SB184: SB184 "Georgia Anti-Squatting Act of 2025"; enact

Georgia already has a law against unlawful squatting, letting property owners file an affidavit that requires law enforcement to remove an unauthorized occupant within five days. This bill changes how accused squatters can defend themselves once they get a citation. Currently they must produce proof of a lease or rental agreement within an unspecified window; the bill sets a firm three business day deadline and clarifies the process for hearings when documentation is submitted. The bill also adds a new penalty: anyone convicted of forging documents to try to prove they had a right to occupy a property faces a mandatory minimum one year prison sentence that cannot be suspended, probated, or otherwise reduced by a judge. Separately, it rewrites the law governing hotels and innkeepers, spelling out when a hotel guest can be ejected, how sheriffs execute affidavits to remove guests, and confirming that day-to-day or week-to-week guests are still considered guests regardless of how long they've stayed. The changes would apply once the Act is signed into law.

• Sets a firm three business day deadline for a person cited for unlawful squatting to show documentation such as a lease or rental agreement proving they have a right to be on the property.
• Requires a hearing within seven days after documentation is submitted, and lets a person be arrested and fined based on fair market rental value if the documentation turns out to be improper.
• Creates a new mandatory minimum one year prison sentence for forgery committed in connection with an unlawful squatting case, with no chance of suspension, probation, or early release.
• Rewrites hotel ejectment law (O.C.G.A. § 43-21-3.2) to spell out when a hotel guest can be removed, including after a rental period expires or if the guest never had a valid contract.
• Lets a sheriff, deputy, constable, or marshal who cannot eject a squatter or guest within the required time use an off-duty officer to complete the removal instead.
• Confirms that guests who pay for lodging on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis still count as guests under the innkeeper law no matter how long they have stayed.

Property owners and landlords, people accused of squatting on land or in buildings, sheriffs and other certified law enforcement officers who carry out removals, hotel and inn operators, and hotel guests whose stays are ending or in dispute.

People accused of squatting would have less time, three business days instead of an open-ended period, to prove they have a legal right to stay, and could face a mandatory year in prison if they forge documents to try to prove it. Hotels would get clearer rules for removing guests who overstay or lack a valid contract.

• Section 1 names the bill the 'Georgia Anti-Squatting Act of 2025.'
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 16-7-21.1 to require accused squatters to present proof of their right to occupy the property within three business days of a citation, down from an unspecified deadline.
• Section 2 requires a court hearing within seven days after documentation is submitted, with penalties and fair-market-rent fines if the documentation is found improper.
• Section 2 raises the criminal classification for violating the squatting law to a high and aggravated misdemeanor.
• Section 3 adds a new subsection (e) to O.C.G.A. § 16-9-2 creating a mandatory minimum one year prison sentence for forgery tied to a squatting case, with no suspension, probation, or deferral allowed.
• Section 4 revises O.C.G.A. § 43-21-3.2 to detail when hotel guests can be ejected and how sheriffs execute affidavits for guest removals, including use of off-duty officers if needed.
• Section 4 clarifies that guests paying day-to-day or week-to-week are still presumed to have an innkeeper-guest relationship regardless of length of stay.
• Section 5 repeals all conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-19Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-18Senate Hopper (Senate)

• John Albers (R, SD-056)Primary sponsor
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Ed Setzler (R, SD-037)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Marty Harbin (R, SD-016)

• squatting law
• property rights
• criminal penalties
• forgery law
• hotel and innkeeper law