How to Remove a Squatter in Georgia: The Legal Process for Owners

In Georgia, an owner facing a true squatter has a fast statutory remedy that most articles never mention: a sworn affidavit against intruders under O.C.G.A. 44-11-30, which gets a sheriff to turn the occupant out three days after the affidavit is exhibited to them. Georgia's Squatter Reform Act (House Bill 1017) rewrote that process and moved it into Magistrate Court, and it also created a new crime of unlawful squatting. The Act took effect April 24, 2024, the day the Governor signed it — not July 1 — as the Judicial Council of Georgia's Summary of Enacted Legislation 2024 records. If the occupant is really a tenant or holdover, you are in different territory: a dispossessory (eviction). And for the worst-case backdrop, Georgia's adverse possession period is 20 years (or 7 years under written color of title). This page is general information, not legal advice.

Trespasser vs. Squatter: Why the Difference Decides Everything

The single most important question Georgia owners ask is "why won't the police just remove this person?" The answer is about whether the occupant has established occupancy, and about what paper you put in front of the officer.

• A trespasser is someone caught entering or briefly on your property who has not settled in. This is a criminal matter, and law enforcement can act on it.
• A settled squatter is someone who moved in, kept belongings there, received mail, or otherwise looks like a resident. Officers responding to a call often see a "civil dispute" and tell you to go to court, because they cannot tell on the spot who has a right to be there. The fix is not to argue with the officer — it is to hand them a sworn affidavit (below).
• A tenant or holdover — anyone you or a prior owner actually gave permission to — is not a squatter. Georgia's official Landlord-Tenant Handbook defines a squatter as "a person who never had the property owner's permission to come on the property." A tenant must be evicted through a dispossessory.

The Owner's Fast Remedy: The Intruder Affidavit (O.C.G.A. 44-11-30 to 44-11-33)

This is the remedy the Squatter Reform Act rebuilt, and the one the DCA handbook leads with: "A property owner can swear an affidavit to have the person removed without an eviction process." Here is how HB 1017 (Sections 4–7) sets it up:

• You swear the affidavit. You, your agent, or your attorney in fact subscribes an affidavit in writing before any officer authorized to administer an oath, stating that you claim in good faith the right of possession, and that the named person in possession does not in good faith claim a right to possession and refuses to leave.
• An officer exhibits it. A sheriff, deputy, constable, marshal, or other POST-certified individual in the county must exhibit the affidavit to the occupant "at the earliest possible day," and shall turn out such person once three days have elapsed from the day such affidavit was exhibited. That is three days from exhibition — not three business days, and it does not run from the day you file.
• The one thing that stops it: a counteraffidavit. If the occupant tenders a counteraffidavit swearing they claim in good faith a legal right to possession, the officer does not turn them out. Both parties stay put and both affidavits go to the clerk of the Magistrate Court for a nonjury trial. (HB 1017 struck the words "superior" and "before a jury" from the old statute, and new O.C.G.A. 15-10-2(a)(19) puts these proceedings in magistrate court.)
• What happens at that trial. If the magistrate finds the counteraffidavit is not meritorious by a preponderance of the evidence, the officer turns the occupant out "as soon as practicable pursuant to a writ of possession." The court may award you the fair market value rent for the duration of the occupancy, plus other monetary relief it finds appropriate.
• The writ and the appeal. The clerk issues the writ of possession instanter along with a fi. fa. for costs and any money awarded (O.C.G.A. 44-11-33), and the final order can be presented to law enforcement for investigation or prosecution. An appeal goes directly to the Georgia appellate courts — not by de novo review in superior court.

Practice still varies by county sheriff, and some offices are more familiar with this process than others. If a deputy tells you they have never done one, point them to O.C.G.A. 44-11-30 and 15-10-2(a)(19).

The Criminal Track: Unlawful Squatting (O.C.G.A. 16-7-21.1)

HB 1017 Section 3 created a separate criminal offense. It is not triggered by your affidavit, and the two tracks should not be confused:

• Unlawful squatting is entering the land or premises of another and residing there for any period of time, knowingly acting without the knowledge or consent of the owner, rightful occupant, or authorized representative. It is a misdemeanor punishable under O.C.G.A. 17-10-3, and magistrate court has jurisdiction over the trial and sentencing (O.C.G.A. 15-10-2(a)(18)).
• The three-business-day clock runs from a citation, not from your filing. A person accused of unlawful squatting "shall receive a citation" advising that they must present properly executed documentation authorizing their entry — a lease, rental agreement, or proof of rental payments — to the head of the issuing law enforcement agency or their designee, within three business days of receiving the citation.
• No documentation, arrest. If the person cannot produce it, they are subject to arrest for unlawful squatting.
• A bogus lease does not send you back to square one. If the person does produce documentation, the statute requires that a hearing be set within seven days of the submission. If the court finds the documentation was not properly executed or is not meritorious, the person is subject to demand for possession and removal under O.C.G.A. 44-11-32, is subject to arrest and, on conviction, the forgery penalties in O.C.G.A. 16-9-1 and 16-9-2, and shall be assessed an additional fine based on the fair market monthly rental rate of the property.

The Civil Route: A Dispossessory (When There Is a Tenancy)

When the occupant is a tenant, a holdover, or someone a prior owner let in — anyone with real color of permission — the route is a dispossessory proceeding under O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 7. The sequence, per the official Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook:

• Demand for possession. You must demand that the occupant give up possession and leave. It need not be in writing unless the reason is unpaid rent, but put it in writing anyway so you can prove it.
• File a dispossessory affidavit. These are usually filed in the Magistrate Court of the county where the property sits — but the handbook is explicit that they "can also be filed in state or superior court, or in some municipal courts," and a few magistrate courts accept them online. You have a forum choice.
• The answer. The occupant has seven days from the date of service to answer, orally or in writing. If the seventh day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it rolls to the next business day. If no answer comes, the court can order the eviction and send the sheriff.
• Hearing and judgment. If the occupant answers with a valid defense, a hearing is held, usually within seven days.
• Writ of possession. If you win, request the writ. The handbook states plainly that the writ "requires the tenant move after seven (7) days." The sheriff generally supervises the removal and you pay the cost of the eviction. Either side may appeal within seven days of judgment, and a tenant's appeal prevents the writ from being executed while it is pending (they must keep paying rent into court to stay).
• Never do it yourself. "Self-help evictions by the landlord are illegal, even if you have violated the lease." Changing locks, removing belongings, or knowingly and willfully cutting off utilities before the court's final decision is unlawful in Georgia and exposes you to liability.

When Superior Court Actually Makes Sense

An ejectment action in Superior Court is for fighting about title — a disputed deed, a broken chain of title, a genuine adverse possession claim, a tax-sale or heirs-property tangle. It is slower and more expensive than either route above. Do not default into it just because the occupant is not a tenant: for a plain squatter, the 44-11-30 affidavit is the remedy the legislature built for you, and it now lives in magistrate court.

Adverse Possession: The 20-Year Backdrop

Owners worry that a squatter can "own" the home by staying. In Georgia that takes a long time, and it takes more than time. As the Supreme Court of Georgia restated in Brownphil, LLC v. Cudjoe (2025), a claimant may obtain title by prescription by possessing property adversely for 20 years (O.C.G.A. 44-5-163), or in as few as 7 years if the possession is under "written evidence of title" — color of title (O.C.G.A. 44-5-164).

The clock only runs on possession that satisfies O.C.G.A. 44-5-161(a): it must be in the possessor's own right, must not have originated in fraud, must be public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable, and must be accompanied by a claim of right. That last point matters more than the number of years. Someone who is there with your permission, or a prior owner's, is not holding adversely at all, so no amount of time ripens into title. A weekend or a few months of squatting transfers nothing — but interrupting the occupancy promptly is exactly how you keep the clock from ever starting.

When to Get Help

Consider a Georgia landlord-tenant or real estate attorney, or legal aid, when the occupant files a counteraffidavit, produces a lease you suspect is forged, claims they paid you or a previous owner, raises adverse possession, or when the property is inherited or recently purchased and the chain of title is messy. Even a single consultation can keep you from an unlawful self-help mistake that costs more than the removal itself.

Landlord-tenant rules change, and counties differ in how their sheriffs and magistrate clerks handle intruder affidavits, so confirm current procedure with your county Magistrate Court and sheriff, or consult a Georgia attorney, before you act.

Official Legal Sources for Georgia

This page is based on Georgia state landlord–tenant law. Laws change — verify the current text directly against the official sources below. This is general legal information, not legal advice.

• Georgia landlord–tenant statutes (full text) — reproduced on this site from the public-domain Georgia Code, because Georgia publishes its official code only through a commercial service.
• Georgia Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division — Landlord-Tenant Issues and Handbook — official state resource.

Local ordinances may apply. This page covers Georgia state law. Your city or county may add protections — such as rent control, just-cause eviction, rental registration, or stricter housing codes — that change these rules. Check your local city or county ordinances.