Who has a 100+ gallon tank in a apartment?
- Thread starter Corey11b
- Start date
Most if not all rental agreements have clauses making the renter responsible for any property damage or injury caused by acts of the renter. This isn't new, and is basically from old English law (common law) assignment of damages based upon negligence.
Most rental insurance also excludes negligence claims among other claims.
If it were me, I'd put in writing to the rental office exactly what I was getting and where it was going and then get a written response, or you could be found liable for negligence.
Negligence:
Law Failure to exercise the degree of care considered reasonable under the circumstances, resulting in an unintended injury to another party.
Failing to explicitly explain your intentions to the rental office isn't reasonable care especially after people on a public forum have warned you the floor may not be suitable for that tank.
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What is the possibility of getting on a waiting list for a ground floor unit? Not saying that your tank will go crashing through the floor since only an engineer with the building plans can answer that question. Tanks do have the potential to leak, and If that were to happen you may want to move anyway depending on how the units around you handle it. At least on the ground floor the damage would be much less and the weight would probably be a non issue.
I guess i am one of the luckier people... my father was a architect in the past and looked through all the floor plans of the building and we decided to place the tank near one of the main load bearing walls...
Also owning my own place helps so if anything ever does happen, its on me anyway...
Hello; Thanks. You are a fortunate one. I like that the actual floor plans were checked and the information used to make an informed decision.
I own my home but it is a stand alone dwelling so no one above or below to affect. My guess is you have good property damage liability insurance in the event a tank floods or some such.
Hello; To the OP, We are not trying to rain on your parade. I am not wanting to stop you having a big tank.
If you can pay the freight for all possible damage out of pocket that is one thing. Even if you have the money it will still be cheaper to get the proper insurance with a rider in writing about the big tank.
Having permission in writing from the apartment manager/owner(s) is sound. Be sure the size of the tank is mentioned.
Get it in writing with the size of the tank or tanks mentioned.
Bear in mind you will be liable for damages of the renters/owners of any other apartments that happen to get flooded or some other damage in addition to the potential damage to the building. You may have to stand good for their expenses such as paying for another place to live while their apartment is bein repaired.
There is a very real possibility full disclosure will 1) wind up having the apartment people say no. There is also the possibility that it will be difficult to get the proper insurance. These things may nix your having the tank at all. Might be time to move.
I rented for a lot of years and finally got my own place seven years ago. I can do what ever I want. Interesting thing is I think more than twice about potential about damage to this place.
I can get it in writing but insurance says they will cover damage and the apartment says they don't have any limit on tank size. If I put it on a load bearing wall I feel like it should be fine. Have any of you had personal experience with tanks exploding or breaking the floor? I have a 55 gal in another room currently. Although its a fraction of the weight it is doing great.
