Restrictions on rent regulation by local governments

No county or municipal corporation may enact, maintain, or enforce any ordinance or resolution which would regulate in any way the amount of rent to be charged for privately owned, single-family or multiple-unit residential rental property. This Code section shall not be construed as prohibiting any county or municipal corporation, or any authority created by a county or municipal corporation for that purpose, from regulating in any way property belonging to such county, such municipal corporation, or such authority from entering into any agreements with private persons, which agreements regulate the amount of rent to be charged for such rental properties. (Code 1981, § 44-7-19, enacted by Ga. L. 1984, p. 1079, § 1.) 833 44-7-21 44-7-20. Notification to prospective tenant of property’s propensity toward flooding. When the owner of real property, either directly or through an agent, seeks to lease or rent that property for residential occupancy, prior to entering a written agreement for the leasehold of that property, the owner shall, either directly or through an agent, notify the prospective tenant in writing of the property’s propensity of flooding if flooding has damaged any portion of the living space covered by the lease or attachments thereto to which the tenant or the tenant’s resident relative has sole and exclusive use under the written agreement at least three times during the five-year period immediately preceding the date of the lease. An owner failing to give such notice shall be liable in tort to the tenant and the tenant’s family residing on the leased premises for damages to the personal property of the lessee or a resident relative of the lessee which is proximately caused by flooding which occurs during the term of the lease. For purposes of this Code section, flooding is defined as the inundation of a portion of the living space covered by the lease which was caused by an increased water level in an established water source such as a river, stream, or drainage ditch or as a ponding of water at or near the point where heavy or excessive rain fell. This Code section shall apply only to leaseholds entered into on or after July 1, 1995. (Code 1981, § 44-7-20, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 266, § 1.)