your Whole Timeline

Every dollar of this process keys off one date: the day the tenant was served. Marshal service typically takes 5–10 business days to complete; a certified private server compresses that to 2–3 business days standard, or the next business day with rush. On a unit renting for $1,800 a month, a week of compression is worth about $415 of occupancy — which is why property managers running recurring dispossessories treat the server choice as a cash-flow decision, not a formality.

E-Filing Your Dispossessory

Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Cherokee, Henry, and Chatham magistrate courts accept e-filing through eFileGA — optional for self-represented landlords, at $19 per envelope ($14 in DeKalb and Gwinnett magistrate) plus a 2.5%–3.5% card fee. Run the math against your volume: for a single eviction, the window is fine; for 5 dispossessories a month, $95 in envelope fees replaces 5 courthouse trips with parking, lines, and a half-day each. High-volume landlords should read our eFileGA guide before choosing — including the section on why envelopes get rejected, because a bounced dispossessory envelope is a week of rent.

One Order, Both Halves

Reliant Process Solutions handles the whole administrative chain: we file your dispossessory affidavit with the right magistrate court, serve the papers with GPS-documented proof, and file the affidavit of service — so the 7-day clock starts on a date nobody can dispute. Property managers running multiple units send us the batch and get confirmations by email.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the tenant really answer out loud?

Yes — O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51 allows an oral answer in a dispossessory, unlike ordinary civil cases. Do not assume silence in the file means no answer was made; check with the clerk before pursuing default.

What does Reliant's dispossessory package cost?

The serve is flat-rate — $80 for an individual tenant, +$35 for next-business-day rush or +$75 for same-day — and the court filing add-on is $45 standard or $75 rush. Additional tenants at the same address are quoted up front when you order, so the number you approve is the number you pay.

Can I change the locks instead?

Georgia's dispossessory statute is the lawful route to possession. Self-help lockouts create liability questions that are exactly the kind of thing to put to a licensed Georgia attorney — not a filing company.

Is this legal advice?

No. This article is general information about dispossessory filing procedure in Georgia, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. We are a filing and process serving company, not attorneys, and we do not advise on grounds, defenses, or strategy. Fees and procedures vary by county and change over time; confirm with your county clerk and consult a licensed Georgia attorney about your specific matter.