Where this fits on the exam
| Official syllabus topic | Real Estate Practice in Georgia: Property Management |
|---|---|
| Official PSI group | Real Estate Practice in Georgia |
| Published group count | 21 of the 52 Georgia questions |
| Exam portion | Georgia salesperson supplement |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes 16, 21, and 15 items for the three Georgia groups. It does not publish a guaranteed subtopic count. The statute, current GREC rule, contract, or other cited primary authority controls each lesson.
The lesson
Ending a tenancy at will
The landlord gives 60 days' notice; the tenant gives 30. This is the rule for ending an ordinary tenancy at will, not the deadline for every lease or eviction. First identify whether a fixed term, a special protection, or nonpayment controls the question.
Two-month security deposit cap
For residential leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, no landlord may demand or receive more than two months' rent as a security deposit. At $1,800 monthly rent, the maximum is $3,600. The small-landlord exception below does not remove this cap.
Which landlords need escrow and inspection lists?
The exemption in Section 44-7-36 applies to a natural person whose units, together with those of a spouse and minor children, total ten or fewer. It does not apply when a third person manages the units, including collecting rent, for a fee. Covered deposits go into the required escrow account or use the authorized bond alternative. A licensed broker still follows GREC trust-account rules.
Move-in and move-out inspections
Covered landlords give the tenant a list of existing damage before taking a deposit. At move-out, the landlord normally has three business days after lease termination and vacancy, or surrender and acceptance, whichever occurs first, to inspect and list damage and estimated charges. The tenant may request an inspection within the statutory five-business-day window. An unannounced vacancy has a reasonable-time exception. Use Section 44-7-33 for the precise triggering events.
Returning the deposit
Section 44-7-34 requires the refund within 30 days after the landlord obtains possession under the move-out rules. If any money is kept, send the balance and a written statement of exact reasons; damage deductions use the inspection list. Ordinary wear and tear is not damage. The small-landlord exemption does not exempt Section 44-7-34.
Repairs and habitability
For residential agreements entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, the Safe at Home Act adds a promise that the dwelling is fit for human habitation. The landlord's repair duties remain. Identify the repair issue and proper notice; do not assume a tenant may stop paying rent or make any deduction the tenant chooses.
Notice before a nonpayment filing
For covered residential leases, unpaid rent or other covered charges require notice to pay or vacate within three business days before a dispossessory filing. Post the notice in a sealed envelope conspicuously on the door and deliver it by any additional method agreed in the rental agreement. This notice is separate from the landlord's 60-day tenancy-at-will notice.
Court process, not self-help
Dispossessory means the court process for recovering possession. After the required demand and notice, the landlord files, the tenant is served, and the case follows the statutory process. Changing locks or cutting utilities to force someone out is not a substitute for a court order.
Nonresident single-family and duplex landlords
Since July 1, 2025, Section 44-7-25 requires a landlord outside Georgia that owns or operates single-family or duplex residential rentals in Georgia to employ a licensed broker. The broker can live outside Georgia, but must then employ at least one person in Georgia to handle tenant maintenance and other communications.
Decision rule
Georgia rule and national contrast
Worked Georgia example
Scenario. A landlord wants to end an ordinary tenancy at will and gives the tenant ten days' notice, then changes the locks.
Reason it through. The general landlord notice is 60 days, and possession must be recovered through lawful court process rather than self-help lockout.
Answer. The notice and lockout are not the proper Georgia process.
Common exam traps
- Importing another state's notice
- Using self-help eviction
- Assuming all landlords have identical deposit duties
- Treating the handbook as individual legal advice
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These are original instructional questions mapped to the July 1, 2026 PSI outline. They are not copied from PSI or a live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A landlord wants to end an ordinary tenancy at will that has no fixed term. How much notice must the landlord give?
- A. 60 days
- B. 30 days
- C. 90 days
- D. 3 business days
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. 60 days
In a Georgia tenancy at will, the landlord gives 60 days' notice to end the tenancy and the tenant gives 30. The 30-day choice is the tenant's notice, which is why it can mislead. Three business days is the pay-or-leave notice for unpaid rent, not a notice to end a tenancy.
- A. Correct. A landlord ordinarily gives 60 days to end a Georgia tenancy at will.
- B. Incorrect. Thirty days is ordinarily the tenant's notice to end that tenancy.
- C. Incorrect. Ninety days is not the ordinary Georgia landlord notice period specified here.
- D. Incorrect. The three-business-day period concerns unpaid rent under the applicable lease rule.
Question 2A tenant on a lease signed in March 2026 is behind on rent. What must the landlord do before filing a dispossessory action?
- A. Change the locks and keep the tenant's things until paid.
- B. Give 60 days' written notice to end the tenancy.
- C. Give written notice to pay or leave within three business days.
- D. File right away, since unpaid rent needs no prior notice.
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. Give written notice to pay or leave within three business days.
For unpaid rent on a lease signed or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, the landlord must first give written notice to pay or leave within three business days, and only then file. Changing the locks is self-help, which Georgia does not allow. The 60-day notice is for ending a tenancy at will, not for nonpayment.
- A. Incorrect. Locking the tenant out is unlawful self-help rather than the required dispossessory process.
- B. Incorrect. Sixty days concerns ordinary termination of a tenancy at will, not this unpaid-rent notice.
- C. Correct. This 2026 lease requires written notice to pay or leave within three business days before filing for nonpayment.
- D. Incorrect. The applicable post-July-2024 lease rule requires the written notice before the filing.
Question 3A residential lease is signed on September 1, 2026, at $1,800 a month. What is the largest security deposit the landlord may collect?
- A. $1,800
- B. $2,700
- C. $5,400
- D. $3,600
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. $3,600
For residential leases signed or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, a deposit may not exceed two months' rent. Two months at $1,800 is $3,600. The $1,800 answer assumes a one-month limit, a common rule elsewhere that Georgia does not use.
- A. Incorrect. $1,800 is one month's rent, below the permitted two-month maximum.
- B. Incorrect. $2,700 is one and a half months, not the statutory maximum.
- C. Incorrect. $5,400 is three months and exceeds the cap.
- D. Correct. Two months at $1,800 per month equals the maximum $3,600 deposit.
Question 4An individual owns four rental units and hires a property manager to collect rent for a fee. Can the owner use the small-landlord exception to skip the security-deposit escrow and inspection rules?
- A. Yes, because four units is fewer than eleven
- B. Yes, if the tenant agrees to skip them
- C. No, paid third-party management removes that exception
- D. No, because the exception is only for one unit
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. No, paid third-party management removes that exception
Section 44-7-36 removes the exception when a third person manages the units, including rent collection, for a fee. Unit count alone does not decide this question. The manager must also follow applicable GREC trust-account rules.
- A. Incorrect. Fewer than eleven units alone is insufficient when a third party manages them for a fee.
- B. Incorrect. Tenant agreement cannot create this exemption when paid third-party management removes it.
- C. Correct. Paid management, including rent collection, prevents reliance on the small-landlord exception.
- D. Incorrect. The exception is not confined to one unit; paid third-party management is the decisive fact.
Question 5After an ordinary move-out, a Georgia landlord obtains possession and plans to refund the tenant's deposit. What is the statutory refund deadline?
- A. Three business days
- B. Five business days
- C. 60 days
- D. 30 days after obtaining possession
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. 30 days after obtaining possession
Section 44-7-34 sets the refund deadline at 30 days after obtaining possession under the move-out rules. Three and five business days are inspection windows. The small-landlord exemption does not remove this refund rule.
- A. Incorrect. Three business days is an ordinary post-possession inspection period, not the refund deadline.
- B. Incorrect. Five business days concerns the tenant's opportunity to inspect the damage list, not the refund deadline.
- C. Incorrect. Sixty days is the landlord's tenancy-at-will notice, not the ordinary deposit-refund period.
- D. Correct. The ordinary refund deadline is 30 days after the landlord obtains possession.
Question 6A covered landlord proposes deducting $500 solely for faded carpet after normal use. The inspection shows no damage beyond ordinary wear and tear. Which statement is correct?
- A. Normal wear and tear cannot justify this deposit deduction
- B. Any carpet replacement may be charged in full
- C. The deduction is valid whenever it is on the damage list
- D. The tenant must pay because carpet is personal property
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. Normal wear and tear cannot justify this deposit deduction
A deposit may cover permitted charges, including actual damage, but not ordinary wear and tear. Writing a charge on the list does not make it lawful. Separate damage caused by the tenant from the expected effects of normal use.
- A. Correct. Ordinary wear and tear does not support this deduction from the security deposit.
- B. Incorrect. Routine carpet replacement is not automatically chargeable to the tenant in full.
- C. Incorrect. An itemized list documents a claim but does not turn normal wear into compensable damage.
- D. Incorrect. The classification of carpet does not authorize deducting for normal use.
Question 7Change the management fact in the four-unit example: a natural person owns four units, the owner's spouse and minor children own none, and the owner personally manages them without any paid third-party manager. A new residential lease is signed in 2026. Which statement correctly applies Section 44-7-36?
- A. The owner is exempt from every security-deposit rule.
- B. The owner may skip the specified escrow and inspection procedures, but the two-month cap and 30-day refund rule still apply.
- C. The owner must follow every escrow and inspection procedure because the property has more than one unit.
- D. The exemption permits three months' rent as a deposit if the tenant agrees.
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. The owner may skip the specified escrow and inspection procedures, but the two-month cap and 30-day refund rule still apply.
With ten or fewer combined family-owned units and no paid third-party management, the natural-person owner fits the exception for the specified escrow and inspection procedures. Section 44-7-36 does not exempt the deposit cap or Section 44-7-34's refund rule. Removing the paid manager changes the procedural exemption, not every deposit duty.
- A. Incorrect. The exception covers specified procedures, not all security-deposit protections.
- B. Correct. These ownership and management facts fit the procedural exception, while the cap and refund deadline remain.
- C. Incorrect. The exception is not limited to one unit; the combined total and management facts control.
- D. Incorrect. The two-month cap still applies to this 2026 lease and cannot be avoided by private agreement.
Question 8A Georgia rental is subject to the statutory deposit inspection procedures. The tenant leaves without notifying the landlord, who later discovers the vacancy. Which inspection timing applies to that unannounced departure?
- A. A reasonable time after the landlord discovers the surrendered vacancy
- B. Exactly three calendar days after an unknown departure date in every case
- C. No inspection or damage list is ever required
- D. Only after a court orders the landlord to inspect
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: A. A reasonable time after the landlord discovers the surrendered vacancy
Section 44-7-33(b)(2) provides a specific rule for vacancy without notice: inspect and prepare the damage-and-estimate list within a reasonable time after discovering the surrender by vacancy. This does not remove the separate refund duties.
- A. Correct. Discovery triggers the reasonable-time rule for this stated no-notice vacancy.
- B. Incorrect. The statute distinguishes an unannounced vacancy from the ordinary three-business-day procedure.
- C. Incorrect. The exception changes the timing trigger, not the need for the covered damage list.
- D. Incorrect. A court order is not the event that triggers this inspection duty.
Question 9A covered landlord and tenant agree that the premises are surrendered and accepted while the lease still has two weeks remaining. For the ordinary move-out inspection deadline, may the landlord always wait until that later lease end?
- A. Yes, only the printed lease-end date can start the clock
- B. No, surrender and acceptance can trigger the three-business-day clock earlier
- C. Yes, the 30-day refund period replaces the inspection clock
- D. No, the deposit must always be forfeited immediately
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. No, surrender and acceptance can trigger the three-business-day clock earlier
Section 44-7-33(b)(1) uses lease termination and vacancy, or surrender and acceptance, whichever occurs first. The stated accepted surrender is the earlier event. Keep this inspection rule separate from the refund deadline.
- A. Incorrect. The statute also identifies surrender and acceptance; it is not limited to the later scheduled lease end.
- B. Correct. The earlier surrender-and-acceptance event starts the ordinary three-business-day inspection rule here.
- C. Incorrect. The inspection and refund requirements use separate clocks.
- D. Incorrect. Surrender does not automatically forfeit the deposit or establish damage.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Identify whether a question concerns tenancy at will, nonpayment, or a deposit before choosing a deadline.
- Calculate the maximum deposit from the monthly rent.
- Explain why a paid property manager changes the small-landlord exception.
- Keep the 3/5-business-day inspection windows separate from the 30-day refund rule.
- Explain why normal wear and tear and self-help eviction are wrong answers.
- Answer the questions again later without using the headings as clues.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Community Association Management in Georgia. Community association management moves from one owner's rental to an association's affairs, covering the CAM license, the board's authority, and the separate accounting that association funds require.
Return to the Real Estate Practice in Georgia hub for the complete official branch and the full lesson list for this Georgia group.