CSRA Dispossessory Guide: Richmond County vs. Columbia County

Your tenant hasn't paid rent in six weeks. You've made the demand. They haven't moved. Now you're sitting in front of your computer at 9 p.m. with the Augusta Consolidated Government website open in one tab and the Columbia County Magistrate Court page open in another, trying to figure out which court handles your property and what this is actually going to cost you.

This is where most CSRA landlords make their first mistake: they assume the process is the same regardless of where the property sits. It mostly is — Georgia eviction law is statewide — but the logistics, fee schedules, hearing schedules, and service mechanics differ enough between Richmond County and Columbia County that knowing which court you're in before you file saves real time and real money.

This guide walks through the full dispossessory process under Georgia law — covered in our complete Georgia eviction process guide — then maps the specific differences between the two CSRA courts so you know exactly what to expect before you walk through the courthouse door.

This is general guidance from a property manager — not legal or tax advice. Talk to a Georgia attorney for your specific situation.

What Grounds Justify a Dispossessory in Georgia?

Georgia law allows a landlord to file a dispossessory under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50 in four situations: the tenant fails to pay rent; the tenant holds over past the end of a lease term; the tenant violates a lease provision that justifies termination; or the tenant is a tenant at will or at sufferance and you've given the required notice.

Most CSRA filings fall into two buckets: nonpayment and holdover. Each has its own pre-filing notice requirements, and getting that step wrong is the fastest way to have your case dismissed on day one.

Nonpayment (leases entered or renewed on or after July 1, 2024): Under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-50(c), as amended by the Georgia Safe at Home Act (HB 404), you must serve the tenant with a written notice to pay all amounts owed — rent, late fees, and any other charges the lease allows — before filing. Paying within the notice period is a complete defense; the tenant cures, you collect, and the dispossessory doesn't get filed. If the tenant doesn't pay, you can file immediately after the notice period expires.

Holdover (tenant stays past lease end): No payment is owed, so the cure mechanism doesn't apply. Make a demand for possession, allow it to expire, and file.

Month-to-month / tenant at will: O.C.G.A. § 44-7-7 requires a 60-day notice to vacate before you can file against a month-to-month tenant. This is the most commonly skipped step for accidental landlords who inherited a tenant on an old lease that has rolled over. If you skip the 60-day notice, your case will be dismissed.

The Georgia Dispossessory Process: Step by Step

Regardless of which county you file in, the dispossessory process follows this sequence:

1. Confirm grounds and document the timeline. Screenshot the tenant ledger. Print the lease. Document every communication. You'll need this at the hearing.
2. Serve the pre-filing written notice (required for nonpayment on leases entered/renewed on or after July 1, 2024). Serve by hand delivery, conspicuous posting, or certified mail with a copy of the amount breakdown. Keep your proof of service.
3. Allow the notice period to expire. For nonpayment: three days after service. For month-to-month: 60 days. For lease violations: whatever your lease specifies, if it allows cure.
4. File the dispossessory affidavit at the magistrate court in the county where the rental property is located. Both courts have official forms; use the court's form, not one you found online.
5. Pay the filing fee and, in Richmond County, the writ of possession fee at the same time. Richmond County requires the writ fee at filing. Bring a cashier's check or confirm accepted payment methods before you go.
6. The Marshal's Department serves the summons on the tenant. Neither you nor a process server handles this — it goes through the court's marshal.
7. Wait for the tenant's answer period: seven days from service (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51(b)). The tenant may answer in writing or appear at the hearing. If they don't answer at all, you're typically entitled to a default judgment.
8. Attend the hearing. Bring the lease, all payment records, copies of all notices with your proof of service, and a written calculation of the amount owed. Richmond County hearings for dispossessory cases fall on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
9. If judgment is granted, the tenant has seven days to vacate voluntarily before the writ of possession is enforced (O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(c)).
10. If the tenant doesn't leave, contact the Marshal's Department to schedule the physical eviction. Bring the writ. The Marshal's office coordinates the date and time.

Richmond County vs. Columbia County: The Key Differences

Both courts operate under the same state statute, but the practical experience of filing in Augusta versus Evans differs in ways that matter.

A note on fees: The Richmond County figures above come from the magistrate court's official 2022 instructions posted at augustaga.gov. Court fees change — Georgia allowed magistrate courts to increase fees effective July 1, 2025 — so call the clerk's office before you go and ask for the current dispossessory fee schedule. The same applies to Columbia County, where no current fee schedule was publicly available at the time this post was written.

The Columbia County form note: Columbia County requires that dispossessory affidavit forms be printed front and back when filed. If you print single-sided from the county website, the clerk will send you back to reprint. This is a small detail that wastes a trip if you don't know it ahead of time.

What a Dispossessory Actually Costs: The Full Budget

The filing fee is the smallest line item. Here's a realistic total-cost model for a straightforward CSRA dispossessory:

Uncontested, no attorney, possession only:

• Filing fee + service: $112–$115 (estimate; confirm current)
• Writ of possession: $65 (Richmond) or comparable (Columbia)
• Lost rent while filing and waiting: typically 1–1.5 months at CSRA rents ($1,200–$1,800 range depending on property)
• Make-ready after tenant vacates: $500–$2,500 depending on condition
• Practical total: $2,000–$5,000 before attorney fees

Contested case with attorney representation:

• Attorney fees for magistrate hearing: $500–$1,500 (varies widely)
• If tenant appeals to Superior Court: additional $1,500–$3,500 in attorney fees
• Additional lost rent during appeal: 4–8 additional weeks
• Practical total: $4,000–$10,000+

This is why the decision to file dispossessory versus negotiate a cash-for-keys agreement (covered in our guide to cash-for-keys vs. eviction in Georgia) is a real financial calculation, not just a matter of principle. If a contested case is likely — say, you've got a long-term tenant who knows the system, or there's a habitability dispute — the cost of negotiating a move-out can be lower than the cost of winning in court.

Per iPropertyManagement's Georgia eviction cost analysis, the average Georgia eviction filing cost (before attorney fees and lost rent) runs roughly $181 at the magistrate court level. Total out-of-pocket including attorney fees and turnover can approach $3,500–$10,000 in contested cases.

Timeline: How Long Does Each Court Actually Take?

In an uncontested CSRA dispossessory, here's a realistic timeline:

Day 0: File the dispossessory affidavit and pay fees.
Days 1–7: Marshal's Department serves the summons on the tenant.
Days 7–14: Tenant's answer period runs. If no answer, you request a default judgment. If the tenant answers, the clerk schedules a hearing.
Days 14–28: Hearing. In Richmond County, hearings fall on Wednesdays and Thursdays — if your case lands after Thursday, you wait until the following week.
Hearing day + 7 days: Writ of possession becomes enforceable under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-55(c).
After writ date: Contact the Marshal's Department to schedule the physical removal, if needed.

Total for an uncontested case: approximately 3–5 weeks from filing.

A 2025 investigative report by WRDW-TV in Augusta found that Richmond County dispossessory hearings typically occur within a few weeks of filing in straightforward nonpayment cases.

What slows this down:

• Service cannot be completed (tenant is avoiding service, or has abandoned the property without notice)
• Tenant files an answer and requests a hearing
• Tenant invokes the Safe at Home Act habitability defense
• Hearing is continued due to docket volume
• Tenant appeals to Superior Court and posts the supersedeas bond

The habitability defense is the one worth flagging. If your property has any deferred maintenance — a broken HVAC that's been open more than 30 days, a mold issue, a water heater that hasn't been replaced — Georgia courts may consider whether the landlord was compliant with the habitability standards under the Safe at Home Act before granting possession. Staying current on your fall maintenance checklist isn't just about property condition; it's about not handing a tenant an argument.

The Tenant's Right to Cure After Filing: O.C.G.A. § 44-7-52

This is the most frequently misunderstood part of the Georgia dispossessory process, and it catches landlords off guard.

After you've filed the dispossessory and the tenant is served with the summons, the tenant has seven days from the date of service to pay all rent owed plus the court filing cost. If they do, that payment is a complete defense and the case is dismissed — even though you already filed.

The catch: this right is available only once per 12-month period. If the same tenant exercised it in the previous 12 months, they've used their cure. You must document this in your answer to any tenant motion invoking the cure.

Practical implication: don't assume filing ends the matter. Always maintain a current rent ledger, and bring it to the hearing. If a tenant pays in full between the filing date and the hearing date, confirm with the clerk whether the case has been properly dismissed before you consider the property vacant.

The right to cure only applies to nonpayment cases. It does not apply to holdover cases or lease-violation cases. For guidance on the full escalation sequence before you reach the courthouse — demand letters, payment plans, and when to pull the trigger on filing — see our guide to handling tenant late rent in Georgia.

When You Need a Money Judgment, Not Just Possession

A dispossessory in magistrate court gives you a writ of possession — the right to have the tenant physically removed. It does not automatically give you a money judgment for unpaid rent, damages, or court costs unless you specifically request one in the filing.

Both Richmond County and Columbia County magistrate courts can award a money judgment along with possession in the same proceeding, up to the $15,000 civil limit. If you're owed more than $15,000 in back rent and damages (uncommon in CSRA single-family rentals, but possible on a long-term nonpayment situation), you'd need to split the claims or file the money portion in State Court instead.

The practical limitation: collecting a money judgment against a former tenant who has no assets is difficult. Most CSRA property managers pursue the possession first, document damages carefully at the move-out inspection, and then assess whether pursuing a judgment is worth the collection effort.

If you want to understand what move-out documentation looks like, our move-in/move-out inspection guide covers the forms and photography standards that make security deposit deductions and damage claims defensible.

Do You Need an Attorney for a CSRA Dispossessory?

Georgia law allows a property owner to represent themselves in magistrate court — the rules are designed to be accessible to non-lawyers. Many straightforward nonpayment cases in Richmond County and Columbia County are filed and argued by the property owner directly.

An attorney earns their fee in these scenarios:

• The tenant has retained counsel. If your tenant shows up with an attorney, you are at an immediate disadvantage representing yourself.
• The tenant raises a habitability or retaliation defense. These require you to understand Georgia's Safe at Home Act (our full guide to the Safe at Home Act) and to document your compliance record.
• The case involves a military tenant. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) compliance is federal law, and the penalties for filing dispossessory against an active-duty service member without verifying their active-duty status through the Defense Manpower Data Center are serious. With Fort Gordon's large active-duty population, this check is not optional.
• You want a money judgment above $5,000. The procedural complexity increases materially when money is at stake alongside possession.

For an out-of-state investor managing a property in Evans or Augusta, the practical math usually favors using a property manager rather than filing pro se from another time zone. McBride Property Management handles the full dispossessory process — from issuing the pre-filing demand through coordinating the Marshal's Department eviction — so you don't have to appear in person. Call us at (706) 339-2874 or request a free rental analysis.

What to Bring to the Hearing

In Richmond County, hearings run Wednesdays and Thursdays; call Columbia County to confirm their current schedule. At either court, show up with:

• The signed lease (all pages, all addenda)
• A complete payment ledger showing every payment, every late fee, and every charge back to the lease start date
• Copies of every demand letter and notice, with proof of service for each
• Photos of any damage documented at your last inspection
• The AppFolio owner statement or equivalent showing the outstanding balance
• A printed copy of the dispossessory affidavit and any filed court documents

Judges move quickly through dispossessory dockets. You have roughly five to ten minutes to make your case. Organized documentation beats a verbal narrative every time.

FAQ

Noah McBride, Broker
McBride Property Management
706.339.2874
Guiding you home.