EXCL: Hype House landlord says group vacated $10M home after nearly facing jail time for fireworks

The former landlord of TikTok‘s The Hype House said the group went ‘haywire’ while renting his $10million Hollywood home before vacating the lease after they nearly faced jail time for an illegal fireworks show. 

Danny Fitzgerald sued six members of the Hype House, including co-founders Thomas Petrou, 24, and Chase ‘Huddy’ Hudson, 20, after the Gen-Z influencers allegedly trashed his home and left behind more than $300,000 worth of damages. 

‘When they moved in, they were so fun,’ Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com in a phone interview on Thursday. The landlord said he ‘played ping pong’ with the group for 10 days straight and even met YouTuber and honorary Hype House member Nikita Dragun, 26.  

‘But then it went haywire.’ 

Danny Fitzgerald sued six members of the Hype House after the Gen-Z influencers trashed his home and left behind more than $300,000 worth of damages

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 of damages at the mansion and about getting jail time for illegally setting off fireworks in a fire zone 

Fitzgerald says he’s only received a fourth of the payment for the $10million home (pictured) from Petrou and his girlfriend Mia Hayward. He has also settled with two of the members, but couldn’t recall who as 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

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 for a 40-month period to pay for the damages after the group vacated their lease five months early. 

The group has only been paying him $2,500 per month since January 2021. 

He is asking for the $400,000 payment to be paid immediately in full and for the $10,000 in legal fees he’s 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 fourth of the payment from Petrou for his and his girlfriend Mia Hayward’s share. As for the other shares, he said Petrou ‘refused’ to pay it, despite being the ringleader and manager of the content group. 

‘They’re the workers and he’s the boss,’ Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. ‘Thomas has all the money.’ 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Petrou for comment. 

Fitzgerald said he has settled with two of the members, but couldn’t recall who as 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 would have more than likely owed him ‘millions.’ 

The group left the home for a new pad in Santa Rosa after Fitzgerald and the city council pressured them to leave, the landlord told DailyMail.com. 

‘They destroyed the place,’ Fitzgerald said. ‘They trash my house and make the neighbors mad.

‘They said they would take care of it.’  

The group posted a video of themselves setting off fireworks next to the pool, despite living in a fire zone and on a fire hazard street as the house is backed by woodland areas 

‘They could have set the whole state of California on fire,’ Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. ‘And to top it off, they put it on their Instagram’ 

The group did know that setting fireworks off broke their lease as member Kouvr Annon, 22, (pictured) can be heard saying: ‘You guys need to be quick and be careful because on our lease it says, specifically, we are not allowed to light fireworks’ 

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Within the 16,000-square-foot property – which Fitzgerald called the ‘place for kids to get rich and famous’ – the Hype House members destroyed the Jacuzzi’s motor, heating, and control panel; damaged the pool by throwing a ladder into it, scratched the floors, broke expensive tiles, damaged the walls, caused water leaks in the ceiling, and set off fireworks inside a fire zone – despite knowing it broke their lease. 

In a video posted to Fitzgerald’s YouTube page, member Kouvr Annon, 22, can be heard saying: ‘You guys need to be quick and be careful because on our lease it says, specifically, we are not allowed to light fireworks.’ 

The house is located in a fire zone and on a fire hazard street as it is it backed by woodland areas. 

‘They could have set the whole state of California on fire,’ Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. ‘And to top it off, they put it on their Instagram.’ 

Fitzgerald said the group had to hire a high-profile lawyer to get out of it and that ‘they’re lucky they didn’t get jail time.’ 

He also said the group was ‘monitored’ by his assistant full-time and did not listen when they were told they couldn’t do things. 

‘[You say:] ‘You can’t do that,’ then they do that,’ he said. ‘It’s endless what they did.’ 

Fitzgerald said there’s more damage than what they agreed to pay back, but couldn’t speak monetarily on how much damage was truly caused as they are still repairing the home a year later. 

Although the 10-bedroom, 16-bath home is currently occupied by YouTuber RiceGum, whose legal name is Bryan Quang Le – who has also caused damage to the home and been fined $25,000 by Fitzgerald for parties – the landlord and his team have continued to work on the property. 

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Within the 16,000-square-foot property – which Fitzgerald called the ‘place for kids to get rich and famous’ – the Hype House members destroyed the Jacuzzi’s motor, heating, and control panel; and damaged the pool by throwing a ladder in it (pictured) 

They also scratched the floors and damaged the walls (pictured) 

As well as left water damage in the ceiling (pictured in top right corner of the vent) 

They also cracked expensive tile (pictured). ‘It’s endless what they did,’ Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com on Thursday 

And destroyed the inside of the home with their endless antics 

However, despite the property still requiring repairs, the ‘deal’ is that the current occupants are still required to pay rent. 

As for the five months of rent left to pay after Hype House moved out early, they didn’t pay it. The reasoning is Fitzgerald found new tenants, who he referred to as ‘Crypto Castle’ to take over the lease. 

He also fined them $60million for throwing a party but said they came to an agreement for a lower price and the men paid it. 

Fitzgerald is also dealing with damages to an adjacent property after a company rapper Lil Nas worked with threw a party and a thousand people showed up, including the singer. 

‘I had to shut it down,’ Fitzgerald told DailyMail.com. 

Despite his increasing number of bad experiences renting to young people, he said he won’t stop doing it. His current nine homes in Los Angeles are all rented out to influencers.

‘I don’t want to rent to you people, but I don’t want to be discriminating,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘I’m not against influencers, but just do your influencing [without destroying property].’