Landlord Sticks Single Mom with $250 Pet Fee for Goldfish
A North Carolina landlord saw gold in a bowl in a tenant apartment — and demanded a $250 cut.
Avianna Brown, a renter in the Tar Heel State, received a “pet fee” from her landlord, who demanded she fill out a “pet application” along with a $250 money order for one “pet” goldfish, the New York Post reported.
The renter posted her rage on Tik Tok, where it garnered hundreds of thousands of views and social media outcries that she shouldn’t be on the hook.
“Tell me why my mother f- -king apartment complex tried to charge me $250 for a fish as a pet fee?,” griped Brown, wagging a finger with a long nail extension. “Am I trippin,’ or what?”
Brown, a mother of one, shared screenshots of text messages from the leasing office of the unidentified landlord, which insisted she fill out a “pet application” and submit a $250 money order for the single goldfish hovering in a 2.5-gallon tank in her kitchen.
Baffled by the request, the single mom said she “ignored” the demand as she failed to consider the inches-long goldfish an actual pet.
But then the landlord sent Brown a “past due” notice for October’s rent, which she claims to have paid in full in September, because of her refusal to pay the extra $250.
Brown offered her social media audience a glimpse at her text correspondences with the apartment owner, who insisted she pay the pet fee.
Her world on Tik Tok was as incensed as she was.
“This is robbery,” declared one commenter.
“[The landlord] better go straight to [hell],” another said.
“Tell them you flushed it and remove the fee,” one suggested.
“Tell them your fish is your emotional support animal — legally they have to allow it with no fee,” another contended.
Brown didn’t follow up about how she handled the petty pet fee. But she’s not alone when it comes to getting baited by landlord decrees.
In February, a Kansas City, Missouri woman won TikTok viral fame after revealing she’d been stuck with a $200 one-time charge, plus a $15 monthly fee, for her pet goldfish.
— Dana Bartholomew
