Georgia Squatters Rights: Adverse Possession and How Removal Actually Works
How long adverse possession takes in Georgia, whether there is a fast-track removal law, and what you legally can and cannot do about an unauthorized occupant. Last reviewed August 2026.
The question that decides everything: is the occupant a squatter or a tenant? Anyone who ever had permission to be there — a former tenant, someone who paid you rent even once, an ex-partner of your tenant on the lease — is generally a tenant in the law's eyes and must go through the eviction process. Georgia's squatter rules below apply to true trespassers only.
How long does adverse possession take in Georgia?
Georgia requires 20 years of public, continuous, exclusive, uninterrupted, and peaceable possession under a claim of right to ripen title by prescription under O.C.G.A. § 44-5-163. With color of title -- written evidence of title such as a defective deed -- the period drops to 7 years under O.C.G.A. § 44-5-164, provided the claim did not originate in fraud. Georgia has no property-tax-payment shortcut; paying taxes is evidence of a claim of right but is neither required nor sufficient.
How to remove a squatter in Georgia
The Georgia Squatter Reform Act, HB 1017 (2024), effective April 24, 2024, created the offense of unlawful squatting at O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21.1: a person who enters land or premises and resides there knowingly without the owner's or rightful occupant's consent. When cited, the occupant has 3 business days to produce documentation authorizing their presence, such as a lease or proof of rent payment; producing nothing subjects them to arrest for criminal trespass and misdemeanor prosecution, while submitted documents get a hearing within 7 days to test their validity. The Act also tightened the older intruder-affidavit process in Title 44, Chapter 11, so a sheriff or constable can turn out a non-tenant intruder within days of the owner's affidavit unless the occupant files a counter-affidavit. Before 2024, Georgia police routinely treated squatters as a civil matter and sent owners to dispossessory court; the criminal citation route was designed to end that.
Squatter or tenant? Why it matters
The unlawful-squatting offense and the intruder-affidavit process apply only to occupants with no lawful right of possession -- a holdover tenant, a tenant at will, or anyone who once had the owner's consent to live there must be removed through a dispossessory action under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50, ending in a sheriff-executed writ of possession. An occupant who produces a genuine lease or evidence of rent payments during the 3-business-day window converts the matter back into a civil landlord-tenant case.
What you absolutely cannot do
Georgia landlords may not change locks, cut off utilities (including cooling, added by the 2024 Safe at Home Act), remove doors, or set belongings out without a writ of possession. An owner who resorts to self-help against someone with any colorable tenancy can be sued for wrongful eviction and trespass, with liability for actual and consequential damages such as emergency lodging and lost property.
Recent changes to the law
The Georgia Squatter Reform Act, HB 1017, took effect April 24, 2024. It made unlawful squatting a citable criminal offense (O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21.1) with a misdemeanor penalty of up to $1,000 and 12 months, gave cited occupants 3 business days to produce authorizing documents, put squatting cases in magistrate court jurisdiction, and accelerated the Title 44 intruder-ejection affidavit procedure. No further squatter legislation was enacted in the 2025-2026 sessions through August 2026.
What Georgia property owners get wrong
Owners get in trouble by treating everyone as a squatter: someone the owner (or a prior owner) once let stay, or who paid any rent, has a landlord-tenant relationship and must go through dispossessory court -- misusing the criminal route against them invites a wrongful-eviction claim. The other mistake is skipping documentation: the HB 1017 process turns on the occupant's inability to produce authorization, so owners should keep records showing no lease or consent ever existed and involve law enforcement early rather than negotiating informally for months.
The law itself
Frequently asked questions
How long does a squatter have to stay in Georgia to claim ownership?
Twenty years of public, continuous, exclusive, and peaceable possession under a claim of right (O.C.G.A. § 44-5-163), or 7 years if the squatter holds color of title -- some written instrument that looks like title -- under O.C.G.A. § 44-5-164. Georgia has no shortcut for paying property taxes, and a claim that originated in fraud can never ripen into ownership.
How do I remove a squatter in Georgia?
Since the 2024 Georgia Squatter Reform Act, call law enforcement and pursue an unlawful-squatting citation under O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21.1: the occupant then has 3 business days to produce a lease or other authorization, and failing that faces arrest for criminal trespass and removal. Owners can also use the sworn intruder-affidavit process in Title 44, Chapter 11, under which the sheriff can turn out a non-tenant intruder within about 3 days unless a counter-affidavit is filed. If the occupant was ever your tenant, file a dispossessory action instead.
Is squatting a crime in Georgia?
Yes. Since April 24, 2024, unlawful squatting -- knowingly residing on another's land or premises without the owner's or rightful occupant's consent -- is a citable offense under O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21.1, punishable as a misdemeanor with up to $1,000 in fines and up to 12 months in jail. Before HB 1017, squatting was handled almost entirely as a civil matter in Georgia.
What if a squatter in Georgia shows a fake lease?
Submitted documents trigger a hearing within 7 days at which their validity is tested -- a fabricated lease does not buy months of occupancy the way it once did. Presenting fraudulent documents exposes the squatter to prosecution, and once the documents fail, the occupant is subject to criminal trespass arrest and removal.
Keep reading
Vacant units attract squatters. Documented ones repel them.
Vantric tracks your leases, tenants, and payment history in one place, so proof of who belongs in your property is always one click away — built for landlords with 1–10 units.
Start Free TrialThis page is general information, not legal advice. Squatter, trespass, and adverse possession law turns on specific facts — verify against the official statute text linked above, and talk to a local attorney or law enforcement before acting.