Few people know that a special circle is prepared in hell for greedy landlords - with uncomfortable boilers, regular inspections without any warning, and with a bunch of additional fees, of course. But seriously, our world is full of stories about the greed and injustice of these people, which, by some quirk, fate regularly sends us on our life path. In fact, one can only be surprised at their ingenuity with which they come up with new nit-picks and reasons to rip off extra money from the tenants.
For example, the so-called 'pet fee'. Okay, in cases where the tenant has an aggressive dog or cat, then everything is quite justified - after all, the animal can ruin the wallpaper or furniture, the cost of restoring which can then be borne by the property owner. That is why, for example, many landlords specifically stipulate the 'no aggressive breeds' rule in the lease agreement. But sometimes the situation becomes absurd literally to the point of laughter.
A few days ago, TikToker @nicr__, an American named Nic, opened up about her landlord's completely crazy pet claim. The video went viral, with almost 62K views and over 4.5K likes - despite being very short, albeit incredibly meaningful.
More info: TikTok
The author of the video is a tenant who faced some weird requirements from her landlord
Image credits: @nicr__
The landlord demanded the author pay an extra 'pet fee' though her pet is just a goldfish
So, Nic shared a screenshot of an application for renting an apartment, where the landlord, firstly, demanded a one-time fee of $200 from her for a pet, secondly, activated the 'no aggressive breeds' option and, an icing on top, warned that they would also charge $15 monthly pet rent. The thing is, the original poster's pet is a goldfish!
Image credits: imsogabriel Stock
Yes, exactly. And yet, Nic is required to pay a hefty amount for the fact that she will have a tiny creature swimming in its tank, which will absolutely not affect the apartment, and from which there will be no harm to furniture or wallpaper. It is also not clear what exactly the landlord means by banning "aggressive breeds". Perhaps they are afraid that Nic's fish in a few months will again follow the evolutionary path that its ancestors traveled over millions of years, coming out on land and attacking one of the neighbors?
Goldfish are incredibly calm and hassle-free creatures and cause absolutely no mess in the house, an aquarist claims
"I can only laugh at this landlord's request," says Konstantin Ilyin, an aquarist from Odessa, Ukraine, who was asked by Bored Panda to comment on the story. “Firstly, the only harm that the presence of a fish can cause is if one of the people inadvertently breaks the tank. Secondly, come on, it's a goldfish! They were specially bred in such a way that they swam slower so you could see them better!"
"These bulging eyes, the forked tail - all these factors specifically prevent the fish from swimming too fast. You can just catch them with your hand easily! And besides, these are the cutest creatures that are not at all aggressive. Yes, there are territorial fish that can put up a fight in the aquarium, and some will accidentally jump out, but goldfish are completely devoid of this instinct, and in almost twenty years that I have been doing aquarism, I have never encountered any problems from them," Konstantin admits.
Most of the commenters are speechless over the landlord's greed and audacity, but some people reminisce about similar cases as well
The people in the comments don't get it either, exercising wit about the landlord and asking the original poster if she's going to release a barracuda into the halls, or even plans to breed piranhas. "Someone broke their giant aquarium and caused a lot of damage and ruined it for everyone else lol," say commenters, trying to understand the reason for such behavior.
However, the most likely reason is just ordinary human greed. After all, the OP was just lucky that the landlord let her move in with the fish at all. The fact is that some people in the comments recall they were also denied rent when they simply said that they had a goldfish. In any case, the vast majority of commenters are sure that this landlord's behavior simply goes beyond common sense.
If you're interested in the topic of landlord-tenant relations, you might also want to check out this post about a homeowner who was literally speechless when he saw the 'medieval steampunk' his former tenants put up. And if you've also experienced some really weird requests from landlords while renting, please feel free to tell your own stories below this post.