Complaint Review: Brandon Lightcap - Allentown Pennsylvania

Brandon Phillip Lightcap answered my ad on Craig's List 6 months ago.  He broke his sublease 6 months early, lied to me, and refused to pay for utilities he d**n well knew he was legally responsible for since they were specified in the terms of his sublease, and because he personally benefited from those utilities.  

This is how it all went down....

On May 12th 2018, he sent me a text asking to speak to me, it was late and I wasn't about to stay up, so I had to pry out whatever it was that he wanted.  I then said, "No need to discuss it as a committee.  Are you, or are you not, going to be inquiring about ending your sublease early."  

His response, "Yes I  need to.  And I will pay the next six months in full." (Note that he specifically stated he would PAY THE NEXT SIX MONTHS IN FULL.)

I replied, "Geez, all that effort getting that room downstairs, you finally got it, and now you have to move." (This is referring to the downstairs room he wanted instead of the one upstairs he had originally rented.  He wanted the downstairs room because it was in the basement and isolated, and he's so introverted and anti-social that he didn't want to be around other people, which is also why I didn't like him much because he seemed like a really weird guy to me. Against my better judgment I let him take that room, because in the end a lot of the time I found him to be downright rude and so the less I saw of him the better.)

His response, "Yea.  It sucks but I'll pay in full what I owe if you want."  (Once again he said he would PAY ME IN FULL.)

My reply, "I'll have to work on the numbers.  Tomorrow.  Why do you need to leave?"

His response, "I need to work right now.  I will fill you in as much as I can tomorrow."  

My reply, "Were you waiting for me to fill the other two rooms before you decided to make this request?  Seems pretty convenient, timing wise."  (Since I had just filled the other two rooms.)

He replied no.

My reply, "In any case you're looking at 6 months left on your sublease, to November 11th, 2018.  There are also utility and household expenses to consider.  Rent wise, 7 months works out to be $3325 and you paid a $425 deposit.  I also shut down the oil for the season and noticed the tank is just a tad over 1/2, so that needs to be figured in as well.  I can't make any of the other guys pay for it because they didn't really use any.  In any case, I would want cash for the final amount.  After (the other tenant) bouncing that check on me I'm not taking them (personal checks) anymore."  Can't recall why I said 7 months, but in any case, 6 months works out to be $2850.00.

After that he pretty much blew me off until I texted him again on May 13th, 2018, at 12:09pm: "This indecision on your part doesn't sit well with me.  You can't suddenly text me saying you need to move and then just ambiguously back out the next morning, especially when I in turn told that potential new tenant who may have been able to replace the other person if that situation occurred, that you were now suddenly looking to move out and I may be able to rent him a room after all. 

Now, if I text him and say, "Well golly gee Brandon changed his mind," then I'm going to look like a total as*hole, especially after just yesterday when I told him that (the other tenant) just texted an apology and he'll be staying on.  So just FYI, there's more to things going on here than just your intentions, so you need to give me a definitive answer today, and I don't mean at 12 at night because I have to text this guy again and let him know the situation."

His reply, "Then no.  I'm staying." 

The next day he actually came up to me and apologized for his indecision and leaving me in the dark, which of course in retrospect turned out to be him just trying to lull me into a false sense of security, which I never fall for.  Regardless of his attempt to deceive me, the moment he texted me saying he supposedly "needed" to move out is the moment I began hawk-eyeing his every move, because for simple security reasons any tenant who does something like this must be watched, especially one who answered an online ad from a particular free website we all know of, which I won't mention here.

On the morning of 5/21/18 I went downstairs and knocked on his door, and he was deliberately blocking my view of inside his room.  That automatically made me suspicious, because obviously if someone deliberately hides something that means they have something to hide that I won't like knowing about.  I didn't trust that he didn't somehow destroy the room or my carpet, so I gave him the required notice in writing that it was my intention to inspect his room.

Later as he was walking through the front door with a box he read part of what I said, but not all, told me he'd read the rest later, and then continued to his car.  I then went outside on the porch to enjoy the Spring air, he went back inside again and continued bringing a couple more boxes out to his car.  I jokingly said, "What are ya, moving out?"  Now, this guy just stood there, looked me direct in the face and said, "No I'm not moving out."  Then he loaded up the two boxes, got in his car, and left.

This was clearly another lie, because about 45 minutes later he pulls into my driveway with a Uhaul van and then proceeds to start moving his things out.  So what was he hiding by blocking my view into his room earlier?  Answer:  The fact that he had already packed all his things and was preparing to move out.  Pissed that he obviously lied right to my face I demanded my keys back, and he actually had the audacity to refuse to give them to me until he was done. 

You know what?  F*ck you Brandon. Here he is, he lied to me, he's breaking his sublease, he's ripping me off thousands of dollars, he's the one not honoring his word or contractual obligations and then he has the audacity to question my integrity by acting like I'm going to lower myself to his underhanded sub-level and lock him out?  I mean, what an as*hole.  In response I said, "I can't lock you out of the house Brandon.  That would be illegal.  Just give me my f*cking keys."  He still refused, pissing me off even more, then pretty much acted like a rude ignorant b*****d the rest of the time by ignoring me, until he started talking over me while I was speaking and as if I wasn't even there, at which point I yelled, "I'm talking here!

You don't talk over someone while they're speaking you rude f*cking as*hole!"  - Trust me, he totally deserved that, because frankly I was tired of this guy, his sh*tty attitude and his open snotty rudeness, his unfriendliness, to me, and to the other tenants, one of whom had previously asked what his problem was on two separate occasions, and the other who stated he just plain didn't like him much.

From that point, after I calmed down a bit, I gave him the opportunity to be a stand up guy by paying for his oil bill.  He actually refused, even though he d**n well KNEW he was responsible for his share of the heating oil, the very heating oil that kept his a*s warm from March to April, and even a number of days in May considering the cooler weather we had this year.  I also gave him the opportunity to to satisfy one of his sublease terms, which specified that he was REQUIRED to machine clean the carpet and to sweep and mop the floor upon moving out, and the f**ker refused to do that as well.  

I even TEXTED him about this on April 22nd, 2018:  "As for the carpet, it's in the sublease terms that if anyone rents that room they have to machine clean the carpet when they move out.  That means renting a machine over at Weis.  The carpet also belongs to me, so I would expect that you would keep good care of it and not spill anything on it."  

His reply:  K (Obviously as in, OK, which besides it being in the sublease terms legally made him aware of the rule and his being required to comply with it.)

But even so, when I demanded he clean the carpet his exact response was, "Oh uh, I'm not gonna do that," all nonchalant as if he was justified in refusing, when in fact he d**n well wasn't.  You know, not only did I do this SOB a favor by giving him a nice, low cost place to live all winter, but I was also nice enough to let him take that larger room downstairs that he wanted so badly because he's a xenophobic unsociable hermit, and when I did, I also specifically told him in person that if he moved out he HAD to clean the floor and the carpet, and that was in the sublease terms, and he stood there and "yeah-yeah'd" me swearing up and down that he would, now here in retrospect proving himself the liar he is.

A day or two later I decided to offer him a VERY GENEROUS Settlement Agreement in the amount of $1631.25, which is less than HALF what I'm not going to sue him for, and gave him a deadline of Friday, May 25th at 12pm.  He claimed at one point that he was "seriously considering it," then actually had the audacity to ask me for another week, "to think about it."  What??  To think about it?  F*ck that.  I responded,"Well I don't understand why you need an extra week to make such a decision given what I'm offering you.  This should be a slam dunk Brandon. 

It certainly beats the alternative, which is me filing in court for over $3000 plus attorney fees and court costs, not to mention the black landlord/tenant mark that would be placed on your record, and prevent you from getting rentals in the future.  Because I know how people are, and when they see that you were sued by a landlord they're not going to tell you that they're denying you because of that.  They'll just move on to the next person without saying a word about it, so the point being is, you will have no idea how many people are denying you because of that mark on your record, not to menion jobs when employers run background checks.  It will also go on your credit.  All judgments are reported to the credit bureaus."

Later that day he replied, "I am seriously considering your offer.  The reason for my delayed response is that I am working out the logistics of how I would pay you the $1631.25 in full." Then I replied, "Well how were you going to pay for 6 months in rent when you said that to me twice in text messages that night."  (I didn't add a question mark because in my opinion he couldn't be trusted.)

His reply, "I was looking into securing a loan however the process of securing that loan would potentially take several days for approval." 

From this point forth, I knew it was bullsh*t.  I replied, "Well in that case I don't understand why you stupidly placed yourself into this position.  You knew that you couldn't just walk out on your sublease and that I required a monetary settlement, so instead of doing what you did by forcibly moving out, you should've spoken to me first."  I go on, but no sense in continuing further because he didn't even have the courtesy to respond ever again and I knew he was lying about this "securing a loan" bullsh*t because here's a kid who has no assets, no real property, probably no unsecured credit card, and he hasn't lived in a residence for more than three years.  Gee uh, ya think the bank is gonna give this kid a loan? 

Not a chance in Hades.

It was just more bullsh*t, him biding for more time trying to maniipulate me further, and it didn't work.  In any case, this is everything that happened and my next step is to take this punk to court, which I have EVERY intention of doing.  Anyone who can't keep their word or can't satisfy their contractual obligations is a piece of dog sh*t in my book, and his name is on Page 1.  So if this guy comes calling to rent a room from you, watch out.  In my personal opinion I highly recommend that you don't rent to him, because if he has no problem with breaking his sublease with me his word obviously means nothing, and therefore he's proven that he cannot be trusted to satisfy the terms of any agreement. 

In closing, I hope this helps the next person, because you know what?  If you don't do something about people like this and just passively ignore these kinds of situations, then they feel perfectly free to sh*t on the next person because they think they'll get away with it and just walk off into the sunset scot-free.  This is why there are so many immoral people out there ripping off others, because almost nobody is doing anything about their behavior, so they keep on doing the rotten sh*t they've doing.  Well I don't just sit idly by when someone f**ks me over.  I do something about it, I warn others, I prevent scum from building up under our fingernails, and you should too.  It's the only way to teach these f*ckers.

This is what happens when you try and f*ck people over Brandon.  These are the consequences.  Suck it up!