HB 299: Property; landlord and tenant; repeal Code Section 44-7-19, relating to restrictions on rent regulation by local governments

Under current Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-19), local governments are prohibited from enacting any ordinance or resolution that regulates rental prices on private residential property, effectively banning rent control statewide. This bill would repeal that section entirely, removing the statewide ban. The bill does not create any new rent control program itself. It simply eliminates the existing legal barrier, leaving Code Section 44-7-19 marked as reserved for potential future use. If enacted, individual Georgia cities and counties would then be free to decide on their own whether to pass local rent regulation measures, something they currently cannot legally do.

• Repeals O.C.G.A. § 44-7-19, the Georgia law that currently prohibits local governments from regulating rent on private residential property.
• Designates the repealed section as reserved, meaning the space remains in the code but contains no current law.
• Repeals any other existing laws that conflict with this change, per Section 2.
• Does not itself impose or authorize any specific rent control ordinance; it only removes the state-level prohibition.

Renters and landlords across Georgia, city councils and county commissions that would gain new authority to consider rent regulation, and real estate and property management businesses operating in local jurisdictions that might act on that authority.

If passed, cities and counties in Georgia could, for the first time in decades, consider adopting rent control or rent stabilization ordinances. Whether any local government would actually do so is not addressed by this bill, but the legal obstacle to doing so would be removed.

• Section 1 repeals Code Section 44-7-19 within Article 1 of Chapter 7 of Title 44, which currently restricts local rent regulation, and marks it as reserved.
• Section 2 repeals any other Georgia laws that conflict with this change.

1. 2025-02-10House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-02-06House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-02-05House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Rhonda Taylor (D, HD-092)Patrocinador principal
• Spencer Frye (D, HD-122)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)
• Sandra Scott (D, HD-076)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Dewey McClain (D, HD-109)

• rent control
• landlord tenant law
• local government authority
• housing policy