Photo via @ayyjayyy21/TikTok
December 23, 2021, 2:25 pm
A TikTok video is going viral after a new user claimed that his “slumlord” landlord overcharged him by $100 on rent, showing how the initial apartment advertisement listed it as $300 per month but then he got an eviction notice after two months because he had allegedly underpaid, listing the charged rent as $400. The TikTok user claims that the same price was listed on his lease, but hasn’t yet displayed a copy of this contract on camera.
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What he did show was multiple receipts that appeared to document his two months of payment at $300, saying that during that time, he was never notified of underpayment. He didn’t hear anything about it in spite of having direct contact with his landlord about where he should be taking his rent money until he was served with an eviction notice.
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“Evicted over some false advertising, help me make this make sense,” he writes in the video description.
In the first video, which has gained hundreds of thousands of views, he shows the eviction notice that seems to say he paid for the first two months in spite of the $400 charges, but claims he was late on the third month’s rent. Then it shows the online ad for the apartment, listing it as $300 per month.
“How you gonna evict me for not paying $400 in rent, but advertise $300 on your website?” says the gritty computerized voice.
This kind of bait-and-switch tactic is far from unheard of, particularly during a time when rent has skyrocketed as younger generations find themselves entirely priced out of the market for houses. However, if his lease did list the apartment at $300 per month, then he will definitely have a case.
If you’re wondering why the apartment is so cheap, as you probably were, the TikTok user noted in comments that it was because it’s located in a “meth town” in Iowa. He also repeatedly calls the landlord a “slumlord,” indicating that the apartment he rented probably wasn’t exactly nice.
Though a lot of commenters took issue with the idea that someone was able to find such a nasty apartment in a terrible part of the country so therefore it was cheap compared to New York rent, false advertising is a crime and, as the OP points out in his next video, could be a violation of the Fair Housing Act.
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In a response to a comment suggesting that the change in price from the advertisement doesn’t matter, the TikTok user read from what amounts to a “Being a Landlord for Dummies” page explaining deception in advertising and how it relates to legal protections for renters.
“Actually, bro, it does matter what they charge new tenants, because,” he says before reading off the website. “Deception: All advertisement must be truthful, fair, and free of misleading misrepresentations. Claims must be supported with solid proof. For rental housing, the FTC mandates that advertisements must follow the requirements provided in the Fair Housing Act.”
“I have proof,” he concluded. “I have the eviction notice and I have the advertisement. They don’t line up. That is deception.”
Without being a legal expert on the subject, we can’t say for sure whether this claim of false advertising would hold up in court. It’s not uncommon for landlords and property management companies to pull this kind of bait-and-switch, and whether or not he could sue may depend on what was in his signed lease contract.
A lot of commenters seem to doubt his story, however, and multiple requests for a shot of the lease have gone unanswered. He did, however, demonstrate with a receipt how he paid in person in cash for the first month a total of $800, which included a $500 deposit, but says that he received no complaint about this supposed underpayment from his landlord.
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*First Published: December 23, 2021, 2:25 pm
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