Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia ATLANTA,____________________ May 12, 2023 The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order: A23A1109. MARK A. BEUTE et al. v. HOTEL MOTEL GROUP USA, INC. Hotel Motel Group USA, Inc. (“HMG”) filed a dispossessory proceeding against Mark A. Beute and Ruth C. Beute in magistrate court. The Beutes answered and asserted counterclaims against HMG. The magistrate court granted a writ of possession to HMG, ordered the Beutes to pay rent in order to remain in possession of the premises if they appealed the judgment, and transferred the case to superior court for disposition of the counterclaims. The Beutes appealed the dispossessory judgment to superior court, and HMG filed in superior court a motion for writ of possession based on the Beutes’s alleged failure to pay rent as ordered by the magistrate court. The superior court thereafter entered an order granting the writ of possession, but not disposing of the counterclaims or various motions that were then pending. The Beutes filed a direct appeal from that order, which we dismissed as untimely and for failure to comply with our interlocutory appeals procedure. See Case No. A22A1501 (dismissed Jul. 29, 2022). The trial court subsequently entered an order denying the Beutes’s counterclaims and granting a writ of possession to HMG.

The Beutes then appealed that order to this Court, but we dismissed it due to the Beutes’s failure to file a timely brief. See Case No. A23A0780 (dismissed Feb. 3, 2023). The trial court then issued another writ of possession to HMG on February 7, 2023, and the Beutes filed this direct appeal. HMG has filed a motion to dismiss this appeal, arguing that we lack jurisdiction. We agree.

Appeals from superior court decisions reviewing lower court decisions by certiorari or de novo proceedings must be initiated by filing an application for discretionary appeal. OCGA § 5-6-35 (a) (1), (b); Bullock v. Sand, 260 Ga. App. 874, 875 (581 SE2d 333) (2003). “Compliance with the discretionary appeals procedure is jurisdictional.” Smoak v. Dept. of Human Resources, 221 Ga. App. 257, 257 (471 SE2d 60) (1996). Here, the Beutes appealed the magistrate court’s grant of a writ of possession to superior court, but their failure to file an application for discretionary appeal from the superior court’s judgment deprives us of jurisdiction over this appeal.

Accordingly, HMG’s motion to dismiss is GRANTED and this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.

Court of Appeals of the State of Georgia Clerk’s Office, Atlanta,____________________ 05/12/2023 I certify that the above is a true extract from the minutes of the Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Witness my signature and the seal of said court hereto affixed the day and year last above written.

, Clerk.