Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Georgia

The answer depends on a couple of factors not mentioned in your question:

(1) What does your lease say?

(2) Was the fire bad enough that the tenant has been forced to vacate the property completely? In other words, if the property uninhabitable?

The terms of your lease likely addresses situations of "casualty, fire, etc" so I would have a close look at that first. There may be language in there that addresses what happens in this type of situation.

If your lease does not touch on this topic, then you are taking the same course of action I would take if I were in your shoes -- hold the money until you know the circumstances surrounding the fire. Absent language to the contrary in the lease, you have a reasonable period of time to have the fire investigated and the cause determined. As long as your are acting in good faith in having the fire investigated, your tenant is going to have to cool his heels. No court is going to force you to return the security deposit and the prorated portion of that month's rent (during which the tenant did not occupy the premises) when the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

If your tenant was responsible for the fire, then you likely do not need to return the security deposit (nor would I return that month's rent unless a judge ordered me to) and you likely have a cause of action against the tenant for the damages you suffered. Conversely, if the tenant was not responsible for the fire and the property is uninhabitable, you need to promptly return the security deposit and the prorated portion of that month's rent during the which the tenant did not occupy the premises. Before you return the money, however, I would try and have the tenant sign a release so that the tenant does not sue you for damages he/she may have suffered because of the fire (loss of personal property, etc.). It would also be a good idea to have the tenant sign a lease termination agreement, which basically says the lease is revoked and you both walk away -- your don't want the tenant to come back and make a possessory claim to the property once your rebuild and start looking for a new tenant. There's no guarantee the tenant will sign the release or the lease termination agreement, and you will ultimately have to return the money anyway, but it's worth a shot to limit your potential future liability. If you would like assistance in dealing with this situation, please feel free to email me at [email protected].

Best of luck.*****The above is for informational purposes and and does not create an attorney-client privilege.******