Georgia Mobile Home Park Eviction Process: A Step-by-Step Guide

Nonpayment of lot rent: the demand and the three-business-day pay-or-vacate notice

Georgia has no mobile-home-park eviction statute. A resident who owns the home but rents the pad is simply a tenant under the general dispossessory law in O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 7, Article 3, and unpaid lot rent is handled like any residential nonpayment. Everything starts with a demand for possession under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50.

Since the Safe at Home Act (2024 Ga. Laws 392, effective July 1, 2024 for leases entered into or renewed on or after that date), § 44-7-50(c) requires a written notice giving the resident three business days to cure before you can file: the landlord may file only 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. State the exact total owed in the notice.

Serve it the way the statute requires. The 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. A sloppy or improperly served notice is the most common reason a Georgia nonpayment case gets tossed.

Do not rely on the old immediate-demand rule you may have used before mid-2024 — that only survives for leases signed or renewed before July 1, 2024. In practice, by now nearly every active lot lease has renewed under the three-business-day requirement, so treat it as mandatory for every nonpayment file.

Other grounds: lease violations and no-cause terminations

For breaches other than nonpayment — unauthorized occupants, illegal activity, or park-rule violations written into the lease — Georgia gives no statutory cure period. You make a demand for possession under § 44-7-50(a), which covers a tenant holding over or a tenant at will or sufferance, and then file a dispossessory if the resident refuses to give up the lot. Your lease language controls what counts as a default and any contractual notice you owe.

Many lot tenancies are month-to-month tenancies at will. To end one without cause, you do not use the three-day nonpayment notice — § 44-7-7 requires sixty days' notice from the landlord or 30 days' notice from the tenant to terminate a tenancy at will. Give the full 60 days in writing before you can move to a dispossessory on a no-cause termination.

Bottom line: only nonpayment triggers the statutory three-business-day pay-or-quit window. Every other ground rides on a proper demand for possession plus whatever your lease and the tenancy-at-will notice rule require.

Filing the dispossessory: Magistrate Court and the seven-day answer

File a dispossessory affidavit under oath with the Magistrate Court in the county where the lot lies (§ 44-7-50). The court issues a summons that is served on the resident under § 44-7-51.

The resident then has a short window to respond. Under § 44-7-51(b), the summons requires the tenant to answer either orally or in writing within seven days from the date of the actual service, rolling to the next business day if the seventh day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

Watch the after-filing cure right on nonpayment cases. Under § 44-7-52 the resident may tender to the landlord, within seven days of the day the tenant was served with the summons, all rents allegedly owed plus the cost of the dispossessory warrant as a complete defense — but you are required to accept that tender from a given tenant only once in any 12 month period. Track prior tenders so you know when you can refuse.

If the resident does not answer, § 44-7-53 says the court shall issue a writ of possession instanter and enter a default judgment by default for all rents due, with no hearing. If the resident does answer, the magistrate sets a trial; on a judgment against the resident, § 44-7-55(a) makes the writ effective at the expiration of seven days after the date such judgment was entered. You must apply to execute the writ within 30 days of issuance, and only the sheriff (or a certified off-duty officer) carries it out.

The resident owns the home: the ten-day removal window under § 44-7-59

Winning the dispossessory ends the resident's right to occupy the lot — it does not hand you their home. Georgia deals with the physical home directly in O.C.G.A. § 44-7-59, the only mobile-home-specific provision in the dispossessory article.

Under § 44-7-59, if the writ issues on land where the tenant placed a manufactured home, mobile home, trailer, or other type of transportable housing and the tenant does not move the same within ten days after a final order is entered, the landlord shall be entitled to have such transportable housing moved from the property at the expense of the tenant by a motor common carrier licensed by the Department of Public Safety. That gives the resident a ten-day window, measured from the final order, to move the home before you can arrange removal.

The statute also gives your mover leverage: there shall be a lien upon such transportable housing to the extent of moving fees and storage expenses, with storage fees not to exceed $4.00 per day. Use only a Department of Public Safety-licensed carrier so that lien is valid.

Loose personal property left in or around the home is treated differently — under § 44-7-55(c), once the writ is executed such property shall be regarded as abandoned and the landlord shall not be a bailee. But for the home itself, follow the § 44-7-59 removal process; never tow or self-help the home without the writ.

Typical timeline in Georgia

• Day 0 — Rent past due, serve the 3-business-day notice
  Lot rent unpaid. Serve the written notice to pay all past-due rent, fees, utilities, and charges or vacate within three business days, posted in a sealed envelope on the door plus any lease-agreed method (§ 44-7-50(c)).
• After 3 business days — File the dispossessory
  If the resident hasn't paid or left, file the dispossessory affidavit in Magistrate Court where the lot lies; the summons issues and is served (§ 44-7-50; § 44-7-51).
• 7 days — Answer / cure window
  Resident has seven days from actual service to answer orally or in writing (§ 44-7-51(b)). On nonpayment, they can defeat the case by tendering all rent plus warrant cost within those 7 days — but only once per 12 months (§ 44-7-52).
• No answer — Default writ instanter
  If the resident does not answer, the court issues a writ of possession instanter and default judgment for all rents due, with no hearing (§ 44-7-53).
• Contested — Trial, then writ effective in 7 days
  If answered, the magistrate holds a trial; a judgment against the resident yields a writ effective at the expiration of seven days after the date such judgment was entered (§ 44-7-55(a)).
• Execute the writ (within 30 days)
  Apply to execute the writ within 30 days of issuance; the sheriff, or a certified off-duty officer if the sheriff can't act in time, carries it out (§ 44-7-55).
• 10 days — Resident must move the home
  The resident has ten days after the final order to move the mobile/manufactured home; after that you may have it moved at their expense by a DPS-licensed carrier, subject to a moving/storage lien capped at $4.00/day storage (§ 44-7-59).

Operator best practices in Georgia

• Serve a clean 3-business-day notice every time
  State the exact total owed and post it in a sealed envelope on the door plus any lease-agreed delivery method (§ 44-7-50(c)); a defective notice is the fastest way to lose a nonpayment case.
• Treat every lease as covered by Safe at Home
  The three-business-day notice is mandatory for leases entered or renewed on/after July 1, 2024 (2024 Ga. Laws 392); by now nearly all active lot leases qualify, so don't rely on the old immediate-demand rule.
• Put lot rules and cure terms in the lease
  Georgia gives no statutory cure period for non-rent breaches, so your lease language controls what is a default and what notice you owe — write it carefully.
• Use the right no-cause tool
  To end a month-to-month lot tenancy without cause, give 60 days' written notice under § 44-7-7 — not the 3-day nonpayment notice.
• Never self-help
  No lockouts, utility shutoffs, or towing the home without a writ; only the sheriff or a certified off-duty officer executes a writ (§ 44-7-55), and home removal runs through § 44-7-59.
• Honor the once-per-year cure
  A resident can kill a nonpayment case by tendering rent plus warrant cost within 7 days of service, and you must accept it once per 12 months (§ 44-7-52) — track prior tenders so you know when you can decline.
• Calendar the 10-day home-removal clock
  Diary the ten-day post-order window under § 44-7-59 before arranging removal, and use only a Department of Public Safety-licensed mover to keep the moving/storage lien valid.
• Build a relationship with a Georgia MHP attorney
  Georgia has no MHP-specific tenancy act and the dispossessory process is fast and technical; a local landlord-tenant attorney keeps your notices, filings, and writs clean and defensible.