44-7-6  TENANCY AT WILL

Many people mistakenly think of any month to month lease as a “tenancy at will” but this is not the case.  What 44-7-6 says is that “Where no time is specified for the termination of a tenancy, the law construes it to be a tenancy at will.”  If your tenant signed a lease at move in, and that lease has language that, after the initial term the lease will be continued on a month to month basis, then you do not have a tenancy at will. If you have a well drafted lease form then all of the other clauses in your lease would still be applicable. One of those clauses may require that either party, not just the tenant, has to provide a 60 day notice before terminating the agreement. If you do end up with a tenancy at will, then the landlord would have to provide the tenant with a 60 day notice to vacate but the tenant would only be required to provide a 30 day notice to the landlord in order to vacate.

44-7-13  LANDLORD’S DUTY TO REPAIR

In Georgia, in a residential lease, it is the landlord’s obligation to keep the property in good repair. Changing your lease to say the tenant is responsible for repairs does not transfer this obligation. The judge that rules on any dispute is likely to explain to the landlord that the tenant can not sign away their rights. The tenant can be held responsible for maintaining the property, such as cutting the grass and keeping the interior clean and habitable. And the landlord can charge back any repairs to the tenant that are a result of the tenant’s abuse or neglect of the property. But if the house was rented with an air-conditioner, and the air-conditioner breaks during the tenancy, then the landlord must repair or replace that air-conditioner.