Woman speaks out after landlord increases rent after finding out she's on OnlyFans

A model claims her landlord more than doubled her rent after he discovered she is an OnlyFans star.

Romi Chase, 29, was shocked when her older landlord paid her a surprise visit after she had been living in her four-bedroom home in Miami, Florida, USA for nearly a year.

Under the guise of it being a routine home inspection, Romi says the only thing the man inspected was her body and he confronted her about her work in the adult industry.

A few weeks later, the influencer received a letter informing her that her monthly rent was rising from $2,300 to $4,800.

Romi - who made $1million in her first year on OnlyFans - said: “When he came over the only thing he inspected was me.

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“He told me he found my Instagram, went through all of my links and my OnlyFans.

“I was astounded, completely taken aback and put on the spot to say the least.

“He definitely made the impression that he didn’t take kindly or approve of how I make an 100 per cent legal living.

“He had an attitude, I could feel him judging and looking down on me, but I chalked it up to being from a different generation with a different set of values.”

Romi Chase, 29 was shocked when her landlord doubled her rent after finding out she's an OnlyFans starSWNS

When the Polish model called him to ask him why he hadn’t informed her of the rent hike during the inspection, she claims he did not provide an explanation.

“He showed zero emotion and basically said between the lines, either pay the rent at this exuberant price or get the f**k out,” she said.

Despite being able to afford the new price, Romi decided to forgo her security deposit and move out as she felt judged.

She said: “Why allow this kind of twisted shame game for a home that is lovely but not worth that price tag?

“I’m proud of what I do, I wasn’t hiding anything.

"I can’t help but wonder if my landlord, in his research, became an OnlyFans customer and enjoyed my work!”

Former primary school teacher Romi left her home in Poland in 2017 in pursuit of starting a life in America, starting in New Orleans but then moving to Alabama and eventually Orlando, Florida the following year.

"I didn't really have a plan," she said.

"My degree wasn't worth much so at some point I was broke.

"I didn't have my social security number, I didn't have my green card or work permit so I had to hustle.

"I started doing side gigs for fetish sites and glamour photoshoots and boudoir.

"I never considered that to be something I'd be doing full time."

Her plus-size modelling career, selling glamour and fetish photos and making adult videos for OnlyFans, skyrocketed, so by January 2020 she wanted to move to a larger home in Miami.

"I moved there to get better opportunities for my career that was taking off," said Romi.

"It was a nice home, nice open layout, it was great."

During the course of the year, she made her first million dollars and became one of the world's top OnlyFans creators.

She said: “I was a model tenant; I never missed a payment, even during the pandemic when my career actually thrived.

“I was quiet and low-key, nothing illegal or suspicious ever went on and I never had an issue with any of my neighbours.

“Life was good, I was happy and grateful to be a stranger in a new land prospering and making a life for myself.”

In late November last year, her landlord phoned her to tell her that he needed to come by to do a home inspection and, thinking this was normal, Romi invited him round for a few days later.

Romi said: "He actually didn't inspect anything, he walked in and paced around and I'm like 'ok what's happening?', he wasn't actually looking at anything.

"All of a sudden he's like 'I found you on Instagram', I'm like 'oh, OK'.

"I didn't think much of it because, whatever, my Instagram is public, if you find me you find me.

"Allegedly he found my OnlyFans, you can clearly see it is an adult site so he probably got a pretty good idea of what I was doing.

"He gave me a sort of attitude, you could see he didn't like this.

"At first I was like maybe he's an older guy and doesn't understand it, but I really didn't think much of it.

"It's a legal job, I'm paying taxes, I have registered as a small business.

"I wasn't going to waste my time trying to explain myself, I didn't have anything to explain.

"He announced it and kind of stormed out, he wasn't too pushy or aggressive he just was kind of cold."

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After 15 minutes, the landlord, who Romi estimates was in his late 50s, left, leaving Romi feeling very confused and hurt.

She said: "I was just weirded out, I didn't even know what that was about - why are you confronting me about my job? Would you confront a lawyer or a job?

"When I moved in he knew my finances, he was aware of the money I was bringing in and he didn't ask me about anything."

A few weeks later, the influencer received a letter from the landlord informing her that her monthly rent had been increased from $2,300 to $4,800.

She said: “It’s an 120 per cent increase during a time when people are just barely surviving, leaving me in a bad spot to say the least.”

The notice required her to pay up or move out within 60 days, and since her lease had a 60-day notice period, this forced Romi to make a decision on that day or lose her deposit.

She said: “I thought this was insane, none of this was in the initial lease that I signed.

“When I contacted a few lawyers I was told he was within his rights, in the state of Florida there is no regulation on rent hikes.

“My landlord knew I was an immigrant, he knew my finances and quite frankly I felt targeted.

"I was upset, this was just very chaotic and hectic time."

She immediately contacted her landlord, but she said he was “dismissive and cold” when she asked him why he didn’t mention her imminent rent increase when he visited her for the inspection.

“He showed zero emotion and basically said between the lines, either pay the rent at this exuberant price or get the f**k out,” she said.

“So I chose to get the f**k out, and when I told him he informed me that I didn’t give him enough notice and was losing my security deposit. It was the perfect plan.”

Romi moved to Las Vegas, Nevada as she had heard other performers in her industry lived there, and she is much happier and paying reasonable rent.

She said: "A lot of people would have maybe paid, I was just like 'nope'.

"I've bought a way better crib now in Vegas, it's a five-bed, five-bath with a private pool.

"It's my dream home and I came out on top.

"He didn't achieve his goals of bringing me down or whatever he was trying to do, it made me work hard to get what I want."

She is speaking out about her experience with the hope of ensuring no one else has to go through what she has.

She said: “Was I targeted for being in the adult industry, for being an immigrant or for being a single woman in her twenties making more money per year than he ever did in his entire life?

“I say all of the above."

SWNS reporting by Fiona Jackson

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