# the unthinkable just happened!



## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

last night at like 3:30am my 55gal started leaking, not the tank itsself but the aquaclear filter has become clogged and started splashing water out threw the lid, i lost about 5 gallons of water before the downstairs neighbor came up and told me. i woke up and fixed it and cleaned it up. now the landlord came over about an hour ago, told me i had 10 days to get rid of ALL the fish tanks or move. i told him i was moving. now im SOL, no help from anywhere no vechile to move my stuff in, no where to move.

what am i supposed to do?


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Unless the lease specifically mentions aquariums, then I suggest you go seek legal counsel. I've been a landlord in Ohio and you'd be amazed how little power that the landlord actually has to make you leave over an accidental leak or anything else of that sort... 
the last thing in the world that I would do in your shoes would be to get rid of tanks or move out on the landlord's schedule.


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

The nightmare (I have this one a lot, being on a 3rd floor apt.) has come true!  
Sorry about all the hassles surrounding a bit of water on the floor. I guarantee you that apartment has had worse leaks due to plumbing issues.

Anyway, I'd do just as Number6 suggested---check your lease really carefully and see if there is any mention of fish tanks. If not, then I really don't see how the landlord has any business forcing you to move out. That's the same reasoning I'll be using if/when any of my tanks leak through to the downstairs. Sure, one of the young gals in the office told me there was a 10 gal. limit (after searching in some old binder for 10 minutes...she probably just made it up), but that's off the record. NOTHING in my lease states anything about aquariums. Hopefully yours doesn't either!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you...please keep us updated!
BV


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## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

see thats another thing, well some back log first. i lived here on a month to month agreement untill nov. when i figured it would be easier to get a lease(1year) and have the landlord pay the gas/electric. well we made the agranements and i started paying more $ per month(100$) and i havent gotten a lease  but am i correct in assuming a verbal lease will still hold up in court?

also my landlord did know about the tanks, he didnt say anything about them either because i was making money off them(and paid him with it)

either way i have the old lease agreement(the month to month one) and it never mentions anything about tanks either


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

In most states the landlord has to give you 30 days written notice before he can legally evict you... that buys you a little more time to research and clarify your options...

Lesson learned, never pay extra unless you have in writing what your paying extra for 

Best of luck!


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## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

well i was paying him 100$ extra so he would pay the electric and gas(and for the 1 yr lease)


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## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

i talked to a police yesterday, he said i have well over 30 days... im good... now i just need to find some1 to co-sign on a loan for a house


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## herb (Mar 23, 2003)

I don't know if this helps you or not, but when I moved in where I am now, I was up front about my tanks, the landlord sort of demanded that IF I carried renters insurance that would cover any damage to the 9 unit building that that would be fine for her, I am insured to around $300,000 to cover a replacement building it is cheep, this only costs about $250 yearly in my area, maybe this would give anyone that has these living conditions another tool to work with the management on this kind of problem.
If it helps I had a fire with water damage to 7 of 9 units and the repair bill for this was rather expensive, in the 50k range for repairs to the brick front wood structure, mostly drying out the drywall and wood in all wet areas, and repair to the many holes in the building to dry it out. We were lucky that there was another building with enough vacancies to accommodate the people displaced for the 3 weeks we were drying out and repairing the units. Hopefully you can appreciate the fact that it is very expensive to dry out a building before it gets moldy, the price to repair a moldy building is almost the total value of the structure.

herb


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