Georgia UPPA: Unlicensed Public Adjusting — Rules, Penalties, and Who Gets Reported

Every storm in Georgia produces the same predictable wave: trucks with magnetic signs, door-knockers in branded shirts, and a friendly pitch that sounds like a favor. "We'll handle the insurance for you. We deal with carriers all the time. You sign this and we take care of everything." In Cobb, Cherokee, Bartow, Fulton, Paulding, and across the I-75 corridor, that pitch is being delivered to homeowners every week.

It is also illegal. Under Georgia law, "handling the insurance" for a fee or as part of a contractor's pitch is the practice of public adjusting — and only a person holding a Georgia Public Adjuster license issued by the Commissioner of Insurance is allowed to do it. Practicing without that license is UPPA: Unlicensed Public Adjusting. The carriers know it. The Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner knows it. As of 2025, the Georgia Court of Appeals has made the consequences brutal in dollars-and-cents terms.

1. What public adjusting is — and where the line sits

Georgia defines a "public adjuster" precisely. Under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-1(13), a public adjuster is any person who, for compensation, "investigates, settles, or adjusts" a first-party property insurance claim on behalf of the insured — or who solicits, advertises, or agrees to do so. The definition is broad on purpose. It captures the work, not the title.

The licensing rule is short and absolute. O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.1(a):

That is the entire rule. There is no carve-out for contractors. No exception for "I'm just helping." No safe harbor for advising the homeowner what to say to the adjuster. If the work fits the § 33-23-1 definition and you do not have a Georgia PA license, you are unlicensed.

O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43(d) closes the loop by explicitly including "persons representing themselves to be public adjusters who are not properly licensed by the Commissioner" inside the definition of public adjuster. You do not get out of the statute by failing to mention you are unlicensed.

2. Where the line is for contractors — § 33-23-43.8(k)

The single most important statute for Georgia roofers, restoration companies, water mitigators, mold remediators, and general contractors is O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.8(k). It is the contractor prohibition, and it is unforgiving:

Read that twice. The statute does not just bar unlicensed contractors from adjusting. It bars every contractor from adjusting any claim on a property they may end up working on. That includes:

• Roofers — the most common offender. "We'll fight the insurance for you. We get full roof replacements all the time."
• Restoration contractors — water mitigation, fire restoration, smoke cleanup. The temptation is the negotiation of scope with the carrier's desk adjuster.
• Water mitigation companies — xactimate pricing disputes, drying logs negotiated as claim line items.
• Mold remediators — advising homeowners on coverage triggers, framing the loss for the carrier.
• General contractors and re-roofers — supplements, code-upgrade negotiations, depreciation arguments.
• Anyone advertising "we handle the insurance" — the words themselves are an advertisement to adjust claims under § 33-23-43.8(k).

The point of § 33-23-43.8(k) is to remove the financial conflict at the root. A contractor's incentive is to grow scope, because larger scope means a larger job. A public adjuster's incentive is to document the loss accurately, because Georgia's Commissioner-approved PA contract pays a regulated percentage of the recovery and the adjuster cannot also profit from the construction. The statute keeps those incentives in separate hands.

The same chapter, O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.8(g), comes at it from the other direction: a licensed public adjuster cannot participate in the repair, reconstruction, or restoration of property they are adjusting. The wall is built from both sides.

3. The penalties — misdemeanor, license action, and void contracts

Georgia stacks three different penalties on UPPA. Any one of them is enough to end a contractor's year. Together they end careers.

Criminal — misdemeanor under § 33-23-43(e)

O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43(e) makes a violation of the public adjuster licensing statute a misdemeanor. In Georgia, a misdemeanor carries up to 12 months in confinement, up to a $1,000 fine, or both, per violation. Multiple homeowners and multiple claims can mean multiple counts.

Administrative — license suspension or revocation

The Commissioner of Insurance also has independent authority under § 33-23-43(e) and the broader licensing chapter to suspend or revoke any insurance-related license the violator holds. For a contractor who also carries an independent adjuster's license, an apprentice PA license, or a real-estate or surplus-lines license, this can mean losing the credentials that let them work in the industry at all.

Civil — the contract is void

The third penalty is the one that has changed contractor behavior in Georgia overnight. Courts will not enforce a contract that was procured through an unlicensed practice of public adjusting. In 2025, the Georgia Court of Appeals reinforced this rule twice.

Property-insurance attorneys around the country have flagged the Georgia rule as one of the strictest in the Southeast. Merlin Law Group's Property Insurance Coverage Law Blog ran the analysis under the title "Dr. Roof or Dr. Roof Adjuster?" with a direct warning to restoration contractors and roofers that overstepping into adjusting subjects them to criminal prosecution. The Restoration Industry Association's "Don't Become an Accidental Adjuster" guidance reaches the same conclusion from the contractor's side.

4. Who reports contractors to the Georgia OCI

UPPA cases do not get to the Commissioner on their own. Someone reports them. In Georgia, the reporters fall into four predictable groups.

The insurance carrier itself

Carriers see the same patterns every day. A contractor's letterhead on a proof of loss. A contractor's email arguing scope with the desk adjuster. A contingency-fee contract attached to the claim file. A contractor demanding to be present at the inspection and doing the talking. When carriers spot it, they document it and forward to the Georgia OCI's market conduct or fraud unit. From the carrier's perspective the report is free leverage — a UPPA finding can render the contractor's invoice unenforceable, which can collapse the entire claim demand.

The homeowner

The second-largest source of complaints. A homeowner signs the door-knocker's "we handle the insurance" contract, the work stalls or goes sideways, and the contractor refuses to release the claim until paid. The homeowner finds out about § 33-23-43.8(k), calls the OCI, and files. Once the complaint is in, the carrier's investigation usually follows, and the contract collapses under the 2025 case law.

Competing contractors and licensed public adjusters

Licensed Georgia PAs are required to report unlicensed activity under the same chapter. So are honest contractors who lose bids to the door-knocker that "handles the insurance." Competitive pressure produces a steady volume of complaints.

Attorneys on either side of a coverage dispute

Plaintiffs' attorneys representing homeowners and defense counsel representing carriers both raise UPPA as a sword in litigation — the homeowner's attorney to void a runaway contractor contract, defense counsel to attack the legitimacy of the claim's documentation. The OCI report often gets filed as part of the litigation strategy.

The complaint pathway itself is straightforward. The Georgia OCI consumer complaint portal accepts online filings. The OCI consumer hotline is 1-800-656-2298. The Commissioner's Bulletin 23-Ex-1, "Consumer Warning Regarding Public Adjusters", lays out the formal expectations for licensed conduct and is the document the OCI staff applies when sorting complaints.

5. Side-by-side: contractor vs. licensed public adjuster in Georgia

Activity	Allowed: Licensed Georgia PA	Allowed: Contractor
Inspect the property and prepare an estimate	Yes — as part of the scope of loss	Yes — for the work they will perform
Submit an estimate to the homeowner's carrier as the contractor's bid	n/a	Yes — the bid itself is not UPPA
Negotiate scope, line items, or coverage with the carrier on the insured's behalf	Yes — this is the PA's job	No — UPPA under § 33-23-43.8(k)
Advertise "we handle the insurance" / "we fight the insurance company"	n/a	No — advertising to adjust is itself UPPA
Sign a contingency-fee or percentage-of-recovery contract with the insured	Yes — on the Commissioner-approved PA contract form, within the regulated fee cap	No — a contractor's contingency on the recovery is the classic UPPA fact pattern
Perform the repair or restoration work itself	No — prohibited by § 33-23-43.8(g)	Yes — this is the contractor's lane
Sue the homeowner for non-payment after representing the claim	Yes — on a valid Georgia PA contract	No — contract is void under the 2025 Court of Appeals ruling

6. The contractor red flags every Georgia homeowner should screen for

The door-knocker after a storm is not always doing anything wrong. The roofer pitching a re-roof at a fair price is doing their job. The line is crossed the moment they start working your claim for you. Watch for these signals:

7. How to verify a public adjuster's Georgia license — in two minutes

The Georgia OCI publishes a free public license lookup. Use it before you sign anything that touches your claim.

1. Open oci.georgia.gov/agents-agency-licensing.
2. Use the "Search for a Licensee" tool. You can search by name or by license number.
3. Confirm the license type reads "Public Adjuster" — not "Independent Adjuster" (which is a carrier-side role), not "Apprentice Adjuster," and not a contractor's general business license.
4. Confirm Status: Active, the issue date, and that there is no current suspension or revocation flag.
5. Confirm the person's name on the license matches the person who is talking to you.

If anything in that list does not match — or if the contractor refuses to give you a license number to look up — you have your answer.

8. What a homeowner can do if a contractor has already crossed the line

If you have already signed a contractor's contingency contract, or a contractor is already negotiating your claim with your carrier, you are not stuck. Georgia law is largely on the homeowner's side.

1. Stop authorizing the contractor to speak to the carrier. A short written notice — email is enough — revoking any authorization is the first step.
2. Get a licensed Georgia public adjuster involved. A licensed PA can prepare a clean proof of loss, document the scope under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.2(a) on the Commissioner-approved form, and reset the negotiation with the carrier on legitimate footing.
3. Preserve the contractor's documentation. Keep every email, contract, AOB, and estimate the contractor produced. These are the evidence that the contractor was practicing public adjusting.
4. File a consumer complaint with the OCI. Use the OCI's complaint portal or call 1-800-656-2298. Reference O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.8(k).
5. Talk to a Georgia property-insurance attorney if the contractor has filed a mechanic's lien or sued for non-payment. The 2025 McMillan v. Rodriguez ruling is your defense.

9. The bigger picture — why Georgia tightened these rules

Georgia did not write § 33-23-43.8(k) in a vacuum. The statute came out of a pattern the OCI and the courts had been watching for years: storm-chasing contractors signing homeowners to contingency contracts, negotiating scope to inflate the carrier's payout, and pocketing both the supplement and the construction margin. The homeowner ended up with one party representing two interests — the contractor's and the insured's — which is a structural conflict the carrier ultimately pays for and the homeowner ultimately answers for.

The 2025 Court of Appeals decisions are the enforcement teeth. Misdemeanor exposure under § 33-23-43(e) has been on the books for years; what shifted in 2025 is the civil consequence. Now a Georgia trial court will void the contract on its face. A contractor who runs the play and finishes a $40,000 roof can be sent home with zero, even on a perfectly performed job, because the way the contract was procured renders it unenforceable from the start.

For homeowners, that is leverage. For honest contractors, it is a clear lane: bid the work, perform the work, get paid for the work. Leave the claim negotiation to the people the State of Georgia has licensed to handle it.

FAQ — Georgia UPPA

Is "UPPA" the same as "fraud"?

Not necessarily. UPPA is the unlicensed practice itself — doing public adjusting work without a Georgia license. Fraud is a separate, broader category that requires intent to deceive. UPPA can exist without fraud (a well-meaning contractor who simply did not realize the line existed), but UPPA combined with misrepresentation of damage or coverage can also become insurance fraud under Georgia law.

What about an independent adjuster — is that the same as a public adjuster?

No. An independent adjuster contracts with the carrier to inspect and adjust claims on the carrier's behalf. A public adjuster contracts with the insured and works against the carrier's adjuster on the insured's side. The licenses are different, and the OCI lookup labels them differently. Only a Public Adjuster license — not an Independent Adjuster license — authorizes representing the insured on a Georgia first-party property claim.

Can a Georgia attorney negotiate my claim instead of a public adjuster?

Yes. Attorneys licensed in Georgia are generally exempted from the public adjuster licensing requirement when they are representing a client in a legal capacity. The exemption does not cover the attorney's contractor, the attorney's investigator, or anyone else operating under the attorney's referral — those people still need their own credentials.

Does an out-of-state PA license cover Georgia work?

No. To practice public adjusting on a Georgia property, the adjuster must hold a Georgia public adjuster license (or a Georgia non-resident PA license issued by reciprocity through the OCI). A Florida, Texas, or Alabama PA license alone is not authorization to work a Georgia claim.

What if the contractor has a Georgia PA license too?

It still doesn't fix the problem. O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.8(k) bars contractors from acting as PAs on any property they provide or may provide contracting services on, regardless of whether the contractor separately holds a public adjuster license. The conflict of interest exists whether the contractor is licensed or not, and Georgia closed that door by statute.

Can my contractor recommend a public adjuster — or is that a referral fee problem?

A referral is fine in principle. The problem is the money. O.C.G.A. § 33-23-43.8(i)(2) prohibits a public adjuster from paying referral fees to anyone who is not a licensed PA, and the broader § 33-23-43 prohibits the contractor from collecting any compensation tied to the claim. A clean referral with no money attached is allowed. A kickback is not.

Where do I look up Bulletin 23-Ex-1?

The full text of the Commissioner's Bulletin 23-Ex-1, "Consumer Warning Regarding Public Adjusters," is published on the OCI website. It is the document the OCI relies on to communicate enforcement expectations to consumers and licensees.

Who actually enforces UPPA in Georgia?

The Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire (OCI) handles administrative and licensing enforcement. The criminal misdemeanor charge under § 33-23-43(e) is prosecuted by the local solicitor or district attorney where the conduct occurred. Civil consequences — contract void, no recovery for the contractor — play out in Georgia state court.

Disclosures. Public Adjusters Near Me, INC is a licensed public adjusting firm. Amanda Denatala holds Georgia Public Adjuster License #777802. This article is educational and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client or adjuster-client relationship. Public adjusters in Georgia operate under O.C.G.A. § 33-23-1 et seq. and the rules of the Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire. Consumer complaints in Georgia: 1-800-656-2298. References to specific statutes, bulletins, and case law reflect Georgia law as of June 2026; consult a licensed Georgia attorney for advice on your specific situation. Statements about specific contractors or business practices describe general industry patterns and do not refer to any identified individual or company.