A mum-of-two who lost her job at the beginning of the pandemic has been given an eviction notice with a waving emoji after she fell behind on her rent payments.
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Sonja Lee, 33, found the letter with the words ‘Guess who’s moving? You!!!’ pinned to the door of her home in Houston, Texas, presumably left by her absolute troll of a landlord:
Sonja owed three months of rent after losing her job at fast food restaurant Jack in the Box and has been unable to access unemployment benefits despite five appeals.
She received the eviction note despite speaking to management about her situation. Sonja told Chron.com:
I was shocked. Not shocked because I was behind on rent, but shocked at insensitivity of the letter.
It was very tacky and tasteless and very unprofessional. I felt like they were antagonizing tenants for not being able to pay their rent.
Sure sounds like it! Not to worry though because as usual – the internet has come to the rescue. After sharing her story, Sonja launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for her overdue rent. Thanks to the kindness of strangers who donated, Sonja is now $38,822 up – more than 10 times higher than her target of $3,380. Quids in!
As a bonus, Karya Property Management, the owners of the apartment complex, have apologised for the notice and CEO Swapnil Agarwal wrote in a statement that Sonja is not being evicted but the manager who wrote the letter has been reprimanded.
Buck stops with me, so yes, I do personally apologize.
I wish I had the time and the resources to reach out personally to every one of them who have dealt with any issues at our properties.
But I am apologizing personally in case it was insensitive, and if she was really trying to work out a payment program with the property or that she was in communication with the manager, then I accept it’s truly our fault.
Well that’s nice of her. Obviously if you don’t pay rent for months on end you can expect to be evicted and that’s just the way it goes – landlords aren’t necessarily rich people and have expenses of their own to cover – but the way this guy delighted in the idea of kicking Sonja and her family out was bang out of order. A waving emoji and ‘Guess who’s moving?’ joke? Some ruthless trolling for sure.
One last bit of good news – Sonja is due to start a new job this week! Go Sonja!
For the 93-year-old who shot his landlord in the legs because of ‘water damage’ in his flat, click HERE. Bit of an OTT reaction, if you ask me.
