The Georgia fixtures checklist is the most skipped page in the entire transaction, and it is the page that causes the most arguments three days before closing. Someone took the washer. Someone expected the chandelier. Someone pulled the TV mount off the wall and left four holes behind.
Here is the flip. Almost every one of those fights is avoidable, because Georgia’s standard forms already answer the question in writing. The problem is not that the rules are unclear. The problem is that nobody reads the page where the rules live, and the default outcome surprises people on both sides of the deal.
Nicole France is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center and was the number one Paulding County REALTOR® for 2025, working with buyers and sellers across Cobb, Cherokee, Paulding, and Bartow counties. She has watched more closings get tense over a refrigerator than over a roof.
This article is general information, not legal advice. GAR forms are revised regularly, so confirm the version attached to your contract with your agent or a Georgia real estate attorney.
1. The Contract Starts With Fixtures, Not Appliances
The Georgia Association of REALTORS® Purchase and Sale Agreement, form F201, says the buyer is purchasing the real property including all fixtures, improvements, and landscaping.
That single sentence is the entire foundation. Anything that legally counts as a fixture transfers automatically, with no list required. Anything that counts as personal property does not.
The traditional test asks three questions. How permanently is the item attached? Was it adapted specifically for this property? What did the parties intend? A chandelier hardwired into the ceiling looks like a fixture. A floor lamp does not. The trouble is everything in between, which is most of the items people actually fight about. That is exactly why the standard forms stopped relying on the test alone.
2. The Fixtures Checklist Replaces the Old Test
Georgia’s Seller’s Property Disclosure Statement Exhibit, form F301, contains a section called the Fixtures Checklist. It is not decorative. For every item printed on that list, the checklist supersedes the common law of fixtures entirely.
That means the attachment test no longer decides the outcome for a listed item. The checkbox does. If refrigerators appear on the list, the question is not whether the refrigerator is bolted down. The question is whether the box was marked.
For anything not printed on the checklist, the traditional fixture analysis still applies. So you end up with two systems running side by side in the same transaction. Knowing which system governs a particular item is the difference between a quick answer and a dispute. You can review the current form library at the Georgia Association of REALTORS®.
3. Blank Means the Seller Can Take It
This is the rule that catches buyers, and it is the single most valuable thing in this article.
On the Fixtures Checklist, unchecked equals gone. If an item is left blank, the seller has the right to remove it. Checked items stay. There is no middle ground and no assumption in the buyer’s favor.
The form even spells out the multiplier. If refrigerator is left blank, the seller may remove every refrigerator on the property, including the one in the basement and the one in the garage. The same logic applies to ceiling fans, mirrors, and everything else that shows up more than once in a house.
Buyers, read this page before you write the offer, not after the inspection. If the marketing photos show a beverage fridge you assumed was included, confirm it on the checklist.
4. Checked Means It Stays Exactly As It Was
Marking an item does more than commit the seller to leaving something behind. It locks in the specific item as it existed on the offer date.
A seller cannot swap a high-end appliance for a builder-grade replacement, or trade the light fixture the buyer loved for something from a big-box shelf. Under the form, a checked item can only be removed if it is broken or destroyed, and then it has to be replaced with a substantially identical item. If that is not reasonably available, the replacement has to be of equal or better quality and value.
Sellers who are attached to a particular chandelier or a custom mirror have a clean solution. Remove it before the house goes on the market, patch the wall, and never mark it on the list. Trying to quietly substitute something later is how deals go sideways.
5. Remotes, Openers, and Accessories Come With It
The form addresses a small detail that causes a surprising amount of friction. Any item staying with the property includes the remotes and accessories necessary to actually use it.
That covers garage door remotes, ceiling fan remotes, cable receiver remotes, gas fireplace controls, and pool equipment accessories. A garage door opener without a remote is not a functioning garage door opener.
Sellers, collect all of this during your packing process and put it in one drawer or one labeled box on the kitchen counter. Buyers, add remotes and accessories to your final walkthrough list alongside keys, gate codes, and mailbox keys. It takes ninety seconds to check and saves an awkward phone call the week after closing.
6. The Checklist Covers Far More Than Appliances
Most people glance at this page, see refrigerator and washer, and stop reading. The list is much longer than that.
It runs across several categories. Appliances covers the obvious ones plus items like the ice maker, vent hood, wine cooler, and vacuum system. Home media covers speakers, wiring, satellite equipment, and TV mounts and brackets. Interior fixtures covers ceiling fans, chandeliers, closet systems, shelving, window blinds, shutters, draperies, mirrors, and even unused paint.
Landscaping and yard covers mailboxes, storage buildings, swing sets, gazebos, irrigation systems, porch swings, and basketball goals. Recreation covers hot tubs, gas grills, pools, and pool equipment. Safety covers alarm systems, security cameras, doorbells, and window screens. Systems covers generators, solar panels, water softeners, propane tanks, thermostats, and sump pumps.
Anything you care about is probably on there. Look.
7. Sellers Have to Actually Remove What They Keep
Here is the rule that surprises sellers. Keeping the right to remove something is not the same as being allowed to leave it behind.
Under the form, the seller has to remove blank items before closing or before the transfer of possession, whichever comes later. A seller who leaves an old swing set in the yard or a dead freezer in the basement loses the right to come back for it, and remains responsible for the cost of the buyer disposing of it if the buyer does so within thirty days after closing.
The contract also requires sellers to deliver the property clean and free of trash, debris, and personal property that was not identified as staying. The garage is not a donation center. If you do not want it, haul it off before you hand over the keys.
8. Removal Damage Is the Seller’s Problem
Taking your things is allowed. Wrecking the wall on the way out is not.
The form requires sellers to use reasonable care to prevent damage when removing items, and to repair damage where the item was removed. That means the TV bracket comes off and the anchors get patched. The shelving unit comes down and the wall gets repaired.
This is where wall-mounted televisions cause more trouble than anything else in a Georgia closing. The television itself and the bracket are separate items on the checklist. Handle them separately and in writing. Decide who keeps the bracket, whether the wall gets patched, and whether it gets painted, and write it into the contract rather than assuming everyone pictures the same outcome.
9. This Section Survives Closing
In most real estate transactions, the deed absorbs the contract at closing and prior promises stop being enforceable. Fixtures are an exception.
The Fixtures Checklist expressly survives closing. GAR further expanded what survives in its 2024 forms revisions, adding seller liability for failing to timely remove items along with the fixtures provisions generally, so those claims do not merge into the deed.
Practically, that means discovering the problem after closing does not automatically end your options. A buyer who walks in Monday morning and finds the built-in speakers gone still has a contractual argument. That is not a reason to skip the walkthrough. It is a reason for sellers to take this page seriously, because signing the closing documents does not end the obligation.
10. No Disclosure Exhibit Means the Old Rules Apply
Not every Georgia transaction includes form F301. Estate sales, foreclosures, investor purchases, some as-is listings, and new construction often use different paperwork or none at all.
When there is no Fixtures Checklist, you fall back to the common law fixture analysis and whatever the purchase agreement itself says. That is a much murkier place to be, and it is where most litigation over fixtures actually starts.
The fix is straightforward. If your transaction does not include a checklist, list the items explicitly in a special stipulation. Name the appliances by name, address the window treatments, and address anything mounted, bolted, or built in. Five specific sentences in the contract are worth more than any assumption about what is customary.
What Buyers and Sellers Need to Know
The pattern behind every one of these disputes is the same. Someone assumed, and nobody wrote it down.
Sellers, complete this page yourself rather than letting it get filled in generically. Decide in advance what is going with you, mark the form accordingly, and then price accordingly. Leaving a full appliance package in a market where buyers are cash-strapped after closing is a legitimate selling point, and a national Redfin overview confirms that freestanding appliances are the most commonly misunderstood items in the country, not just here.
Buyers, review the checklist before you write, not after you fall in love. If something in the listing photos matters to you, get it marked. Then verify it at the final walkthrough while you still have leverage, because leverage disappears the moment you fund.
Both sides should remember that this page is negotiable like any other term. Appliances get traded, added, and removed during negotiations constantly. If you are preparing to sell and want to know how your appliance package affects your position, start with a home value assessment and a conversation about what to include.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the refrigerator stay when you sell a house in Georgia?
Only if it is marked as staying on the Fixtures Checklist or written into the contract. If the box is left blank, the seller has the right to take it, and can take every refrigerator on the property. Never assume based on the listing photos.
Can a seller take the light fixtures in Georgia?
Yes, if light fixtures or the chandelier are left blank on the checklist. If they are marked as staying, the seller cannot remove or substitute them unless the item is broken, and any replacement has to be substantially identical or better. The cleanest approach for a seller is to swap out a treasured fixture before listing.
What happens if the seller takes something they agreed to leave?
The Fixtures Checklist survives closing, so the buyer’s contract rights do not disappear at the closing table. Practically, catching it at the final walkthrough is far easier than pursuing it afterward. Bring the checklist with you and walk through it item by item.
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Nicole France is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center serving buyers and sellers across Acworth, Kennesaw, Dallas, Cartersville, and Woodstock. Client Focused · Results Driven.