Section 44-7-1. Creation of landlord and tenant relationship; rights of tenant; construction of lease for less than five years

   (a) The relationship of landlord and tenant is created when the owner of real estate grants to another person, who accepts such grant, the right simply to possess and enjoy the use of such real estate either for a fixed time or at the will of the grantor. In such a case, no estate passes out of the landlord and the tenant has only a usufruct which may not be conveyed except by the landlord's consent and which is not subject to levy and sale.

(b) All renting or leasing of real estate for a period of time less than five years shall be held to convey only the right to possess and enjoy such real estate, to pass no estate out of the landlord, and to give only the usufruct unless the contrary is agreed upon by the parties to the contract and is so stated in the contract.

Orig. Code 1863, § 2261; Code 1868, § 2253; Code 1873, § 2279; Ga. L. 1876, p. 35, § 1; Code 1882, § 2279; Civil Code 1895, § 3115; Civil Code 1910, § 3691; Code 1933, § 61-101.