During the 2025 legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly passed several amendments to existing legislation that may affect clients' commercial real estate interests or compliance with local regulations. Following is a summary with a sampling of such changes.
Updated Definition of "Long-Term Note Secured by Real Estate"
The Georgia General Assembly recently amended Title 48, Chapter 6 regarding taxation of intangibles. For the Georgia intangibles recording tax to be paid when recording securities instruments (O.C.G.A. § 48-6-60(3)), the exemption for notes secured by securities instruments that do not constitute "long-term notes" has been increased. "Long-term notes" (those not exempt) changed from those with terms of more than three years to those with terms of more than 62 months. Article 3's definition of "long-term note secured by real estate" was revised to effectuate this change.
The change is effective as of July 1, 2025, and applies to security instruments presented for recording on or after July 1, 2025, even if the date of the note or the related security instrument predates July 1, 2025.
As always, lenders and borrowers should carefully review loan terms to determine tax obligations under the revised statute.
Amended Definition of "Military Installation"
Georgia's Anti-Foreign Ownership Act prevents certain foreign individuals and entities from acquiring or retaining possessory interests in certain land. Specifically, the statute prohibits certain "Non-Resident Aliens" – individuals or entities with specific ties to adversarial foreign governments – from having possessory interests in "Agricultural Land" or "land within a ten-mile radius of any military base, military installation, or military airport." In its recent legislative session, the state legislature amended the existing statute (which went into effect in 2024) to address one of the ambiguities of the original statute. The previously undefined term "military installation" now means "facilit[ies] owned and operated by the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Space Force, or Coast Guard that shelters military equipment and personnel and facilities training and operations for such organizations" (O.C.G.A. § 2-1-7(a)(2.1)).
Changes in Real Estate Licensure Requirements
The Georgia General Assembly recently enacted changes to its real estate licensure laws that impact the ownership and operation of property management companies. The legislature removed the exemption to licensure requirements that previously allowed direct and indirect owners of property management companies providing management services to commonly controlled entities.
Previously, property management companies owned by the same parent entity as the property owner – or those with controlling interests in property – could rely on an exemption to licensure under O.C.G.A. § 43-40-29(7) and (8). This allowed most individuals and firms engaged in property management services to manage affiliated properties without obtaining a brokerage license, even if the management entity was not the direct titled owner. The recent legislative amendment eliminates such clear exemptions for affiliate companies with common ownership, as well as for individuals or firms employed full-time by the property owner, to provide property management services. Leaving open an exemption for entities that, as owner, provide property management services, the statute itself does not define the scope of ownership. Though the statute itself does not define ownership – suggesting it may still be possible for principals who indirectly own property to qualify for an exemption – the deletions of the previous exemptions may be indicative of the legislature's intent to eliminate the exemption for all affiliates, whether they are directly or indirectly owned by parent entities.
As a result, companies providing property management services to another entity, even if both are under common control, will likely need to obtain a Georgia real estate brokerage license.
Additionally, nonresident landlords now must employ a Georgia-licensed broker, and that broker, if itself not a resident of Georgia, shall employ at least one person to be located within Georgia to be responsible for receiving, coordinating, managing and responding to communications from tenants related to maintenance and other issues related to the landlord's property.
Future Developments
Holland & Knight's Commercial Real Estate Team will continue to monitor these developments and provide updates when appropriate.
