Sell a Fire-Damaged House in Georgia

Your lender has more say over the claim than you might expect

Most Georgia home loans are secured by a security deed, not a mortgage. Under O.C.G.A. § 44-14-60, a security deed passes title to the lender until the debt is paid. The deed also sets the rules for your insurance money after a fire.

The uniform Georgia security deed used for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans (Form 3011) says this:

• The lender must be named on your homeowner's policy as mortgagee or loss payee.
• Claim money goes to repairs only if the lender decides repair is economically feasible and will not weaken its security. If not, the money pays down the loan and you receive any excess.
• If the house is repaired, the lender can hold the money and release it in stages after inspecting the work, paid to you, to the contractor, or to both jointly.
• If the insurer offers a settlement and you do not answer the lender's notice within 30 days, the lender can negotiate and settle the claim itself.
• A public adjuster's fee cannot be paid out of the insurance proceeds. It is your bill alone.
• Claim money applied to the loan balance does not lower or pause your monthly payment.

What that means if you sell

Your loan may use a different form, so read the insurance section of your own security deed. Either way, a lender holding the check is normal, and it does not stop a sale.

When we buy, the contract states whether the remaining claim money stays with you, comes to us, or is split. The lender's payoff and the funds it is holding are settled at the same closing, so nobody is waiting on a check that never arrives.

The loan keeps running while the house is unlivable

A fire does not pause your payments. If they stop, a Georgia lender can foreclose without going to court, using the power of sale in the security deed. It must send you notice at least 30 days before the sale, and the sale is advertised and held like a sheriff's sale: at the county courthouse on the first Tuesday of the month.

That timeline can move faster than an insurance dispute. If you are already behind, read how foreclosure works in Georgia and send us the sale date if one has been set. A sale that closes before that Tuesday pays off the loan, and the equity left over is yours.

Georgia insurance rules worth knowing after a fire

Bad-faith penalty. If your insurer refuses to pay a covered loss within 60 days after you make a demand, and the refusal is found to be in bad faith, O.C.G.A. § 33-4-6 adds a penalty of up to 50 percent of the insurer's liability for the loss or $5,000, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney's fees. The demand is a formal step with legal consequences. Talk to a Georgia attorney before you rely on it.

Public adjusters. They often appear within days of a fire. Georgia requires their contract to be on a form approved by the Insurance Commissioner, to state "WE REPRESENT THE INSURED ONLY" in bold, and to give you three business days after signing to cancel in writing (O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.2). The Commissioner's office warns that a public adjuster may charge up to 33 percent of your settlement and recommends checking the adjuster's license before you sign. A public adjuster also may not take an interest in salvaged property without your written consent, or accept referral fees from contractors.

Complaints. If a claim stalls, the Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire takes consumer complaints online at oci.georgia.gov.

Selling does not cancel the claim. Whatever the policy still owes can stay with you or be assigned to the buyer, and that choice goes in writing in the contract.

When a city or county moves on a burned house

Georgia's unfit-building law (O.C.G.A. § 41-2-7 through § 41-2-17) lets cities and counties adopt ordinances to repair, close, or demolish buildings unfit for habitation, including those with defects that raise the risk of fire. Counties use these powers only in unincorporated areas. Inside city limits, the city acts.

The case is brought against the property itself. A public officer files a complaint in rem, and the court hearing follows 15 to 45 days later. The complaint goes by certified mail to every interested party whose address can reasonably be found, by first-class mail to the property, and is posted on the house. Under this law, "owner" includes every mortgagee of record, so your lender is served too.

If the court finds the house cannot be repaired at a reasonable cost compared with its value, it can order demolition. The cost, including court and administrative costs, becomes a lien that outranks every other lien except property taxes, and the tax commissioner can collect it like a tax bill (O.C.G.A. § 41-2-9). This is a different "in rem" case from the tax foreclosure some counties use, which our Georgia property tax guide explains.

Local practice varies. A few examples from official city and county pages:

• Macon-Bibb: after the county attorney's review, Code Enforcement can put a house on its Nuisance Per Se track. The owner can repair or demolish it, showing a good-faith effort within 60 to 90 days, or let the county demolish it.
• Augusta: code enforcement uses the state nuisance code on open, vacant, and dilapidated buildings instead of the 60-day unsafe-building code. After a demolition, a lien is placed for the demolition, landfill fees, and related costs.
• Columbus: if the owner does not show cause at the demolition hearing, Inspections and Code mails a Notice to Demolish and Remove giving 45 days to repair or demolish. City Council then votes on a demolition ordinance over two readings.
• Savannah: Code Compliance can secure or demolish structurally unsound buildings through contractors, bill the owner, and lien the property if the bill goes unpaid. Cases can go to the Recorder's Court of Chatham County.
• Savannah historic districts: demolishing a contributing building needs a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission, even when it is burned. In May 2025 the city's own Code Compliance department had to petition the commission to take down a fire-damaged building in a historic district.

An open case does not block a sale

It does change the clock. Pass along the case number and any deadline on the notice. We buy with the order in place, and a recorded demolition lien is paid from the sale at closing.

What hurts is a hearing date nobody mentioned. If the house is demolished before closing, the deal is for a lot instead of a house, with a new lien attached.

The January 1 rule for Georgia property tax

Georgia ties each tax year to January 1. If you owned the house that day, you owe the tax for the whole year, and the return covers the property as it was held on January 1. Expect this year's bill to reflect the house before the fire.

The damage counts from the next January 1. Between January 1 and April 1 you can file a property tax return with your county tax receiver or tax commissioner. When the assessment notice comes, you have 45 days from its mailing date to appeal to the county board of tax assessors on value.

If you sell during the year, the contract decides how the current bill is split at closing. Our Georgia closing guide covers how proration works.

If a restoration company started work and was not paid

Board-up, water-extraction, and tear-out crews often start before the insurer pays. Under Georgia's lien law, an unpaid contractor or supplier has 90 days after finishing the work to file a claim of lien with the clerk of superior court, must send you a copy within two business days of filing, and must sue to enforce it within 365 days of filing (O.C.G.A. § 44-14-361.1).

When you pay a contractor, ask for Georgia's statutory interim or final waiver and release form (O.C.G.A. § 44-14-366). A signed waiver becomes binding when the money is received, or 90 days after signing unless the contractor files an affidavit of nonpayment.

An unpaid lien is not a deal-breaker. It is paid from the sale proceeds like any other lien, as our guide to liens and title problems on Georgia property explains. A disputed lien takes longer, so tell us about it early.

Telling a buyer about the fire

Georgia starts from caveat emptor, or buyer beware. But the Georgia Supreme Court has held that when a seller knows of serious defects that a buyer could not discover with due diligence and stays silent, that silence is fraud, and caveat emptor is no defense.

A fresh burn is obvious. The one that causes trouble is the older fire: a kitchen fire patched years ago, smoke-stained framing painted over in the attic, rewiring done without a permit. Tell us about it. We price the house knowing its history, and you avoid an argument after closing.

Fire-damaged manufactured homes: title or deed?

Mobile and manufactured homes are part of what we buy, burned or not. In Georgia, the paperwork for selling one depends on how the law classifies it.

By default a manufactured home is personal property with a certificate of title, like a vehicle (O.C.G.A. § 8-2-181). It becomes real property only when it is permanently affixed to land that shares an owner with the home, and the owner and every lienholder file a Certificate of Permanent Location (Department of Revenue Form T-234) in the county real estate records. The title is then cancelled.

So check which kind you have. A titled home transfers with its certificate of title and any lienholder's release. A converted one is conveyed by deed along with the land under it. If the title is lost, or the home and the land are owned by different people, tell us at the start, because it changes the paperwork and the timeline.

How a sale to us works

• We buy as-is. No debris removal, cleaning, boarding, fencing, or demolition before closing.
• The claim can be open, paid, or in dispute when we buy. The contract spells out where unpaid proceeds go.
• No commissions.
• If title is clear, closing can be as soon as 10 days out, and the date is your call.
• Buying property as-is has been our work for over 10 years.

What to send us

Helpful to send, if you have them: the fire department's incident report number, the adjuster's estimate, the claim number, your lender's name, any code enforcement notice, and restoration invoices. None of it has to be complete before you contact us.

Still deciding whether to rebuild? The repair cost worksheet lets you set your own contractor quotes next to the adjuster's scope.

Frequently asked questions

This page is general information about selling property in Georgia, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Laws change and every situation is different, so talk with a qualified Georgia professional about yours.