LEWIS v. COUNTRYWIDE FUNDING CORPORATION

McMURRAY, Presiding Judge.

Plaintiff Countrywide Funding Corporation filed this petition for a dispossessory warrant in the State Court of DeKalb County, Georgia, alleging that "Willie Robinson + Occupant" were tenants in possession who failed to pay rent due and demanded rent at the rate of $22.11 per day. Only Willie Robinson answered. On Friday, December 20, 1996, the state court entered judgment on the pleadings, ordering that a dispossessory warrant would issue ten days hence. On Tuesday, December 31, 1996, appellant Al Lewis, proceeding pro se, filed a notice of appeal in his capacity as defendant-occupant. Held:

OCGA § 44-7-56 provides that any judgment in a landlord/tenant case shall be appealable, provided that any such appeal "shall be filed within ten days of the date such judgment was entered. . . ." "`The proper and timely filing of a notice of appeal is an absolute requirement to confer jurisdiction upon the appellate court.' Jordan v. Caldwell, 229 Ga. 343, 344 ( 191 S.E.2d 530). In the case sub judice, [defendant's] notice of appeal is not timely. `Accordingly, we are without jurisdiction to consider this case. It must be dismissed.' White v. White, 188 Ga. App. 556, 557 ( 373 S.E.2d 824)." Couch v. United Paperworkers Intl. Union, 224 Ga. App. 721, 722 ( 482 S.E.2d 704).

Appeal dismissed. Beasley and Smith, JJ., concur.