Evagelia Eustathiou, a landlord who owns multiple properties on Dixie Trail, is currently under investigation by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission after she billed NC State students $23,000 in fines.
Tyler Parziale, one of the former tenants currently facing the fine, said there was immediate conflict from the time he moved in.
“It was almost a weekly ordeal with her for the first half of the lease,” Parziale said. “She would make us wake up early — pretty much open our doors when we were sleeping — and yell at us to get out of our rooms or make our beds. She also had strong claims about all the furniture that we had. If we didn’t remove anything, there were letters we got that were saying we were going to be fined.”
Parziale said he and the other tenants disregarded most of the letters due to the claims not being included in the lease they signed.
“She had sent us letters with fines for things like having shoes on our floor,” Parziale said. “All of the fines were basically for charges that weren’t in the lease, so we just ignored them. We actually sent her a letter and told her to stop harassing us, but that did very little.”
Eustathiou and her legal team did not respond to several requests for comment.
The majority of the fines delivered by Eustathiou — $18,250 out of the total $23,000 — concerned a homemade beer die table.
“All of these random things added up, and at the end of the year, we got a $23,000 bill — basically for just having a die table on our front porch,” Parziale said.
While one former tenant of the property received a bill with a reduced amount totaling $4,796.67, Parziale said he and the other tenants did not receive the same reduced bill. Parziale said he did not plan to pay the amount fined to him, but Eustathiou did not appear to be pushing for the bill to be paid.
“I think she still wants us to pay the bill, but it hasn’t been taken to court and she doesn’t seem to be pushing it, so at this moment, we’re mostly just ignoring her demands,” Parziale said.
Michael Avery, staff attorney for Student Legal Services, said the revised bill with the reduced amount is likely a response to the investigation launched on Eustathiou and her company, Apollon LLC.
“I haven’t really seen anything like this, but after being bold enough to demand $23,000, reducing it — especially after all the news media coverage — could be an attempt to not make it look so bad,” Avery said. “It’s really just a matter of her recognizing that this could become a problem for her, though I don’t know if reducing it could do anything now. I don’t see how you reasonably go from $23,000 to $5,000. What is the justification for taking it down that much?”
Avery said Student Legal Services is familiar with Eustathiou.
“We have definitely heard of Evagelia and Apollon LLC, which is bad since she only owns four properties on Dixie Trail,” Avery said. “If the same name comes across my desk that often, there’s probably something wrong.”
Avery said the complaints received by Student Legal Services regarding Eustathiou have been consistent and uniform.
“With her, there have been consistent claims about difficult communication, unannounced visits and unjustified and fraudulent claims against security deposits,” Avery said. “Now these are just allegations, but when allegations tend to be consistent like this, there’s got to be some kind of truth to them.”
In the past, Student Legal Services has encouraged students to file complaints against Eustathiou when issues arise, but Avery said the news coverage paired with the amount of the fine is likely what motivated the Attorney General’s Office and the Real Estate Commission to launch an investigation.
“It seems like news media coverage has just lit a fire under them,” Avery said. “The amount is so shocking that it caught their attention. I have been with Student Legal Services since 2009, and I have never seen a fine this big. Nothing has ever even come close to $23,000.”
Avery said aggrieved tenants are being encouraged to file complaints against Eustathiou with both the Attorney General’s Office and the Real Estate Commission. Students who had previously filed a complaint against Eustathiou are being told to file new ones.
“Our office has been contacted directly by the Attorney General’s Office which recommended that any aggrieved party file a consumer complaint with their office, even if they had previously filed a complaint in the past,” Avery said. “This investigation is important because the Attorney General’s Office can take action based on state law. If a criminal action has taken place, they will act accordingly.”
Complaints can be filed online with the Attorney General’s Office through the NC Department of Justice website and on the Real Estate Commission’s website.
Avery said students looking to rent should take advantage of Student Legal Services.
“If a student is thinking about renting from a place, come talk to us,” Avery said. “At the end of the day, you get to make the decision, but if there is a landlord with whom we’re consistently having issues, then I’m going to tell you about them, and you can then make an informed decision about whether to rent from them.”
Avery provided resources for students looking to rent.
“The NC Department of Justice provides some general information online regarding renting a home in this state, including a landlord-tenant booklet that defines the rights of residential tenants in North Carolina, and the NC Real Estate Commission provides a FAQ online about renting residential real estate and has published a Q&A on tenant security deposits,” Avery said.
Learn more about Student Legal Services through its website.
