The Georgia Termite Letter When You Buy or Sell a House

Updated 2026-10 · Atlanta, GA

A timeline that works

• Listing, or the day the contract is signed: the seller finds the existing termite contract and the last inspection report.
• First days of due diligence: the agent confirms whether the purchase contract or the loan calls for a termite letter. FHA and VA loans often do.
• Early in due diligence: the inspection is booked, with the crawlspace door cleared and the basement walls accessible.
• If termites are found: treatment, and a builder or structural inspector for any damage, while there is still time before closing.
• Closing: copies go to the buyer, seller, lender and agents.

The common mistake is treating the letter as paperwork to collect the week of closing. If it finds anything, a week is not enough.

Reading the form

What was found

The report states whether there is visible evidence of five things: subterranean termites, drywood termites, powder post beetles, other re-infesting wood-boring beetles, and wood-decaying fungi below the first floor. Evidence can mean live insects, but also old mud tubes, galleries, exit holes or damage. A diagram of any evidence is attached.

Previous treatment

The company checks its own records for treatment or renewal contracts in the past two years and says whether the house is under a treatment warranty and whether that warranty can be transferred.

Conducive conditions

Things that invite infestation, such as wood in contact with soil or excess moisture, belong on the report. If such conditions existed, were not reported and are found within 90 days, the company must correct them at no charge.

Independence

The inspecting company certifies it has no interest in the property and no association with anyone in the transaction.

If it says termites

Active subterranean termites on a Georgia termite letter usually lead to a full treatment, a contract, and a separate look at damage by someone who repairs houses. Who pays is a negotiation in the purchase contract. The letter itself does not judge how serious the damage is; it says outright that it is not a structural report. For a buyer, the reassuring part is the 90-day guarantee: if a covered infestation turns up within 90 days of the report, the issuing company has to treat at no charge.

If it says nothing, and you are still unsure

A clean letter covers only what the inspector could reach. In older Atlanta houses, a lot is out of reach: finished basements, paneled walls, low crawlspaces, stored boxes against foundation walls. Ask what was not inspected and why, and look at the diagram.

If two companies report different things about the same house, or a letter looks incomplete or inaccurate, the Georgia Department of Agriculture accepts inspection requests for exactly that situation.

Call to book the termite letter. Give the closing date and the address, and a local company with a certified operator will schedule around it.

Where to go next

• Booking a termite inspection or letter
• Bonds and whether they transfer
• If the inspection finds active termites