There’s something fishy afoot — but this renter is not taking the bait.
Refusing to be reeled in by her slippery landlord’s apparent money grab, an outraged tenant is virtually deep-frying her property owners for attempting to hook her with a pricey “pet fee” for a tanked goldfish.
“Tell me why my mother f- -king apartment complex tried to charge me $250 for a fish as a pet fee?,” gripped leaseholder Avianna Brown, from North Carolina, in a trending TikTok tell-all.
In the eye-popping post, which has netted a whopping 236,900 views, Brown, a mother of one, shared screenshots of text messages from her complex’s leasing office, insisting she fill out a “pet application” and submit a $250 money order for her scaley little swimmer.
Confused by the request, the single mom admittedly “ignored” the demand as she failed to consider the goldfish — which, unlike a dog or cat, is typically six inches long, confined to a fishbowl and causes little to no noise or damage — an actual pet.
But when the landlord issued Brown a “past due” notice for October’s rent — which she claims to have paid in full in September — owing to her refusal to cough up the extra $250, she nearly went wild.
Brown offered social media spectators a glimpse at her text correspondences with the complex owners, who unyieldingly ordered her to pay the hefty pet fee for the gilled companion that lives in a 2.5 gallon, tabletop tank.
“Am I tripping or what?” a stunned Brown asked viewers — who eagerly weighed in with suspicions about the seemingly slimy stunt.
“This is robbery,” assured an incensed commenter.
“[The landlord] better go straight to [hell],” barked another.
“The fish would be sitting right in their office because they have lost their minds,” chimed an equally perturbed supported.
“Tell them you flushed it and remove the fee,” said a quick-thinking schemer.
“Tell them your fish is your emotional support animal — legally they have to allow it with no fee,” another suggested.
Brown has yet to publicly reveal her ultimate course of action against the petty pet fee. However, she’s not alone when it comes to getting slammed with outlandish landlord decrees.
In fact, in February, a Kansas City, Missouri woman achieved TikTok viral infamy after revealing she’d been stuck with a $200 one-time charge, plus a $15 monthly fee, for her pet goldfish.
And in August, New York City earned top-billing in the ranking of “worst” cities to own a pet due to the exorbitantly high charges that property owners force upon animal-loving renters.
“If you’re a pet parent, you’ll likely need to put down an additional pet fee or pay ‘pet rent,’” a trend expert warned The Post, “which can range from an estimated $200 to $500, before bringing your pet home.”