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23-year-old Brianni Bonner, originally from Chicago and now based in Dallas, Texas, recently had her life flipped upside-down when her apartment complex accidentally evicted her.
The mother of six-year-old Jace and 4-year-old Avi returned home from work at Walmart to discover her key no longer worked in her door.
A maintenance worker appeared in his van and threatened to report Bonner for attempting to get back in her apartment.
Bonner stated:
"[He] tells me I'm going to go to jail, because it's against the law for me to get back into my apartment."
As it turned out, the Riviera Apartments meant to evict the occupants of apartment 1712 on the first floor, rather than Bonner's apartment 1721 directly above it.
Maintenance was directed to enter the apartment and remove any leftover personal effects, so they could clean and freshly paint the space before a new tenant moved in.
A single mother is working at a local Walmart to support her 4y/o son. \n\nWhen she got home on Saturday morning, she says the locks were changed, & her belongings were in the dumpster. \n\n\u201cManagement told me they meant to evict 1712, & not 1721, where I live.\u201d \n\nHer story@wfaa\u2069pic.twitter.com/v7GaI1aDNU— Malini Basu (@Malini Basu) 1620852105
For those asking,I actually have two sons. My oldest is Jace he's 6. My Youngest is Azi he's 4. This affected both of them.— Brianni Bonner (@Brianni Bonner) 1620917061
But in the mix-up of the apartment numbers, the maintenance workers instead entered Bonner's apartment, threw away all of her family's possessions, cleaned, painted the walls and changed the locks on the door.
While Bonner was still at work, most of her and her sons' possessions were stolen. What little was left was thrown into the apartment complex dumpsters, including Bonner's prescription medication for PTSD and anxiety.
You can watch more about the eviction here:
After Bonner realized what had happened, she reached out to Riviera Apartments, who essentially refused to help at first.
They did admit her back into the apartment, which no longer felt like home to the single mother. They were only willing to offer compensation after further requests were made.
When Bonner finally reached the apartment complex management, she was surprised how little they were willing to do for her.
Bonner said:
"She told me, all they would be able to do for me is to give me a $200 Visa debit card."
"It was definitely a slap in the face."
Being a 23-year-old single mother who moved to Dallas for a fresh start, Bonner felt like she was going to have to start all over again.
Bonner explained:
"I feel like everything was taken from me. It doesn't feel like home anymore."
"I can't even explain to you the depression it's caused."
Bonner did end up setting up a GoFundMe to assist in the purchasing of new necessities for her sons.
The campaign raised more than 50,000 dollars, over 30,000 more than Bonner had hoped for.
You can see more about the money raised and Bonner's gratitude here:
People were fully in support of Bonner's family and aghast at what the complex had done.
Why would they throw away someone\u2019s belongings just because they are being evicted. That just seems spiteful and very mean. This entire situation is awful!— Jillian Rebecca (@Jillian Rebecca) 1620883563
Who is the property management company for this apartment complex? They need to be hearing from the general public. This is BS.— Bleed the Beast (@Bleed the Beast) 1620875159
Called and pretended that I wanted to rent an apt. Once the conversation got going, I asked, "Are y'all the apts that evict the wrong people?" She says, "She wasn't evicted." Knowing EXACTLY what I was talking abt. I asked, "Why were her belongings in the dumpster?" She hung up.— Dr.JuNa \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9 (@Dr.JuNa \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf9) 1620915892
Hopefully she can use the money to move to a location with a more responsible landlord— Very Concerned Citizen Kane (@Very Concerned Citizen Kane) 1620930070
80% of her belongings were gone. No one was bothered that they were scavenging through the belongings of an evicted family? I get having a need, but we've got to do a better job of looking out for each other. \n\nAlso, get a lawyer, young sister.— K Elijah (@K Elijah) 1620915064
This is not some \u201cinconvenience\u201d brought about upon this poor woman and her child by shoddy management. This is devastating. What an emotionally damaging thing to have happen to you. The company that runs those apartments deserves to be sued for their negligent behavior— Stoner Intellect (@Stoner Intellect) 1620913098
But some also pointed out the campaign was enabling big companies to continue their poor treatment of their consumers, with no intention of correcting their mistakes.
Please sue them , this could easily be settled in court , the emotional drama the money in damages . Please do Your research to sue the property management company because girl no . Get yo coin !— \ud835\udc02\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc32 \ud835\udc06\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc25 \ud835\udc0d\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc2c (@\ud835\udc02\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2d\ud835\udc32 \ud835\udc06\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc25 \ud835\udc0d\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc25\ud835\udc2c) 1620941309
This is insane! I\u2019m glad she created the GoFundMe which will help with immediate expenses but for sure she should look into a law suit for property damage/loss and pain & suffering! The apartment complex better be prepared to write a HUGE check to compensate her for this mistake.— Kendra (@Kendra) 1620946733
This makes me so mad! She is destroyed by this apartment management and offering $200. just to add insult to injury. PLEASE— America has always been Great! (@America has always been Great!) 1620880905
Definitely sue them, even if it\u2019s just in small claims court. Sorry this happened to you. It wouldn\u2019t be okay if you were being evicted, but since you weren\u2019t, I bet you have legal recourse they don\u2019t want you to know about.— original cindy (@original cindy) 1620931069
It's clear in this situation who was at fault, even if it was not malicious, and surely more could have been done to make the family comfortable.
Brianni Bonner is now seeking legal counsel and more than likely will seek a monetary settlement from the complex to help improve her and her sons' living situation.