Court backlog prevents Clayton County landlords from evicting tenants

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - The frustrations continue in Clayton County as landlords say they feel hopeless as they aren’t able to evict tenants.

This comes as the court system is backed up due to COVID and staffing shortages.

FOX 5 first reported about this issue at the beginning of September when one man was out thousands of dollars and still had no answers.

Since then, FOX 5 has received many emails from landlords in Clayton County who say they are in the same frustrating situation.

"Feel like my hands are tied," Tiffany Williams said.

Frustrated, fed up, and furious as Tiffany William’s has a tenant who refuses to pay rent or leave the rented home.

"They have stated that they are not moving and they have refused to vacate. They provided us dates and then they reneged on them," Williams said.

Williams is out nearly $6,000 as she waits for an eviction proceeding from the court system.

It’s a system filled with backlogs, delays and staffing shortages.

Court officials say they are only holding three proceedings a week.

"The court system have provided that they are backed up 12-14 months so that means they can stay up to two years having not paid any rent," Williams said.

FOX 5’s Eric Perry went to try to get answers from the tenant Williams says has not paid, but they refused to come to the door.

"I think what we are going to see is a lot of foreclosures from this sort of thing," Kelly James said.

Kelly James is the President of R. James Properties Inc. and his company has several properties across metro Atlanta. One property in particular, the Garden Walk Apartment Complex, is facing the same issue.

"We’ve got individual residents that owe us more than $20,000 in some cases," James said.

James says he believes tenants know the courts are backed up and taking advantage.

"There are some residents that are gaming the system and not communicating with us and in some cases those are the same residents causing problems in the communities," James said.

"Not all landlords are sitting on millions of cash to remedy the situation in the case someone decides they are going to stop paying," Williams said.

"It’s hard to operate the business when the folks that are supposed to be enforcing the laws aren’t enforcing the laws," James said.

FOX 5 reached out to the Clayton County Magistrate Court and they sent this statement where they blame the pandemic for the massive backlog:

"The Clayton County Magistrate Court is the fourth-busiest Magistrate Court in the State of Georgia. Consequently, the national pandemic has created a massive backlog in our court.

"We have acquired federal funding to hire additional staff to specifically address any backlog due to COVID-19.  Additionally, with both county and federal funds, we have been able to disburse over seven million dollars in rental assistance to qualified applicants over the past year.  Rental Assistance payments are disbursed twice a week and are paid directly to the landlords.  Both landlords and tenants may apply for rental assistance online 24/7 at relief.claytoncountyga.gov

"The Magistrate Court currently holds three dispossessory calendars per week to address the cases that do not qualify for funds and require a hearing.  We are working diligently to address all landlord/tenant cases in a manner that is both fair and efficient, while also taking important steps to protect the health of the court staff, attorneys, and the public."