I own in the area, but use a PM, and cannot recommended an attorney for this.
The first step is not (necessarily) to provide written notice…. Do you want an easy answer or a free one? (Sorry.)
This will get a bit confusing at first:
You should find some answers in this government guide, starting on page 15: https://www.dca.ga.gov/sites/default/files/2-15-21_handbook_final_draft.pdf
There is example language of what your written notice to the tenant should include. The key word being “should.” And note that the number of days in the suggested language is blank.
You will also see that the Guide appears to say that the tenant has 7 days, suggesting that that’s the number of days the landlord is expected to state in the Notice. However, if you take that writing on its face, as written (perhaps intentionally,) you *may* (I’ll explain below) be overdoing it, as that “7 days” part is actually directed to a tenant reading it - nowhere I am aware of, in GA, is it mandated that the Notice has to give the tenant 7 days.
(Understand that I didn’t include the Guide for no reason: Your tenant may read the same Guide and end up delaying you if you should only become aware of it when the tenant uses it to tell you that you did not follow some legal requirement. I want you to be aware that a government source that your tenant may refer to may be confusing. Read on.)
The actual law does not specify any length of time from the time you give Notice before you can take the matter to court. It doesn’t even say whether the Notice needs to be in writing: https://codes.findlaw.com/ga/title-44-property/ga-code-sect-44-7-50/
However, I do not know whether the local judges may have their own “local rules” (legally or figuratively speaking.) Perhaps they like to see a written 7-day notice (and perhaps with some type of evidence of “service” on the tenant) not work before you take the matter to court; tho, the following document also does not seem to care about the time or the manner of the initial demand (Notice): https://s3.amazonaws.com/cobbcounty.org.if-us-east-1/s3fs-public/2024-03/Proceeding-Against-Tenant-Holding-Over-Eviction-Form.pdf. (I am assuming this would be the court with the jurisdiction over this matter, so this would be the form you’d use at that stage.)
Sorry for the confusion, but I first needed to get that out of the way, before saying this:
From experience, I can say that each time my PM has given a written notice (I don’t actually know for how many days,) the tenant would pay.
If you’d like to use a template instead of making your own notice from the Guide’s suggestion, you can find one here: https://eforms.com/eviction/ga/
If I were doing this myself, I’d start with a 7-day written notice (even tho, as far as I, as a non-lawyer, can tell, I don’t have to give any number of days) and perhaps avoid court altogether. But you are already two months into this, so time may be of the essence for you more than it would be for me. Good luck.
