A group of seniors learned the consequences of renting a house for their prom after-party when they were served with $5000 worth of damages from the house’s owner in April. The house was rented in senior JD Nichol’s name from the house rental service Airbnb, a worry for the senior who now has thousands of dollars of damage resting on his shoulders.

“What worries me? The worst part is my name is on it,” Nichols said. “When it comes down to it, it’s my responsibility. So if people end up ditching and not wanting to pay, I’m gonna have to be the one covering it. If he ends up suing or something ridiculous, which I don’t think he will, but it would be me.”

With people coming in and out of the house all night, Nichols is struggling with getting people to pay for their part of the damages, a definite problem with such a high price tag. The prom group even made a GoFundMe in an effort to crowdfund the issue.

“Apart from the GoFundMe, we’re just going to have the divide the cost even if it sucks,” prom group member Catherine Tallmadge said. “We ask that people that came to not be stingy, because it’s everyone’s responsibility, and all the weight shouldn’t be on the person who booked it.”

After being served with $5000 in damages, Nichols countered the homeowner’s offer with a detailed email. The email included researched prices for the damage incurred and proposing his own offer of approximately $715 plus charges from a broken washing machine.

“It was all accidental damage obviously,” Nichols said. “The worst part was a potted plant that broke onto a rug. The problem that came out of that was that we tried to wash the rug in the washing machine, which apparently caused the washing machine to break. That was the worst part. There were a couple of ridiculous things. He had an antique chest in the master bedroom. Water spilled on top of it. He got a quote from a restoration company for like $608 to repair the chest.”

In addition to the potted plant, rug, and antique chest, the other damage consisted of mostly spills and breakage around the house. Since the initial damage claim, Nichols has talked down the price to $1440 including the price of the washing machine. The price will be split among multiple people, with about ten people paying about $75 apiece, four or five people paying $100, and Nichols paying the rest.

“Maybe four people total have come up to me and said ‘I’ll help you out. If it costs a ton, we’ll contribute.’ But everyone else, I’ve tried to contact them, and they don’t reply,” Nichols said.

After experiencing the stress and monetary trouble that comes with an issue like this, when asked, Nichols says he wouldn’t make the same decision again.

“Absolutely not,” Nichols said. “I wouldn’t rent out a house under my own name.”