A tenant went viral after she caught her superior allegedly lying about a suspicious growth bubbling in her closet.
Sheridan Ellis (@sheridanellis) recently posted a series of videos to her TikTok account, where she has nearly 27,000 followers. In the first few videos, she showed viewers the mold in question and pondered what to do. Then she exposed her landlord for plotting to lie to her about their findings.
As of Sunday morning, her most-watched video chronicling her plight had amassed more than 2.7 million views.
Tenant finds workers lying
In one video, Ellis said they initially told her they would send a professional in to come test the “growth.” She wasn’t home when they came, however, so she plotted a way to catch their conversation remotely.
“I was at work and I watched and recorded on my dog camera as they made a plan of what to tell me to not lose their job,” she explained. After collecting said evidence, she said she went to Home Depot to buy her own mold testing kits. According to her, it confirmed that it was indeed mold in her closet.
“I know I’m not a mold expert, but that doesn’t look like pepper jack or gouda to me,” she said of her findings.
To make matters worse, Ellis said another tenant had a similar issue and they told her the mold was simply dust. “She lost $7,000 worth of things,” Ellis explained.
The tenant said that, despite the evidence she collected (more on that below), her apartment still denied that she had mold. But not only did Ellis have video proof that it was—she said she broke out into a rash that covered her neck and shoulders.
“I have everything recorded. I have a whole album-worth of things,” Ellis said. She encouraged viewers not to move to her apartment complex, the Ross + Peak apartment in Dallas, Texas.
@sheridanellis Proof Part 1 of Ross + Peak apartment complex lying. Checked my camera while I was at work and watched them walk around- not test anything- and make a plan on what to tell me 🙃 #cushmanandwakefield #cushmanwakefield #dallas #rosspeak #mold #apartment #leasing #CAMPfacility #CAMP ♬ original sound – Sheridan Ellis
Wait, what did the tenant record?
In Ellis’s evidence video, which she said she recorded from her dog camera, she caught three people in her apartment discussing what to tell her about the mold.
“Asked my apt complex to test the mold in my HVAC closet that grew from a leak they never fixed,” she wrote in the text overlay. “Was told they didn’t find anything so I checked my camera…”
In the recorded video, one woman, who went unnamed, appeared to suggest telling the woman the truth. But then another worker chimed in.
“I wouldn’t even [do] all that,” the man said. “I would just say…’The growth, the organic growth we found, we cut out and removed.’”
He continued, “Y’all are going to do her air duct cleaning or whatever.’” At one point, the man almost proposed calling the matter they found in the closet “mold,” but then he tripped over his words and said he preferred to call it “organic growth” because “none of us are scientists.”
In fact, toward the end of the video, he doubled down on this. He said that telling the tenant “less is more.” The apartment workers nodded in agreement.
In a follow-up video, Ellis showed viewers the mold in question. She pondered why her apartment would lie to her about the mold and confirmed that workers told her they found an “organic growth” (instead of mold) in her closet. However, she said there was “so much mildew and organic growth” that workers had to cut into an adjacent wall.
She also said the mold was supposedly in a locked HVAC closet that only apartment workers could access with a special key.
“So, yeah, what would you do—just hypothetically?” she jokingly asked viewers.
@sheridanellis Proof Part 1 of Ross + Peak apartment complex lying. Checked my camera while I was at work and watched them walk around- not test anything- and make a plan on what to tell me 🙃 #cushmanandwakefield #cushmanwakefield #dallas #rosspeak #mold #apartment #leasing #CAMPfacility #CAMP ♬ original sound – Sheridan Ellis
What happens if there’s mold in your apartment?
According to one Texas-based law blog, tenants can receive compensation for damages caused to their unit by mold. But the mold shouldn’t have gotten to that point to begin with, the blog suggested. That’s because “the law says that landlords in Texas have a duty to remove conditions that ‘materially affect the health and physical safety of an ordinary tenant.”
However, the law in question is somewhat iffy on when the complex needs to remove the mold. It noted that landlords have a “reasonable” amount of time to fix the issue, although it seemed like Ellis’s videos documenting her predicament had been taken over a prolonged period of time. In general, though, it said that mold-related issues should be resolved no more than seven days after a tenant first complains.
For tenants like Ellis, where their apartment complexes refuse to help, the blog said they are entitled to certain rights. For instance, it suggested that someone like Ellis should be able to either break her lease, file a lawsuit, or ask a third party to repair the mold issue and then “deduct the repair cost from your rent.” It also stated that people who experience health issues due to the mold should contact a personal injury lawyer immediately.
Others weigh in
And because of the evidence Ellis had, viewers suggested she hold off on paying rent until the issue was resolved. Most viewers said she should have the matter resolved in court.
“Here me out DO NOT PAY RENT directly to them, go to your courthouse file a tenant’s assertion it will put your rent in escrow directly to the court until this is resolved,” one woman suggested.
“That lawsuit will be epic,” another said.
“Sue them,” a third viewer echoed.
Other viewers noted that their apartment’s management has also lied to them.
“Our apt flooded last tx freeze due to the apt’s negligence and it took me threatening with lawyers and a bad google review to get out of our lease,” one person shared.
“This happened at my apt that had mold and made me sick they gaslit me so bad,” another added.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ellis to TikTok comment. We reached out to Ross + Peak apartments via its online messaging portal.
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