Traci Ann Vickers sued Merry Land & Investment Company, Inc. Merry Land, Renters Reference Services, Inc. Renters, and Equity Residential Properties Management Limited Partnership Equity Partnership for wrongly dispossessing her from her apartment. The trial court granted summary judgment to Merry Land, Renters, and Equity Partnership. Vickers appeals, and we affirm for the reasons set forth below. To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact, and that the undisputed facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, warrant judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c; Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins , 261 Ga. 491 405 SE2d 474 1991. To obtain summary judgment, a defendant need not produce any evidence, but must only point to an absence of evidence supporting at least one essential element of the plaintiff’s claim. Id. Our review of a grant of summary judgment is de novo, and we view the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn from it in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Supchak v. Pruitt , 232 Ga. App. 680, 682 503 SE2d 581 1998.
The evidence shows that Vickers rented Apartment 121 of the Chatelaine Park Apartments the Apartments under a lease dated March 30, 1999. The lease identified the lessor as Equity Partnership, “as agent for the owner of the Apartments.” Vickers failed to pay her rent for the month of May 1999. Jennifer Garrison, then the assistant manager of the Apartments, averred that on May 7, 1999, she prepared and delivered to Vickers a letter serving as notice and demand for possession of Apartment 121. Garrison also averred that Vickers acknowledged receipt of the notice and promised to pay the amounts she owed before the eviction, although she did not do so.
