09/30/2026
On September 28, 2026, Governor Brian Kemp declared a 30-day statewide State of Emergency related to petroleum supply disruptions.
We wanted to make our agents and clients aware that this declaration may affect deadlines in contracts using the Georgia Association of REALTORS® (GAR) Purchase and Sale Agreement.
Under the GAR contract, if the Governor declares a State of Emergency after the Binding Agreement Date in the county where the property is located, any contractual deadlines that have not yet expired—including the Closing Date—are automatically extended for the number of days the State of Emergency remains in effect, up to a maximum extension of eight (8) days.
What does this mean for current contracts?
Because the State of Emergency was declared on September 28, any unexpired deadlines in affected GAR contracts with a Binding Agreement Date of September 27 or earlier may be automatically extended.
For example, if a Due Diligence Period was originally scheduled to expire on October 1, the deadline would automatically be extended by eight days, making the new expiration October 9 at 11:59 p.m.
Do the parties need to sign an amendment?
No. The extension occurs automatically under the GAR contract, so the parties do not need to agree to the extension or sign an amendment for it to take effect.
However, if both parties would prefer to keep the deadlines they originally agreed upon, they can sign an amendment stating something along the following lines:
“No deadline in this Agreement, including the Closing Date, shall be extended solely by reason of the 30-day State of Emergency declared by Governor Brian Kemp on September 28, 2026, effective September 29, 2026.”
If the parties want to keep only the original Closing Date while allowing other deadlines to be extended, they can use GAR Form F716, Amendment to Change Closing/Possession Date, to change the Closing Date back to the date that was in effect before the automatic extension.
Please keep this automatic extension in mind when reviewing upcoming due diligence, financing, appraisal, closing, and other contractual deadlines.
As always, please feel free to contact our office if you have a transaction scheduled to close with us and have questions about how the State of Emergency may affect the closing date or other deadlines.
