Annoying Landlord...

[NBwmu]

So I just signed a lease to rent a house w/ some buddies. After reading over the lease agreement I noticed that along w/ stating that 55gal is the largest size aquarium allowed in the residence that it was tropical freshwater only. I have been planning on doing my first saltwater set-up for 6 months, once I moved in.

So I emailed the guy thinking we could work something out and he came back at me asking for a 750$ "pet deposit", 250$ of which is non-refundable. His rational for which is that the saltwater will ruin everything. While i do understand that salt on some surfaces can be pretty nasty I would think that a properly contained aquarium w/ hood or glass top could appropriatly contain most splashing.

Now that im done venting. My question is what are your experiences w/ this? Does the water cause that much damage? Even after a large mess, say overflow, is there irreversable damage to your floors after the fact?

[Misled]

Part of the problem is, he doesn't know how good you will be at controling the things you just mentioned. There will be some extra paint work after you move the tank. He will, most likely have to re-prime the wall behind the tank after it's moved.

[darkcirca]

Well things can get damaged. The wall behind my tank is covered with salt creep (can't really clean it since you can't get behind it), and the carpet under the one part of the stand is most likely ruined as we dropped several gallons of saltwater multiple times.

If you get a tank, it would need to be position so you can clean the wall behind it, and get under the stand as well, that way you can clean any mess you make. We top off with kalk water, which once spilled 3 gallons or so, which caused part of the wood on the stand (floorboard for sump) to bubble, and the knots in the board are now loose. I guess this could happen to floors if it goes through the carpet/padding as well.

[Magnatron]

well if you don't ever spill any of the salt water there wont be any damage hehe. but if you do have to deal with the dreaded overflow and the tank is on a floor that it can soak into (carpet, hardwood, ect) yes it can do some serious damage. warm saltwater + air = corrosion, concrete tile and other non porous flooring should be ok, and the others wont be bad off as long as you dry any spillage quickly, although i personly just don't like the idea of keeping a tank on a carpeted floor. and just the normal little splash here and there probly wont have any nasty effects besides some whites spots here and there that are wiped away easily enough.

as far as your lease agreement goes, well unfortunately you guys signed it already and theres not much you can do besides appealing to your landlords sense of decency. i hope everything works out for ya, just went through a similar situation myself with a landlord, the guy got me so mad i went and bought the house next door...six months and still no one living next to me LMAO........and on the other hand sounds like hes not to savy on SW tanks you might be able to set up a bio cube and tell him "thats FW tank you cant keep a SW tank that small" i know i cant be the only one to have to explain to people that we have made it past the 60's and 70's and you can have a SW tank under 100 gals that will thrive.

well anyhow thats my two cents, hope you find some middle ground with your landlord.

[dirtyclownfish]

Well, if somebody is messy about the hobby like I am, it can result in things like when I moved my tank, I found a big brown stain under my stand where I spilled some skimmate, It will never come out until we call Stanley Steemer again!

[Cope]

I lived the last 7 years in a house with a lease the stated " no large aquariums" well large to me is relative. I keep the tank in my bed room the entire time. every time the rental agency came by I told em "my girlfriend is sleeping in there". Or I would lock my door and leave and let my room mates deal with them. 7 years two houses, same rental agency, and they were p r i c k s! After the inital walk through they almost never came over, by law they have to give you 24 hours notice any way, just be gone when dude shows up and have a lock on your door, blinds down.

(edit) now I own my home and the tank is in the living room!
Double edit) Or you could just take the easy way out and pay the 250?
Try to get you mates to split the "pet" deposit, and tell them you will pay for the 250, + what ever total damage is done due to your tank. Once the tank is up and running your mates will be stoked on it.

[Misled]

Cope, I take care of a 100 unit apartment building. You wouldn't get away with that here. You're also would be in violation of your lease. That's a reason to:

1.Throw you out.

2. Keep the whole 750.00

3. Keep your security deposit.

[widmer]

Maybe you can draft a very explicit agreement for the landlord, in such a way that you state that if the place doesn't have any evidence an aquarium was there when you move out, you can get all of your deposit back.

[Cope]

I'm addicted to adrenaline/risk......

And yeah I knew all that going in and so did my mates. On the real tho I did it even longer than that, that was just with Accommodation Station, I did the same thing with a private lease before that for like 3 years.........

But I'm stoke to not have to do that any more.

[HBtank]

I do not think that is all that unreasonable.

I actually think the guy is pretty smart. I bet he has dealt with the damage from a tank that had a few overflows etc.. before...

My tile floor under my tank saves me... The guy before me had his on the carpet ( I knew him), there is still a cube shaped stain on the carpet where it was. It is will not come out... We put furniture over it.

You are lucky is does not ban them all together. They also present a fire risk.

You could always find another place if it bugs you, but I see nothing wrong with his policy.

[Cope]

DISCLAIMER

I am in NO way advocating this is the best course of action, just stating what worked for me.

Ps I ALWAYS got my entire deposit back, It takes work but can be done. Just think of all the renters who do things even MORE illegal in their rentals? Some get busted some don't.

[seapug]

I can understand the size limit to an extent, but the whole freshwater vs. saltwater thing makes no sense. Freshwater tanks are what can really cause damage with mold and mildew. Spilled saltwater will not create mold like freshwater does.

If you really want the tank but can't afford the $750 up front, see if the landlord will let you pay an extra $75 in rent each month for the next 10 months.

[crossi92]

Get over it, it's not your house. I just paid a $500.00 pet deposit for mine that is completely non-refundable.

[MR PALM BEACH]

Pay your rent on time and dont give the guy any reason to step foot in the apartment. You Shouldnt of said anyhting In the first place IMO about the fish tank. Its not like you have a dog or cat of that nature thats going In and out the house.

[Misled]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12260597#post12260597 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MR PALM BEACH
You Shouldnt of said anyhting In the first place IMO about the fish tank.


Trouble is, it's in the lease. Still grounds for eviction.

[Cope]

Yup..........My thoughts as well, As long as they think you are a "good" tenant they have no reason to come by. You could even put the tank in a closet and close the doors when dude comes over. Buy a dresser for your stuff.

[Misled]

Just think about it this way. The guy's house is insured. The insurance company has a copy of the lease "YOU" signed. Your saltwater tank causes a fire, and the house burns down.


Guess who the insurance company is comming after.

[Cope]

Chapter 11?

[ccorpse27]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12260997#post12260997 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Cope
Chapter 11?

It'd be a 7 or 13 for an individual and not a business.

[Imanz0]

If your problem is getting water on the floor, you can do what i dp. I got this big plastiv material cover, that i put all around the tank, and all over the floor, so if anything happens, (Which has happened twice) Nothing happens to my persian carpet :)

[NBwmu]

Thanks for the imput guys. I do like the idea of paying the deposit in installments thanks seapug. I guess living in large appartment complexes prior to this they aren't as meticulous with things of this manner nor are they able to monitor everyone. As for puting it up and hiding it, I think the guy would have a heart attack if he found it...which could solve all my problems j/k.

[BeesGoneWild]

Buy your own house and then dont worry about landlords...nuff said :)

[OceanSpray]

I actually understand both sides. I have a 75 gallon Saltwater tank, a couple of cats, and a dog. I also rent a house to my son, who has hamsters, cats etc.. I have told my wife many times, that I wish we had instituted a strict no pets policy before renting him the house. Its to late now, but I wince everytime he borrows our steam cleaner. I just don't ask why anymore. I love pets myself, but being a landlord; you never know how careful someone else will be with your stuff. Even though you know you'd be responsible, your landlord doesn't really know that.

A friend of mine, had a 100 gallon tank burst all over the floor of his second floor apartment about 15 years ago. He said it was quite a mess. It ruined his carpet, padding, wall, and even the ceiling of the apartment below him. Even though he was a responsible person, accidents happen.

I hope you can work something out, best of luck!!

[prickles]

You may also consider the floor. I know some of the houses I have couldn't hold a tank any larger than 55 gallon as they are built with a crawlspace under the floor and I wouldn't want to test that.

As a landlord, people don't understand how much damage they can do in a small amount of time. I just did my taxes for my rentals for 07 and 20% of my flips cost more than $4000 each to get ready for the next tenants. $750 would in no way cover a mess if the tank burst. Even the normal wear on a house, patching drywall, painting, and replacing the carpet in the room the tank is in because of everyday salt spills would cost that much when you include labor. (Cheap labor)

[Megalodon]

A damage deposit like that doesn't sound to unreasonable.

[kfisc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12263126#post12263126 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Megalodon
A damage deposit like that doesn't sound to unreasonable.


Agreed. He sounds like he's got about a 180g sitting in his basement and knows saltcreep all too well.

[NewFish3]

I got one for you guys. I have a few rental homes & I had a renter go as far as this. He took an old dresser, one of the tall units & gutted it out, screwed the drawer fronts shut from the inside. So now it was just a box that looks like a dresser. When I would call him to say that Iam going to stop by, he would bring the dresser up out of the basement & slide it over the tank. The tank was in one of the bedrooms, so when you looked in the room, it just looked like a dresser......When I found out about it, I just laughed my as* off

[tkeracer619]

I asked my landlord if I could cut out the carpet for my new larger tank. He said sure. Needs replacing anyways if I dont end up buying the place..... so I cut the carpet out. a 10' by 5' section to be exact.

I think the dresser Idea is awesome and would totally do that if I had a sticler for a landlord =]. My landlord in college once told me when I told him we were having a 500 person party that we "could knock down one of the 2 bedroom rentals but DO NOT HURT THE GRASS" My neighbors put out a 200'x50' slip and slide but didnt take it down for a week, killed the grass, he evicted them all. HAHAHA

In your situation I would use a pond liner to make a basin inside the stand with water bugs spread about (alarms that sound when they get wet) and make sure the tank is very reef ready. Make sure the skimmer is in sump.

Its people who dont pay the last 6 months of their lease that make landlords do things that seem rediculous but its just trying to save their huge investment...

[BLKTANG]

Set up a nice 55g African system.

[Megalodon]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12263963#post12263963 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BLKTANG
Set up a nice 55g African system. Good idea. African cichlids are quite nice.

[Megalodon]

My mom used to rent out a three-bedroom townhouse. All our tenants would not treat the property with the utmost of care. Although they were decent people and didn't trash the place, keeping a half a month's rent in a damage deposit usually didn't cover it.

[briangg57]

I Put Super glue on a frag and was getting ready to put it in the tank and I dropped it on my rug. It WAS a nice rug!

[downhillbiker]

where do you live? i am in oregon and will sell you my heavily planted 55 gallon discus tank. with 2 4" discus, and CO2 injection, filter, heater, lights, ect.

[pledosophy]

I compromised with my landlords on size by taking out a 25K insurance policy on the tank where if it causes any damage the insurance pays for it. Cost me $134 a year. Makes landlords feel safe. Makes me feel safe.

I don't see how my 65g could do that much damage to my bottom floor unit where the tank is next to an unshared non load bearing wall built on a concrete slab, but I'm safe.

Funny thing is if the tank breaks and floods the place they won't pay for the fish or coral, but if it falls on the protein skimmer, I get a new one.

[briangg57]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12265083#post12265083 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pledosophy
I compromised with my landlords on size by taking out a 25K insurance policy on the tank where if it causes any damage the insurance pays for it. Cost me $134 a year. Makes landlords feel safe. Makes me feel safe.

I don't see how my 65g could do that much damage to my bottom floor unit where the tank is next to an unshared non load bearing wall built on a concrete slab, but I'm safe.

Funny thing is if the tank breaks and floods the place they won't pay for the fish or coral, but if it falls on the protein skimmer, I get a new one. How much is your Deductable?

[turtleman9100]

Don't do it. I ruined an apartment with my first 125 gallon saltwater tank. Walls and carpet both.