Cherokee County, GA Rental Property Rules: Repairs & Habitability (2026)

Sec. 14-122, in Division 4 Unfit Dwellings or Buildings, prohibits any owner or party in interest from renting or offering to rent a dwelling, building, or rooming unit that is unfit for human habitation for any reason set out in the article, expressly including dilapidation, leaking water lines, leaking gas lines, electrical defects that increase fire or accident hazards, lack of ventilation or light, or lack of sanitary facilities, or other conditions rendering the unit unsafe, unsanitary, or dangerous. Those unfitness triggers tie directly back to the eleven structural and utility defects defined in Sec.

14-121, including missing or improperly connected kitchen sinks, tubs, showers, toilets, and lighting, and dangerous wiring. Sec. 14-122 gives a tenant a narrow but real remedy: after executing a lease, the tenant has 72 hours, or three business days if the landlord's office is closed, to rescind the lease by giving the landlord written notice that the dwelling or building has been discovered to be unfit as described in the division. This habitability rule sits alongside the article's occupancy-density standard in Sec. 14-123, which requires at least 390 square feet of total building square footage per adult occupant, and the rooming-house standards in Sec. 14-124, which require at least one flush toilet, lavatory, and tub or shower for every five persons sharing a rooming house.