WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — For more than a year, a federal moratorium kept landlords from evicting tenants—even those who've not paid rent for months. Now, the Supreme Court has ended that CDC moratorium and both tenants and landlords are scrambling.
One 4-bedroom house in Warner Robins looks empty. Out front is a car on bricks, and trash is spread throughout the yard. Jay Taylor, who owns the property, says someone is inside and he's been trying to evict them for months.
"For a year, I've had a tenant 'squatting' in my house, for lack of a better word," he said.
He says the tenant fell on hard times after a death, and he did all he could to work with them.
"We just want to be able to get them out, or if they want to stay and pay rent, I've talked to them, they say they can't afford to rent, and I say, 'You can't afford to live in my house, then,'" Taylor said.
It's been a year since he's seen the inside of the house, but it was the condition of the outside that sent code enforcement.
"I got notification from code enforcement because the grass is not being cut, the structure was not secure. As you can see, the windows are open," he said about the condition of the house.
Without seeing rent, he's the one still footing the bills.
"We still have to pay the insurance, the taxes on the property, if anything comes up, like code enforcement sends me a letter, I have to pay someone to come cut grass," he explained, leaving him with at least $12,000 in losses.
"Get your paperwork in, get it done," he urged.
He wants to move the eviction forward in magistrate court and urges other landlords to do the same.