Special to GwinnettForum.com

May 25, 2004

New law rids communities of eyesores and dangers

By Rep. Hugh Floyd

Those unsightly and potentially unsafe piles of furniture, appliances and other belongings you’ve seen on the sidewalks outside of homes and apartments in Gwinnett County over the years are about to become a thing of the past.

Both the House of Representatives and the Senate unanimously approved House Bill 762, aimed at helping eliminate the practice of placing evicted tenants’ furniture, clothing and other belongings on the curbside, during the 2004 session of the Georgia General Assembly. Gov. Sonny Perdue subsequently signed the measure into law, and it will take effect July 1.

I introduced this legislation because the present situation creates an eyesore and a dangerous situation in neighborhoods and apartment communities. Current local ordinances require that abandoned clothing, furniture and appliances belonging to an evicted tenant sit on the nearest public curb for up to two weeks.

As you know, Gwinnett County has a number of areas with a high concentration of apartment complexes. There are more than 5,000 evictions every year in our county.

Forcing the landlords to place evicted residents’ abandoned property outside is bad enough, but the looting that often follows leads to an even worse situation. Drivers slam on brakes and even fight each other to get their hands on the merchandise, and after it has been picked through, what remains is a pile of trash.

The new state law gives landlords the option of placing the property in a more secure location than on the curb, or deeming it abandoned and having it hauled away immediately. As originally introduced, the legislation would have prohibited the placement of such material on the right-of-way. After many months of discussion, we chose instead to expand the options for where to set the material.

The bill clarifies that the owner or manager of the apartment community is not required to store or take care of a resident’s property removed from the apartment during an eviction. Also, the owner and manager do not owe a duty to the resident regarding keeping the property safe or protected. If there is an actual eviction, the resident’s property is regarded as “abandoned” and may be removed or disposed of immediately without any particular waiting period.

Apartment managers, property owners and law enforcement all wanted a change to the state eviction laws. We studied how the situation was handled in other states, and used a version similar to North Carolina law. The bill enjoyed the support of the Georgia Apartment Association, the Georgia Association of Realtors and the Georgia Sheriffs Association.

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful also supported the measure as another way to clean up our streets. A year ago, the General Assembly passed legislation I co-sponsored that allowed inmate labor to be used for cleaning up gang-related graffiti on private property. Since that time, significant progress has been made in reducing the prevalence of graffiti in our county.

The graffiti law makes Gwinnett and other Georgia counties cleaner and safer. So will the new abandoned property law.