tenant has not paid for 4 months and this's what happening now.....

[Alba Cheung]

    I urgently need a landlord-friendly lawyer in Fulton County. I made the mistake of renting my single-family house in Alpharetta to a tenant with a credit score in the 500s in December 2023. I was hasty due to the higher mortgage rates, and it turned out to be a huge mistake. The tenant has not paid anything since April 2024, effectively staying in my property for free for four months. I hired Evictthemforme.com on April 5, and went to court with their referred attorney on June 17, 2024. The tenant was given a court order to move out within 7 days. However, on the 7th day, the tenant hired an attorney from the Atlanta Family Law and Immigration Center to appeal the court order. She claimed she wasn’t sure what she signed on the court day of June 17 and that she couldn’t find a place to move out within 7 days. Additionally, she stated she doesn’t want to pay either. Despite signing on the court day that she would move out in 7 days and waiving her right to appeal, she still appealed, preventing me from filing a writ of possession. She has stayed in my property for free for four months, and if she keeps appealing everytime when she's given a 7 days moving out order, she could potentially never pay rent or move out.

How can this happen? Can tenants actually appeal a 7-day move-out court order even after waiving their right to appeal? Has anyone had a similar experience? What’s going to happen next? Can anyone recommend an experienced landlord-tenant lawyer in the Atlanta area for me? Evicticthemforme.com helped a lot but their lawyer has many cases at the same time, I think I need my own attonry. I urgently need this tenant to move out ASAP, it's been 4 months already. Please help. Thanks.