O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 44-7-31 (2019)

Placement of security deposit in trust in escrow account; notice to tenant of account location

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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Except as provided in Code Section 44-7-32, whenever a security deposit is held by a landlord or such landlord’s agent on behalf of a tenant, such security deposit shall be deposited in an escrow account established only for that purpose in any bank or lending institution subject to regulation by this state or any agency of the United States government. The security deposit shall be held in trust for the tenant by the landlord or such landlord’s agent except as provided in Code Section 44-7-34. Tenants shall be informed in writing of the location of the escrow account required by this Code section.

History

(Code 1933, § 61-602, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 1372, § 6; Ga. L. 2006, p. 656, § 1/HB 1273.)

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Action to recover rent not barred by landlord’s failure to comply with section. - Even though a landlord did not comply with the provisions of the security deposit statute, this did not bar the landlord from bringing an

action to recover unpaid rent due on a lease contract or for withholding the security deposit for nonpayment of rent. Zakaria v. McElwaney, 174 Ga. App. 149, 329 S.E.2d 310 (1985).

Unverified affidavit. - Failure to verify an affidavit as provided by law is an amendable defect. Cobb v. McCrary, 152 Ga. App. 212, 262 S.E.2d 538 (1979). Security deposit not part of the estate in bankruptcy. - Security deposits received from tenants and placed in accounts seized by the trustee in bankruptcy were held in trust for the benefit of the tenants. Any

property held in trust for the benefit of a third party does not become part of the estate in bankruptcy, accordingly, the trustee could not claim and control the funds from the security deposits as property of the estate. Empire Fin. Servs. v. Gingold (In re Real Estate W. Ventures), 170 Bankr. 736 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 1993).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 49 Am. Jur. 2d, Landlord and Tenant, § 60. C.J.S. - 52A C.J.S., Landlord and Tenant, § 990.

ALR. - Validity and construction of provision of lease or condition of bond protecting lessor from loss in consequence of violation of the liquor law, 62 ALR 431.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1985–2020 · leading case: Zakaria v. McElwaney, 329 S.E.2d 310 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985).

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Zakaria v. McElwaney, 329 S.E.2d 310 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985). · cites it 6× “Prior to, during and after the plaintiff’s occupancy, the defendants failed to comply with OCGA § 44-7-31, relative to providing the plaintiff with written information on the escrow account.”

AEGIS Elec. & Gas Int'l Servs. Ltd. v. ECI Mgmt. LLC, 967 F.3d 1216 (11th Cir. 2020). “To start, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-31 requires a landlord to put a tenant’s security deposit in escrow.”

Empire Fin. Servs., Inc. v. Gingold (In Re Real Est. West Ventures, L.P.), 170 B.R. 736 (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 1993). · cites it 2× “Specifically, the law provided as follows: [Wjhenever a security deposit is held by a landlord or his agent on behalf of a tenant, such security deposit shall be deposited in an escrow account established only for that purpose.”

Bus. Bank v. White (In Re Timothy Dean Restaurant & Bar), 342 B.R. 1 (D.D.C. 2006). “, Ga. Code § 44-7-31. Alternatively, the parties to a lease may create a trust through an express agreement that uses a security deposit as the corpus for the trust.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.