Georgia Right to Cure: Can You Stop an Eviction by Paying the Rent You Owe?

Yes — Georgia gives tenants a real statutory right to stop a nonpayment eviction by paying. There are now two separate chances to do it, and each has a hard number attached. Before the case is filed, a landlord evicting for unpaid rent or fees must first give you a written notice to pay or vacate within three business days. After you are served with the dispossessory case, you have seven days to tender all rent the landlord says you owe plus the court costs of the case — that tender is a complete defense, and the landlord must accept it once in any 12-month period. The catch that traps people: paying is not enough by itself. You must also file an answer with the court within those same seven days saying you paid, or that the tender was offered and refused. Pay and stay silent, and you can lose by default anyway.

Georgia's eviction framework: notice, then a court case

Georgia's process used to be famously informal — an oral "get out" was enough. That changed. The Safe at Home Act (HB 404), signed in 2024, added subsections (c) and (d) to O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50. Under the signed act, when a tenant fails to pay rent, late fees, utilities, or other charges, the landlord may file the dispossessory affidavit only after the tenant "refuses to pay the amount due or fails to deliver possession when so demanded after being provided with a notice to vacate or pay all past due rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges owed to the landlord within three business days." Subsection (d) says that notice "shall be posted in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door of the property and delivered via any additional method or methods agreed upon in the rental agreement." You can read the signed act yourself: HB 404 (2024), the "Safe at Home Act," as passed and signed.

Two limits on that notice rule matter. First, it is keyed to money — unpaid rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges. For other grounds (holding over, non-monetary lease violations), the older rule in § 44-7-50(a) still governs and the demand for possession does not have to be in writing. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs puts it plainly in the state's official Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook: the demand "does not need to be in writing, unless the reason to evict is unpaid rent." Second, Section 6 of the act says it "shall apply to residential lease agreements that are entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024." Most current residential leases have been signed or renewed since then, but if yours has not, the three-business-day written notice may not apply to you.

Once the notice period runs out and you have not paid or moved, the landlord files a dispossessory affidavit in magistrate or state court. The court issues a summons and you are served. From the date of service, the clock is seven days — that is the deadline to file your answer, and it is the same seven days in which you must make the statutory tender. The handbook adds a genuine extension: if the seventh day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the answer may be filed on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. Do not plan around that cushion, but know it exists.

Can you cure by paying before the case is filed?

Yes — and this is now a statutory right, not a favor. Under § 44-7-50(c), a landlord cannot lawfully file a nonpayment dispossessory until it has given you the written three-business-day notice to pay or vacate and you have failed to pay. If you pay everything the notice demands within those three business days, the landlord loses the legal predicate for filing.

Two practical consequences follow. Paying at this stage is the cleanest way to end the matter, and it does not use up your one statutory tender for the 12-month period. And if the landlord skipped the notice, gave it orally, or gave you fewer than three business days, that is a defense you can raise in your answer. The state handbook lists it as a defense in so many words: "Lack of Notice/No Demand for Possession… If you are being evicted for failure to pay rent, the landlord must give you written notice that includes the amount of rent and fees due… If the landlord does not give you proper notice, you should indicate that you received improper notice or that no demand for possession was made."

Can you cure after the case is filed? The seven-day tender defense

Yes. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-52, in an action for nonpayment of rent a tenant may tender to the landlord, within seven days of being served with the dispossessory summons, all rent the landlord alleges is owed plus the costs of the dispossessory action. That tender is a complete defense to the eviction. The landlord is required to accept it — but only once in any 12-month period.

Paying is only half of it. You must also file an answer. This is the single most dangerous gap in most "just pay the rent" advice. The official handbook is explicit: "If the landlord accepts your payment, you must file an answer to the court within the seven (7) days, saying that the landlord accepted payment." And: "If the landlord refuses your payment, you should file an answer stating that tender was offered but refused." If you file nothing within seven days, the court can enter judgment against you and send the sheriff — even though you already paid. The tender is a defense, and a defense that is never raised is worth nothing.

If the landlord refuses your money, you are not out of options. Say so in your answer. Per the handbook, "If a court finds the landlord refused a proper offer, the court can order the landlord to accept payment and allow the tenant to remain at the property if the tenant makes payment within three days of the court's order." A refused tender, properly pleaded, turns into a court order — not an eviction.

The limits on the tender right:

• Seven days from service, not from when you first heard about the case. Count from the date you were served with the summons. If day seven is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the answer rolls to the next business day.
• Once in any 12-month period. The landlord is required to accept a tender from the same tenant only once a year. If you used it within roughly the past year, the landlord may refuse and proceed.
• Full amount, not partial. All rent alleged owed plus the costs of the dispossessory. A partial payment is not a statutory tender.
• Nonpayment only. There is no statutory pay-and-stay tender for non-monetary lease violations.

Separately, many Georgia courts encourage settlement at the first hearing, and consent judgments allowing a tenant to stay on a payment schedule are common. That is different from the statutory tender and can help if your tender is unavailable. Some courts also require a tenant contesting a case to pay rent into the court registry while it is pending; that preserves your right to contest and is not the same as the statutory cure. Practices vary by county — ask your court.

Is there a right to "redeem" after judgment?

Once a judgment for possession is entered, you can no longer buy your way out as of right. The state handbook says it bluntly: "Once judgment has been entered in the landlord's favor, the tenant can still be removed even if the tenant pays the landlord." Georgia has no broad post-judgment redemption period.

But you are not out of remedies, and this is where readers wrongly give up. Three things after judgment are not up to the landlord's goodwill:

• You have seven days to appeal. A tenant may appeal within seven days from the date judgment was entered by the court.
• You can appeal even if you are broke. Filing an appeal normally requires paying court costs — but a tenant who cannot afford them "can ask that the court waive payments by filing a 'pauper's affidavit' or 'affidavit of poverty.'"
• An appeal stops the writ. "An appeal prevents a writ of possession from being executed." To stay in the unit during the appeal you must pay the court the rent and fees the judge orders, plus monthly rent as it comes due. If you cannot pay that, you may still appeal, but you must move out.

Also, a writ of possession is not an instant lockout: per the handbook, the writ "requires the tenant move after seven (7) days." That is a real window — use it to appeal, to reach legal aid, or to move on your own terms. Do not treat a judgment as the end of the story.

What exactly must be paid to cure?

The statutory tender under § 44-7-52 is all rent the landlord alleges is owed, plus the costs of the dispossessory action. The amount the landlord claims should appear on the dispossessory affidavit you were served with — start there. Beyond that base, what a landlord may demand to fully settle the matter can also include:

• The unpaid rent itself
• Court costs and filing fees the landlord has already incurred
• Late fees allowed under your written lease
• Attorney's fees, if your lease allows them and the landlord has hired an attorney

Because the total can depend on the stage of the case and your lease, ask the landlord or their attorney in writing for the exact figure, and confirm with the court clerk what a valid tender must include, before you send money. Note that the pre-filing three-business-day notice under § 44-7-50(c) is broader than rent alone — it covers "past due rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges."

Can the landlord refuse a payment, and how many times can you cure?

If you make a proper, timely, full tender within seven days of service and have not used the right in the past 12 months, the landlord must accept it — and a refusal, once you plead it in your answer, becomes a court order requiring the landlord to take the money and let you stay (with payment due within three days of that order). Outside that statutory right — a partial payment, a tender after day seven, or a tender you already used this year — a landlord can generally refuse and continue the eviction. Any additional limits on repeated late payment come from your lease; some leases treat chronic lateness as its own violation.

What about lease violations other than nonpayment?

The tender right is about rent. For non-monetary violations (unauthorized occupants or pets, property damage, noise), Georgia requires a demand for possession before filing — and for these grounds only, that demand may still be oral, because HB 404's written three-business-day notice applies specifically to unpaid rent, late fees, utilities, and other charges. There is no statutory "pay-and-stay" tender for non-monetary violations. Whether you get a chance to fix the problem depends on your lease terms and the landlord's willingness, not on § 44-7-52. Many leases contain their own cure clauses — read yours, because a contractual cure right can matter where the statute does not reach.

Practical steps if you're facing a nonpayment eviction in Georgia

• Pay within the three-business-day notice window if you possibly can. It ends the matter before a case exists, and it does not use up your one statutory tender.
• If you're served, calendar seven days from the date of service — that same deadline covers both your answer and your tender. If day seven is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the answer is due the next non-holiday business day.
• File the answer even if you pay. Say in it that you paid, or that you offered and the landlord refused. Paying without answering can still get you a default judgment and a sheriff.
• Raise the notice defense. If you never got a written three-business-day pay-or-vacate notice in a nonpayment case, say so in your answer.
• Pay in a traceable way. Use a cashier's check or money order, not cash. Keep a copy or photo of whatever you send.
• Get a signed, dated receipt stating the amount received and what it covers. If the landlord's agent won't provide one, send payment with a cover letter stating what it's for and keep proof of delivery.
• Get amounts in writing. If a landlord or their attorney names a figure that will resolve the case, get it by text or email before you pay.
• Show up to every hearing, even if you paid or reached an informal understanding. Only what is in the court record protects you.
• Ask about paying into the court registry if you dispute the amount owed or the condition of the unit — some Georgia courts require it to preserve your right to contest, and the rules vary by county.
• If you lose, you have seven days to appeal — and a pauper's affidavit if you cannot pay the costs. An appeal prevents the writ from being executed if you pay court-ordered rent.
• Contact legal aid early. Tell the intake worker right away if you have a disability, are a domestic violence survivor, are active-duty military or a veteran, or have a habitability problem (no heat, a serious repair issue) — HB 404 also wrote a duty of habitability into every Georgia residential lease, and these facts can open additional defenses.

The bottom line

Georgia gives you two shots at paying your way out, and both have numbers. Before filing, a nonpayment landlord must hand you a written notice giving three business days to pay or vacate (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(c), added by the 2024 Safe at Home Act, for residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024). After you are served, you have seven days to tender all rent alleged owed plus the court costs — a complete defense under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-52 that the landlord must accept once in any 12-month period — and you must file an answer within those same seven days saying so. After judgment there is no redemption by payment, but you still have seven days to appeal, a fee waiver if you are indigent, and an appeal that halts the writ. Check the work against the signed text of HB 404 and the state's own Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook, and get legal aid on the phone the day you are served.

This article is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and local practice vary — confirm your dates with the court handling your case or with a Georgia attorney or legal aid office.

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.