---
title: O.C.G.A. § 48-4-48. Ripening of tax deed title by prescription.
collection: code
id: 48-4-48
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 48-4-48 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-4-48
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-4-48.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/48-4-48/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t48-ch1-6-(v36)-2024-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=2edc88a7_0#page=246
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: REVENUE AND TAXATION / TAX SALES / REDEMPTION OF PROPERTY SOLD FOR TAXES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 48-4-48. Ripening of tax deed title by prescription.

(a) A title under a tax deed properly executed at a valid and legal sale prior to July 1, 1989, shall ripen by prescription after a period of seven years from the date of execution of that deed.

(b) A title under a tax deed executed on or after July 1, 1989, but before July 1, 1996, shall ripen by prescription after a period of four years from the execution of that deed. A title under a tax deed properly executed on or after July 1, 1996, at a valid and legal sale shall ripen by prescription after a period of four years from the recordation of that deed in the land records in the county in which said land is located.

(c) A tax deed which has ripened by prescription pursuant to any provision of this Code section shall convey, when the defendant in fi. fa. is not laboring under any legal disability, a fee simple title to the property described in that deed, and that title shall vest absolutely in the grantee in the deed or in the grantee’s heirs or assigns. In the event the defendant in fi. fa. is laboring under any legal disability, the prescriptive term specified in this Code section shall begin from the time the disabilities are removed or abated.

(d) Notice of foreclosure of the right to redeem property sold at a tax sale shall not be required to have been provided in order for the title to such property to have ripened under subsection (a) or (b) of this Code section.

## History

Ga. L. 1949, p. 1132, § 1; Code 1933, § 91A-438, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2; Ga. L. 1989, p. 1391, § 3; Ga. L. 1996, p. 783, § 1.

## Law Reviews

For annual survey article discussing real property law, see 51 Mercer L. Rev. 441 (1999).

For annual survey article on real property law, see 52 Mercer L. Rev. 383 (2000).

For annual survey of real property law, see 58 Mercer L. Rev. 367 (2006).