Thinking of renting out a property in Georgia? This free Georgia lease agreement template is a great starting point.
In this guide, we'll explore everything from the relevant Georgian laws that apply to leases, to how you should approach creating the contract.
A Georgia lease agreement is a legally binding contract between a landlord and a tenant that outlines the terms and conditions under which the tenant can occupy and use a rental property in the state of Georgia.
A Georgia lease agreement can be used to govern the leasing of various property types, including residential homes and commercial spaces, but it remains rooted in the framework of Georgia's rental laws.
Georgia's lease agreements are governed by a comprehensive set of statutes within the Georgia Code (Title 44, Chapter 7), which clearly details the responsibilities and rights of both landlords and tenants.
Some examples of these provisions include rules on:
Georgia landlord and tenant relationships are also governed under the Georgia Fair Housing Act which seeks to make leasing fairer and prohibits discriminatory practices on the basis of disabilities, race, sex, colour, national origin, and familial status.
Examples of prohibited behaviour under the Georgia Fair Housing Act includes:
There are also more specific lease agreement laws operating in Georgia, such as the Georgia Lead Poisoning Prevention Act of 1994, which applies to residential dwellings and facilities occupied by children.
Due to the complexity of these laws, and how they can be applied in different leasing scenarios, it's important to consult a legal expert before sharing a lease agreement with a counterparty, even if you think you have a firm understanding of the legislation.
The purpose of a Georgia lease agreement is to establish a clear, legally enforceable framework that protects both a landlord and a renter throughout a lease.
More specifically, the document should serve several functions:
Overall, the Georgia lease agreement is a crucial tool for creating a stable, predictable, and legally sound rental relationship.
Lease agreements in Georgia are typically managed by whoever owns the property, or by a designated property management company that acts on behalf of the landlord.
These individuals are responsible for ensuring the lease complies with state laws, all terms are clearly stated, and the lease is executed and renewed correctly.
Larger real estate companies may even have dedicated teams focused on contract management to handle these tasks at scale for larger portfolios of properties.
Regardless of how big your leasing operation is, all Georgia lease agreements should be supervised, drafted, or approved by a legal professional with a strong knowledge of real estate laws in and out of Georgia.
According to Statista, the residential real estate lease market in Georgia is set to achieve revenue of $1bn by the end of 2024. Apartment leases are projected to represent $338m of that total, and house leases are projected to represent $670m.
But residential lease agreements are only the beginning. The commercial real estate market in Georgia is expected to reach a value of $32bn, with lease agreements for office spaces, retail locations, and warehouses all contributing to these figures.
Notably, each use case will require you to customize or modify a standard lease agreement to cover more nuanced terms around contract duration, property use, or maintenance responsibilities, among other things.
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A Georgia lease agreement template should include the following key components to ensure it is comprehensive and legally sound:
While Georgia rental agreements can vary in their contents and application, most of these lease agreements are created and managed in the same way:
1. Drafting and customizing: Landlords or property managers typically draft lease agreements using standard lease agreement templates, which they then customize to fit specific terms and conditions.
2. Review and approval: The draft lease is reviewed and approved by both the landlord and tenant, along with attorneys or lawyers, requiring multiple back-and-forth communications.
3. Signing: Physical copies of the lease are printed and signed by both parties. This may involve scheduling meetings or mailing documents. In more sophisticated workflows, the contract is signed electronically with eSignatures.
4. Storage: Signed lease agreements are stored in physical files or scanned and saved on local drives where they can be referred to in the event of disputes or confusion around terms.
5. Tracking and management: Lease terms, rent payments, maintenance requests, and contract renewals are tracked manually using spreadsheets or paper records.
6. Renewal and termination: As lease terms approach their end, landlords manually track renewal dates and send notices. Termination involves another round of document handling.
The process of managing Georgia lease agreements isn't painless. There are several friction points that occur throughout the process:
Juro lets you generate lease agreements using pre-approved templates drafted by legal. These automated contract templates enable property management and real estate professionals to create and manage Georgia lease agreements, and other real estate contracts, at scale.
Not only does this give you more time back to focus on strategic work, like listing properties and procuring properties, but it also means you can get lease agreements sent out to tenants (and signed) faster.
Juro provides a browser-native workspace where landlords and tenants can review and approve agreements collaboratively in real-time, streamlining communication between the parties involved.
Instead of jumping between texts, email chains, and Word files, landlords and tenants in Georgia can discuss and negotiate the terms of the lease in one place, without leaving their browser.
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Juro offers native electronic signature functionality, allowing parties to sign documents digitally and on any smart device.
This means you'll no longer need to rely on wet ink signatures, or scanned signatures, to get the lease agreement over the line. You can make getting a lease agreed quicker, and more convenient instead.
Worried about the validity of eSignatures in Georgia? Don't worry. According to Georgia law, eSignatures are as effective as physical signatures and are legally binding. You can read more on USA eSignature laws here.
With Juro, you can store all lease agreements in a secure, centralized contract repository, making them easy to find and minimizing the risk of loss or destruction.
Since these agreements are built as structured data, they're also fully searchable. This means you can easily track lease terms, rent payments, maintenance requests, and other obligations with automated contract reminders and alerts.
For more information on how Juro can be used to streamline and speed up the management of lease agreements and other property-related contracts, check out this in-depth guide to real estate contract management software, or fill in the form below.
If your property portfolio extends beyond Georgia, you may benefit from these other free lease agreement templates, too:
Juro is the #1-rated contract platform globally for speed of implementation.
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