Buying a Buckhead condo resale? The 7-day right to cancel does not apply

Ask around and someone will tell you that Georgia condo buyers get seven days to back out after they read the documents. That is true for some purchases. It is not true for a resale, which is what you are buying whenever the unit has been sold before, and buyers who count on it can run out of time.

Georgia's Condominium Act is Article 3 of O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 3, starting at § 44-3-70 ('Short title'). (O.C.G.A. (Justia), checked 2026-10-19)

For a covered (first) sale, the contract is voidable by the buyer until at least seven days after the seller delivers the listed documents (floor plan, declaration and amendments, articles and bylaws, any ground lease, long management contracts, budget, and facility leases), and the contract must carry a bold legend saying so. (O.C.G.A. (Justia), checked 2026-10-19)

O.C.G.A. § 44-3-111 (the condo document-delivery rule) applies only to the FIRST bona fide sale of each residential condominium unit for residential occupancy, whoever the seller is. (O.C.G.A. (Justia), checked 2026-10-19)

The seven-day period belongs to the first bona fide sale of each unit for residential occupancy. That first sale is often a developer’s sale in a new building, but the rule follows the unit, whoever the seller is. Once that first sale is done, the section no longer applies to later sales of the same unit, and nothing in it gives the next buyer a seven-day window.

This matters in Buckhead because so much of the housing near Lenox and Phipps is in large buildings.

The 2020-2024 ACS shows very different housing from one ZIP area to the next. In ZCTA 30326 (the Lenox/Phipps area), 92.2% of units are in buildings of 20+ units and 1.5% are detached houses. ZCTA 30327 (northwest Buckhead plus part of Sandy Springs) is 61.2% detached houses, and 78.1% of its occupied homes are owner-occupied. ZCTA 30305 is 25.7% detached houses and 60.2% units in 20+ unit buildings. ZCTA 30342 is 35.8% detached and 33.4% in 20+ unit buildings. (U.S. Census Bureau, checked 2026-10-19)

How to tell which kind of sale you are in

Ask the listing agent, in writing, whether this is the first sale of the unit for residential occupancy. If it is, look for the bold legend the statute requires in your contract and note the date the seller delivers the documents, because your seven days run from delivery. If it is a resale, plan as if you have no statutory review period at all, and build your due-diligence days around getting the documents yourself.

What to request inside your due-diligence period

On a resale, your contract’s due-diligence period is the time you have to read and decide. The statute does not hand you a package, so ask the seller for these as soon as the contract is signed, and ask the seller to request anything they do not have from the association or its manager:

• The recorded declaration and every amendment. It sets what you own, what the association owns, and the rules on use and leasing.
• The articles of incorporation, the bylaws and the current rules and regulations.
• The current budget and the latest financial statements, with the reserve balance shown.
• Any reserve study the association has had done, with its date.
• Board minutes from the past year or two. Read them for special assessments, large repairs, insurance changes and lawsuits.
• The association’s master insurance certificate, so your lender and your own insurer can see what the building policy covers.
• A statement of the seller’s account: unpaid assessments, any special assessment already voted, and any fee the association charges when a unit sells.
• Any ground lease, management contract or facility lease. These are the kinds of documents the statute lists for a first sale, which makes that list a handy checklist for a resale too.

None of these comes with a statutory delivery deadline on a resale. What you have is the due-diligence period itself. If the papers have not arrived, or they say something you cannot live with, talk to your agent and closing attorney about your options before the period ends, not after.

What to look for when the papers arrive

• In the budget, the line for contributions to reserves, and whether it changed from last year.
• In the minutes, any vote or discussion about a special assessment, a loan to the association, or a large project such as roofing, facade, garage or elevator work.
• Any mention of a lawsuit involving the association, and whether it is the plaintiff or the defendant.
• On the insurance certificate, the deductible, since a large one can come back to owners after a claim.
• In the declaration and rules, anything about leasing, pets, renovations and moving in, so you are not surprised on move-in day.

Check FHA approval yourself

HUD's Condominiums search lets anyone look up FHA-approved condominium projects by location, name or status. (HUD, checked 2026-10-19)

If you plan to use an FHA loan, or you want an FHA buyer to be able to purchase from you later, search HUD’s condominium lookup by building name and by location. A project can be listed under a name that does not match the sign out front, so try the street and the association’s legal name from the declaration as well. Save a copy of the result with the date, and ask your lender to confirm it. We do not say whether any building is approved; the lookup is the place to check.

Leasing and short-term rentals

If you might rent the unit out one day, read two sets of rules: the building’s and the City’s.

A City license does not settle what the association allows. The declaration and rules can limit or forbid leasing, and they can set minimum lease terms, so read them before you count on any rental income.

Townhome and house communities are different

Not every Buckhead community with dues is a condominium. Georgia law has a separate article for property owners’ associations:

Article 6 of O.C.G.A. Title 44, Chapter 3 (§§ 44-3-220 to 44-3-235) is the 'Georgia Property Owners' Association Act', enacted in 1994. (O.C.G.A. (Justia), checked 2026-10-19)

Whether a particular community is a condominium, a property owners’ association under that Act, or something else depends on its recorded documents. Ask for them on the same schedule as a condo package, and do not assume the condo rules above carry over.

Condo documents run long, and the useful parts are spread across several of them. To see how Gold Peach Realty works with buyers on a condo purchase, including who requests the association package and when, start there.

Questions buyers ask

Next step: our Buckhead condos for sale page lists current units, the Peachtree Road and Buckhead Village guide covers the tower corridor, and the due-diligence checker turns this list into a printable checklist.

Written by the Buckhead Atlanta Homes Editorial Team. AI tools help us draft; people check every fact before it publishes.

Rules, rates and maps change. Every rule on this page links to the office that sets it; confirm with that office before you rely on it.