HB1171: HB1171 Landlord and tenant; establish minimum habitability standards consistent with recognized housing standards

Georgia law currently requires landlords to keep rental premises in repair (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13) but does not spell out in detail what that requires. This bill rewrites that section to list specific habitability duties: complying with building and housing codes, keeping common areas clean and safe, maintaining electrical, plumbing, heating, and similar systems, providing trash removal, and supplying running water, hot water, and heat. The bill also makes the fitness-for-habitation guarantee a nonwaivable part of every rental agreement, meaning landlords and tenants cannot contract around it. If a landlord fails to fix a problem within one week of being notified, tenants could terminate the lease or choose remedies such as withholding rent, suing for damages, seeking a court order, making repairs and deducting the cost from rent, or securing a substitute service or housing. Tenants would still have to keep the unit clean and avoid deliberate damage.

• Rewrites O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13 to list specific landlord habitability duties, including code compliance, repairs, common area upkeep, and utility maintenance.
• Makes the guarantee that a rental unit is fit for human habitation a nonwaivable part of every lease, so it cannot be signed away.
• Gives tenants a one week notice-and-cure period before they can use remedies for a landlord's noncompliance.
• Creates a menu of tenant remedies for serious noncompliance, including lease termination, rent withholding, damages, injunctive relief, repair-and-deduct, or substitute housing.
• Provides a narrower set of remedies (damages, court relief, or repair-and-deduct) for landlord noncompliance that does not seriously affect health, safety, or use of the property.
• Preserves tenant obligations to keep the unit clean and safe and to avoid deliberate or negligent damage beyond normal wear and tear.

Residential landlords across Georgia, who face detailed new repair and maintenance duties, and residential tenants, who gain a nonwaivable habitability guarantee and specific remedies, including rent withholding and lease termination, when landlords fail to fix serious problems.

Tenants dealing with issues like broken heat, unsafe wiring, or no hot water would have clearly defined rights to withhold rent, make repairs themselves and deduct the cost, or break their lease if landlords do not fix problems within a week of notice. Landlords would face more specific, enforceable maintenance standards.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 44-7-13(c) to require landlords to comply with building and housing codes affecting health and safety and to keep the premises fit and habitable.
• Subsection (b) makes the fitness-for-habitation provision part of every lease and declares it cannot be waived, even by written agreement.
• Subsection (d) sets a one week notice-and-cure period before tenants can terminate the lease or use remedies for noncompliance that affects health, safety, or essential services.
• Subsection (d)(2) lists tenant remedies: rent withholding, damages, injunctive or equitable relief, repair-and-deduct, or securing substitute services or housing.
• Subsection (e) limits remedies to damages, court relief, or repair-and-deduct for landlord noncompliance that does not seriously affect health, safety, or use of the premises.
• Subsection (f) clarifies tenants must still keep the unit reasonably clean and safe and avoid deliberate or negligent damage beyond normal wear and tear.
• Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.

1. 2026-02-05House Second Readers (House)
2. 2026-02-04House First Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-03House Hopper (House)

• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)Primary sponsor
• Mary Oliver (D, HD-084)
• Mary Williams (D, HD-037)
• Carl Gilliard (D, HD-162)
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
• Doreen Carter (D, HD-093)

• landlord tenant law
• rental housing
• housing habitability
• tenant rights