O.C.G.A. § 43-21-6 (2019)
Enforcement of lien created by Code Section 43-21-5
For the enforcement of the lien created by Code Section 43-21-5, the keeper of the inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house claiming the lien may retain possession of the property against which the lien is claimed. At any time after 30 days after the person creating such debt or obligation has left the inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house, if the debt or obligation is still unpaid, the innkeeper may sell at public auction at the office of the inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house where such lien is claimed, to the highest bidder for cash, any and all property subject to such lien, without any further process being necessary. The proceeds of such sale shall be applied, first, to the payment of the expense of such sale; second, to the reduction or discharge of the debt or obligation due to the inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house; and any surplus remaining shall be held subject to the demand of the person creating such debt or obligation, provided that such sale shall be advertised by written or printed posters at the office of the inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house and at the courthouse door of the county in which the
HOTEL, INN, & ROADHOUSE OPERATORS
inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house is located for at least ten days before such sale. The advertisement shall specify the time and place of sale. The keeper of the inn, boarding house, lodging house, or eating house shall give the owner or agent, or both, written notice by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery addressed to him at his last known address at least ten days prior to the sale, notifying him of the time and place of sale and of the amount claimed against him. Any surplus proceeds of the sale, after payment of the amount claimed against such owner or agent and the cost of sale, if not claimed by the owner or agent within 12 months after the sale, shall be turned over to the board of education of the county in which the sale occurred for educational purposes.
History
Ga. L. 1873, p. 42, § 17; Code 1873, § 1992; Ga. L. 1880-81, p. 63, § 4; Code 1882, § 1992; Civil Code 1895, § 2818; Civil Code 1910, § 3368; Ga. L. 1923, p. 101, § 2; Code 1933, § 52-106; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 3.
Annotations
Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2000, p. 1589, § 16, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that the amendment to this Code section is applicable with respect to notices delivered on or after July 1, 2000.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS State action as to enforcement. - When the sole action attributable to the state is the General Assembly’s enactment of statutes announcing the circumstances under which the courts of this state will not interfere with the private enforcement of innkeepers’ liens, there is no violation of due process rights. Evans v. Harley Hotels, Inc., 253 Ga. 53, 315 S.E.2d 896, 1984 Ga. LEXIS 788 (1984). When the hotel management sought to collect for long distance calls from a room, it was held that an innkeeper may retain possession of any belongings which were left in a room by an indebted guest under O.C.G.A. § 43-21-6. Hall v. State, 180 Ga. App. 210, 348 S.E.2d 736, 1986 Ga. App. LEXIS 2078 (1986). Methods of enforcing boardinghouse keeper’s lien. - Lien of a boardinghouse keeper under former Civil Code 1910, §§ 3360 and 3513 (see now O.C.G.A. § 43-21-5) may be enforced by selling property at public outcry after giving to the lienee proper notice, or as provided in former Civil Code 1910, § 3366 (see now O.C.G.A. § 44-14-550). Turner v.
Priest, 48 Ga. App. 109, 171 S.E. 881, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 479 (1933). Lien lost as to personalty voluntarily surrendered to guest or owner. - Lien in favor of an innkeeper or boardinghouse keeper consists in the keeper’s right to retain possession of chattels in opposition to title of the owner until the charge respecting them is paid, and if possession is voluntarily surrendered, without fraud, to the guest or owner, the lien is at an end, and the innkeeper or boardinghouse keeper cannot thereafter retake the property. Turner v. Priest, 48 Ga. App. 109, 171 S.E. 881, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 479 (1933); Brown v. Harmon, 59 Ga. App. 373, 1 S.E.2d 33, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 30 (1939). Permitting guest to drive car off premises as surrender of lien thereon. - Plaintiff never established nor attempted to establish a lien by retaining possession of property levied on, and if the plaintiff ever could have been considered as having possession of the property, the plaintiff voluntarily surrendered the property by allowing the defen-
dant to drive the automobile away from the plaintiff’s premises, and when the automobile was levied on, the property was not in the plaintiff’s possession, but was parked on the public street and was in possession of the defendant as recited. Brown v. Harmon, 59 Ga. App. 373, 1 S.E.2d 33, 1939 Ga. App. LEXIS 30 (1939). Abandoning boardinghouse as surrender of lien on property therein. - When a boardinghouse keeper abandoned
the boardinghouse, leaving the delinquent boarder in free possession of the boarder’s goods, this constituted the voluntary surrender of the goods of the boarder on which the house keeper could claim a lien for money due for furnishing meals to the boarder’s wife and child. Turner v. Priest, 48 Ga. App. 109, 171 S.E. 881, 1933 Ga. App. LEXIS 479 (1933).
RESEARCH REFERENCES ALR. Automobile as subject of innkeeper’s lien, 56 A.L.R. 1102.