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March 18, 2023 | 4:43 p.m
A TikToker has gone viral for sharing the terms of his so-called “luxury” apartment building in New York, claiming he was evicted from his home as a result.
TikTok/@donnyskipper1
This is totally crazy.
A TikToker has gone viral for sharing the terms of his so-called “luxury” apartment building in upstate New York, claiming he was evicted from his home as a result.
The 33-year-old man, who goes by “Donny Skipper” online, found himself in hot water for a series of videos showing broken elevators and doors, “mysterious” flooding and even bats hanging out at The Lofts at Harmony Mills in Cohoes, north of Albany.
He said he’s paying $1,879 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, with the landlord looking to raise his rent to $2,004. That is, until his videos took off.
“My family and I have lived in my ‘luxury’ apartment for three years and we have always paid the rent on time and treated the property, staff and neighbors with respect,” said the TikToker, who declined to share his real name. with The Post due to privacy concerns.
He claims things were going well until a year ago when there was a high “staff turnover” and maintenance seemed to be falling by the wayside.
“Things seemed to be in a constant state of disrepair and the complex rental office, operated by Lincoln Property Company in Dallas, TX, became a team that would be very dismissive of requests for repairs,” he told The Post.
“They always made me feel like I was wrong by asking them to keep things right.”
The Post has contacted The Lofts at Harmony Mills and management companies Cadillac Fairview and Lincoln Property Company for comment.
In a satirical clip with 2 million views, the TikToker took viewers on a tour of his “upscale” apartment complex, highlighting unexplained puddles of water in the hall, malfunctioning elevators and even a stowaway bat.
“What I love about The Lofts is how sometimes the front door doesn’t work when you put your key in,” he says in the video posted last month.
“Sometimes you do get a little spill, but that’s a luxury, it keeps your feet clean. Even the stickiness keeps you from slipping,” he continued in the clip as he stepped through puddles.
In the second episode of his TikTok series “exposing” his “corporate landlord,” which has been viewed more than 212,000 times, he claimed to have been awakened several nights by bats in his HVAC system.
According to The Lofts’ website, the host promises a “unique combination of luxury, style and convenience,” complete with “the finest and hard-to-find amenities.”
The TikToks flipped when his landlord reportedly informed him that his lease would not be renewed in May, leaving him less than three months to move his family.
“Anyone who follows my channel knows I have a family – a wife and a toddler – and this business is forcing us out of our house,” he told The Post. “All I did was speak out about unsafe conditions.”
In his latest video, posted Saturday, the fun-loving TikToker updated his captivated viewers on the renovations he says are underway at his building.
He claims the construction left nails sticking out of floorboards; the main elevator is still out of service; and the pool closed after an inspection.
He told viewers he is in the process of organizing his neighbors, aiming to file a class action lawsuit.
The TikToker alleges that Lincoln Property Company, which manages The Lofts at Harmony Mills, is linked to RealPage’s rent pricing software called YieldStar, which has come under fire over allegations of artificial rent inflation.
He said his landlord wanted to raise his rent by 6% on a one-year lease before launching his TikTok series.
“I hope these big corporate landlords are finally held accountable for raising rents, making huge profits from YieldStar’s algorithm-based rental software, but not for the properties or the people who live there,” he told The Post.
“They shouldn’t be able to market these poorly maintained buildings as a luxury.”
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