>
The former owner of TikTok’s The Hype House said the group went crazy while renting out his $10 million Hollywood home before voiding the lease after they nearly faced jail time over an illegal fireworks display.
Danny Fitzgerald sued six Hype House members, including co-founders Thomas Petrou, 24, and Chase ‘Huddy’ Hudson, 20, after Gen-Z influencers allegedly vandalized their home, leaving more than $300,000 in damage. .
“When they moved in, they were a lot of fun,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com in a telephone interview on Thursday. The owner said he “played ping pong” with the group for 10 days straight and even met YouTuber and Hype House honorary member Nikita Dragun, 26.
“But then he went crazy.”
Danny Fitzgerald sued six Hype House members after Gen-Z influencers vandalized his home, leaving over $300,000 in damage
Hype House co-founders Thomas Petrou (left) and Chase ‘Lil Huddy’ Hudson (right) have been sued by their former Weidlake Drive landlord for leaving more than $300,000 in damage to the mansion and going to jail for illegal lighting fireworks in a fire zone
Fitzgerald says he only received a quarter of the payment on the $10 million house (pictured) from Petrou and his girlfriend Mia Hayward. He also made a deal with two of the members, but he couldn’t remember who, since she was on a ski trip. Those members have agreed to pay their share of it. As for the other members: “I don’t think they have any money,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com.
Fitzgerald sued Petrou, Hudson, Mia Hayward, Calvin Goldby and Patrick Huston for breach of contract after they agreed to give him $10,000 a month over a 40-month period to pay for damages after the group vacated their lease five months earlier. .
The group has only been paying him $2,500 per month since January 2021.
He is asking that the $400,000 payment be paid immediately in full and the $10,000 in legal fees he has acquired because of them.
“All they had to do was pay $10,000 a month,” he told DailyMail.com. The group had been renting the property for around $40,000 a month, according to Fitzgerald.
So far, Fitzgerald has only received a quarter of Petrou’s payment for himself and his girlfriend Mia Hayward. As for the other actions, he said Petrou “refused” to pay for them, despite being the head and manager of the content group.
“They are the workers and he is the boss,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. Thomas has all the money.
DailyMail.com has contacted Petrou for comment.
Fitzgerald said he reached an agreement with two of the members, but couldn’t remember who, since he was on a ski trip. Those members have agreed to pay their share. As for the other members: “I don’t think they have any money,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com.
He said if he had taken it all the way through the court system, the group probably would have owed him ‘millions’.
The group left the house on a new platform in Santa Rosa after Fitzgerald and the city council pressured them to leave, the owner told DailyMail.com.
“They destroyed the place,” Fitzgerald said. ‘They vandalize my house and make the neighbors angry.
They said they would take care of it.
The group posted a video of themselves setting off fireworks by the pool, despite living in a fire zone and on a fire-hazardous street as the house is surrounded by wooded areas.
“They could have set the entire state of California on fire,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. ‘And to top it off, they put it on his Instagram’
The group knew setting off fireworks broke their lease, as 22-year-old member Kouvr Annon (pictured) can be heard saying: ‘You guys have to be quick and be careful because in our lease it says, specifically, that we are not allowed to display fireworks’
Inside the 16,000-square-foot property, which Fitzgerald called the “place for kids to get rich and famous,” members of the Hype House destroyed the hot tub’s motor, heater, and control panel; he damaged the pool by throwing a ladder at it, scratched the floors, broke expensive tiles, damaged walls, caused water to leak from the roof, and set off fireworks inside a fire zone, despite knowing he broke his lease.
In a video posted on Fitzgerald’s Youtube page, member Kouvr Annon, 22, can be heard saying: “You guys have to be quick and be careful because our lease specifically says we’re not allowed to set off fireworks.”
The house is located in a fire zone and on a fire risk street as it is backed by wooded areas.
“They could have set the entire state of California on fire,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. “And to top it off, they put it on his Instagram.”
Fitzgerald said the group had to hire a high-profile attorney to get them out and “they’re lucky they didn’t go to jail.”
He also said the group was ‘supervised’ by his full-time assistant and didn’t listen when told they couldn’t do things.
‘[You say:] ‘You can’t do that,’ so they do that,’ he said. ‘It’s endless what they did.’
Fitzgerald said there’s more damage than they agreed to return, but he couldn’t speak monetarily about how much damage he actually caused, as they’re still fixing up the home a year later.
Although the 10-bedroom, 16-bathroom home is currently occupied by YouTuber RiceGum, legal name Bryan Quang Le, who also caused damage to the home and was fined $25,000 by Fitzgerald for partying, the owner and his crew have continued to work on the property.
Inside the 16,000-square-foot property, which Fitzgerald called the “place for kids to get rich and famous,” members of the Hype House destroyed the hot tub’s motor, heater, and control panel; and damaged the pool by throwing a ladder at it (pictured)
They also scratched the floors and damaged the walls (pictured)
As well as water damage to the roof (pictured in the upper right corner of the vent)
They also broke expensive tiles (pictured). “It’s endless what they did,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com on Thursday.
And they destroyed the inside of the house with their endless antics
However, even though the property still requires repairs, the “deal” is that the current occupants are still required to pay rent.
As for the five months’ rent that was left to be paid after Hype House moved out early, they didn’t pay it. The reasoning is that Fitzgerald found new tenants, whom he referred to as ‘Crypto Castle’ to take over the lease.
He also fined them $60 million for throwing a party, but said they settled for a lower price and the men paid for it.
Fitzgerald is also dealing with damage to an adjacent property after a company rapper Lil Nas worked with threw a party and 1,000 people attended, including the singer.
“I had to turn it off,” Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com.
Despite his increasing number of bad experiences renting to young people, he said he won’t stop doing it. All nine of her current houses in Los Angeles are rented to influential people.
“I don’t want to rent to you, but I don’t want to be discriminatory,” he told DailyMail.com. ‘I’m not against influencers, just do your influence [without destroying property].’