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BATS, broken elevators and water leakage: Influencer who exposed ‘luxury’ upstate NY apartment evicted

A TikTok influencer from Upstate New York has exposed their landlord after enduring unsanitary living circumstances

COHOES, NEW YORK: A TikTok influencer from Upstate New York has exposed their landlord after enduring unsanitary living circumstances. The resident got a terrifying caution from his landlord after posting a TikTok video of their opulent apartment, which was plagued by flooding problems, broken elevators, and a bat infestation. 

Donny Skipper is seen in the video moving around his "luxury" apartment in Cohoes, New York. The creator has gained popularity for exposing his landlord to the condition of his apartment building. His business owners are not happy. "Sometimes you do get little spillages around, but that's luxury," Skipper quips as he records an enormous leak in the building. "It keeps your feet clean."

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What else did the Upstate New York resident expose?

Donny Skipper leaves the drainage problem to go up in the elevator. He switches to the second set of elevators once the first set is no longer operational. "Taking the stairs is fine," he assumes. One of the other elevators is also not working. When Skipper does locate an elevator, a bat is dangling in the nook. "Hey look, I got a bat in the elevator right now" he stated, before transitioning to a shot of bats flying through the corridor. "I love the bats that live in my luxurious apartment, they’re so awesome and they keep things very luxurious."

'Bats frequenting my HVAC vents'

In the end, he claims that his landlords intend to raise the rent during the rental agreement renewal. "The other week I was informed by my corporate landlord that my rent was going up 6 percent," Skipper said to BuzzFeed. "In the past year, a wide range of maintenance issues have come up – exploding water heaters, boards falling off the ceiling, broken elevators, garages, and doors, bats frequenting my HVAC vents, and more."

In a different video, Skipper is shown receiving a letter from the landlords of his lease. "Holy potato sauce," he exclaims jokingly as he opens the letter. "You're telling me they won't renew my lease just because I made some TikTok saying that there are some things that gotta get fixed in this place."

'I decided it was time to share my experience'

The TikToker reportedly said that he has been a reliable tenant and has lived in this building with his family for three years, but a number of issues with the facilities led him to start recording videos. "After a year of noticing things seemed to continuously be falling apart in the complex — and a year of being dismissed by my corporate landlord — I decided it was time to share my experience," reports Buzz Feed.

'All I did was speak up about unsafe conditions'

Skipper claimed that his landlord hasn't spoken to him about his TikToks in person yet. "So far they have only dropped off a letter saying they are not renewing my lease and I need to leave by May. Now we have to find a new place in a very short time frame." He continued, "Anyone who follows my channel knows that I have a family — a wife and a toddler — and this corporation is forcing us out of our home. All I did was speak up about unsafe conditions." He recently revealed in one of his videos that he intends to file a class action lawsuit against his apartment management company.

'Who would want to live there anyway?'

The internet has quickly responded to the news with many users supporting Skipper. A user tweeted, "I lived here (Harmony Mill Lofts) for a few years and can confirm - terrible conditions!" Another wrote, "those are high-end luxury bats." Another user mentioned, "What makes a luxury apartment luxurious? Serious question!" "He most certainly wasnt just suddenly evicted because of a video. No chance a court is signing off on that," remarked one user. Another noted, "This has to be a greystar building." One person claimed, "The word luxury is so overused now it barely means anything." "Who would want to live there anyway?' said one user.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.