aquarium issue with landlord

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Keep the tank and aquascape without fish?

  • Yes, donate your fish and aquascape until your lease is up

    Votes: 3 75.0%
  • No, tear down the tanks and put them in storage

    Votes: 1 25.0%

  • Total voters
    4

Haseeb2

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Hello,

First time poster here.

Here is what is going on with me... In June I moved into this apartment complex where I have two roommates but we have our own rooms. I have my 29 gallon aquarium and two small 2 gallon betta and shrimp tanks in my room. One of my roommates expressed interest in having an aquarium in the living room but the other roommate did not like the idea. I recently came upon a deal at a discount aquarium shop which I could not turn down... I found a beautiful 55 gallon corner tank with a stand for $150.00. The tank was relatively new so I jumped at the opportunity. I told my room mate that I am going to purchase the tank and keep it in my storage space locker until the other room mate changes his mind or moves out. My other room mate said screw him... Lets go ahead and put it in the corner of the living room... It will be so beautiful and it is not obstructing anything. After we placed this aquarium there however, there were serious issues... The other room mate complained to the landlord, then the landlord had a talk with me last Thursday. He read through the least contract and told me that I am not permitted to have any pets PERIOD. I simply did not know that as I thought by pets he just meant cats and dogs, but he told me that if I do not get rid of my fish by the end of this month, he will evict me. Furthermore he said he could charge me $25 per day for every single fish I have (13 Neon Tetras, 7 Cory Cats, 1 Betta and 3 Shrimp) until I get rid of them or vacate the premises.

3 Possible Favorable Outcomes:

1) I am in the process of registering my fish as emotional support animals so I can give the landlord I legally binding letter to allow me to keep my fish and set up my 55 in my room.

2) If the ESA letter does not work, I will donate my fish to a local aquarium shop then concentrate on aquascapes as is says nothing in the lease about not having aquariums with just plants in them. Then come next June, I will find a fish friendly place to move into and then populate my acquascaped aquariums with fish and or shrimp.

3) Tear down my tanks, donate my fish and put them in my storage until my lease is up when I can move into a fish friendly place.

I sincerely apologize for the long message... Feel free to comment and thank you for taking the time to read.
 
I’d put the room mate in storage although that’s not an option. :rofl: Seriously, I am so sorry you’re having to go through this. I hope the first option works out for you.
 
1) I am in the process of registering my fish as emotional support animals so I can give the landlord I legally binding letter to allow me to keep my fish and set up my 55 in my room.
Can you even do that? o_O :rofl:
 
2) If the ESA letter does not work, I will donate my fish to a local aquarium shop then concentrate on aquascapes as is says nothing in the lease about not having aquariums with just plants in them. Then come next June, I will find a fish friendly place to move into and then populate my acquascaped aquariums with fish and or shrimp
If option #1 doesn’t work, then use this option. It is a much better idea than just tearing it all down. :)
 
1) I am in the process of registering my fish as emotional support animals so I can give the landlord I legally binding letter to allow me to keep my fish and set up my 55 in my room.

hey if that works for you, maybe that would work for our longtime member Colin... keep us posted
 
Furthermore he said he could charge me $25 per day for every single fish I have (13 Neon Tetras, 7 Cory Cats, 1 Betta and 3 Shrimp) until I get rid of them or vacate the premises.
I would contact consumer protection or whoever deals with rental properties and ask them if that is legit or the landlord is full of crap. Certainly in Australia, landlords can't charge you for fish in a tank. All they can do is say you're in breach of the lease because the lease says no pets and includes fish tanks in the lease. If it doesn't include fish tanks then they can't say squat. They then have to give you a month to get rid of the pets or work out a pet agreement.

My guess is your landlord is being a tosser and is trying to intimidate you by saying he can charge you $25 a day for each fish.

If it turns out he can charge you per fish, (unlikely but possible due to some pretty stupid laws around the world), I would sell the fish to a pet shop and get a store credit. If the fish are rare and hard to get (neons aren't), you could ask the pet shop if they would babysit them for a few months while you try to find a new place to live. You could offer to pay them a few dollars a week and you would not blame the shop if the fish died while they were looking after them.

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You need to check the lease and see if it specifies "fish tanks" in the pet section. If it just says pets and does not specify fish tanks, you could argue that point as a technicality. However, some of the people that rule on these matters consider everything from an ant farm, worm farm, hermit crab or goldfish in a bowl to be pets.

It will also depend on how long you have been renting for. If this is your first rental property and first lease agreement, then that will work in your favor because you have no previous experience with leases and did not know better.

And if you have had rent inspections prior to the landlord telling you "no fish", that is also in your favor because your current fish tank/s should have been pointed out during the rent inspections. If nobody said anything about not having fish tanks in your bedroom during previous rent inspections, then they were acceptable as far as you were concerned, because the people doing the rent inspection saw the tank/s and didn't say anything about it.

eg: I had 3 rent inspections over the last 12 months and each time the real estate agent doing the inspection saw the fish tank and didn't say anything about it not being allowed. Ergo, I assumed it was fine.

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People do register fish as emotional support animals because they help reduce stress. You need a letter from your doctor and if possible a psychologist saying you suffer from stress and the fish help you cope. Then jump through hoops with the department that deals with this and hope for the best.

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The moral to this story, don't put a fish tank in the loungeroom when one of the house mates has asked you not to.
 
Ok, so I was doing a lot of research, and it seems like your landlord can evict you, but only if he fights it in court. Check out this website.......https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-be-evicted-for-having-a-small-fish-tank--1673812.html

These are real questions, and real attorneys.

Christopher L. Peck:
“Contracts. It all comes down to the judge and how much you really want to spend to dispute this. If the Landlord is being unreasonable and wants the fish out, I believe it could get expensive for you to fight this in court. However, a small claims action could be brought by you to receive a "declaratory judgment" that the contract is vague and that the fish is not the type of animal that the contract was meant to address. You might talk with your doctor and see if he or she might be willing to prescribe the fish tank for stress relief...then mention to the Landlord you are only keeping it until your stress level goes down...Doctor's orders. Good luck!”

This was the best one. When apartments say “No pets”, they are really saying “No pets that can cause damage” (Aka dogs, cats, ferrets, etc.) But Fish? They cause no damage. Like Mr. Christopher said, “You might talk with your doctor and see if he or she might be willing to prescribe the fish tank for stress relief...then mention to the Landlord you are only keeping it until your stress level goes down...Doctor's orders.” You could actually talk to your doctor, and tell your landlord that they are for stress.

Here is another good one.....

Adel Fakhouri:

“This is a matter of semantics. The purpose of a no -pet clause in a lease is to avoid any after-effects to a property after having an animal housed inside (e.g. smell, carpet stains, animal hair, etc.). Technically is the fish a pet? Yes. But if it ever went in front of a judge, the landlord will have to explain what the actual "damage" they are incurring for this pet. Most times, the judge will consider whether the so-called breach is a substantive breach of the lease and may weigh the equities to determine whether such a hairline nuance could be considered enough to establish a breach. The short answer...it depends.”

He says “The landlord will have to prove what “Damage the fish did”. Maybe if you spilled water on the floor, and it left a water stain, he might be able to evict you, but it is not really possible.

(All information and quotes came from this website: https://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/can-i-be-evicted-for-having-a-small-fish-tank--1673812.html)
 
In Australia, aquariums get covered in the pet section of a lease and they refer to water damage caused by leaks or cracked tanks. That's where the landlords will get you for having an aquarium.

The landlord will go "If the tank leaks, the property will suffer water damage".

The difference between an aquarium and a stack of pot plants in trays with water, comes down to the volume of water. I asked my real estate agent if I could keep a plastic storage container with water inside the house and was told no. I said what about plants in shallow trays of water, trays had 1 inch of water. I was told yes. They basically said the small volume of water is less likely to cause water damage.
 
Thanks for all of your responses... I definitely want to avoid having to go to court and get a lawyer... The bottom line is this... The Lease specifically points out ANIMALS including fish. It says nothing about a fish tank with just plants nor does it mention anything about not having a container filled up with water.
 
Aquariums may not be allowed due to potential damage a leaking tank may cause ; just like some landlords may say waterbeds are not allowed due to the potential for water damage . Also the weight of a large aquarium may cause floor damage... depressions in the floor or failure of the floor due to inadequate support under the flooring.
 
Aquariums may not be allowed due to potential damage a leaking tank may cause ; just like some landlords may say waterbeds are not allowed due to the potential for water damage . Also the weight of a large aquarium may cause floor damage... depressions in the floor or failure of the floor due to inadequate support under the flooring.
Yes, I agree.

My suggestion is to sell (or give) your fish to your LFS, and focus on AquaScaping, until you move. :)
 
Aquariums may not be allowed due to potential damage a leaking tank may cause ; just like some landlords may say waterbeds are not allowed due to the potential for water damage . Also the weight of a large aquarium may cause floor damage... depressions in the floor or failure of the floor due to inadequate support under the flooring.

I understand this, but the floor is made out of a concrete slab and the water heater and washer/dryer weigh more than my aquariums. At any rate... Nothing is specifically stated about aquariums or things filled up with water. Therefore, I am in the clear to do aquascaping.
 
I understand this, but the floor is made out of a concrete slab and the water heater and washer/dryer weigh more than my aquariums. At any rate... Nothing is specifically stated about aquariums or things filled up with water. Therefore, I am in the clear to do aquascaping.
Good. Water weighs approximately 8 pounds per gallon, which is pretty heavy. If it is a concrete slab, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I say sell the fish, and focus on AquaScaping. ;)
 

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