Apartment hunting in this day and age can more often than not feel like an impossible task. Whether it is an expired listing, out-of-control prices, or apartments that don’t quite look like the picture, sometimes the best option really seems to be couch surfing, or a very generous cardboard box. One person on TikTok was able to find a desirable apartment but was hit by another roadblock: the lease agreement.
Now, lease agreements can get a little iffy occasionally, but they’re usually nothing like this. This landlord has created a very rigid list of rules and regulations for its residents. The list includes a ban on unmarried overnight guests, smoking inside or outside, and should the tenant want to break the lease at any point, they have to give thirty days’ notice and all of the remaining rent for the year. On top of that, any sort of vacation or break requires that the tenant pay a storage fee for leaving their belongings in the house while they’re gone.
Commenters were pretty much in consensus that they would not be signing this agreement and would live on the street if they had to. As it turns out, several viewers have had similar situations, one even saying that they took an apartment complex to court because he was told he had to pay rent even if he died. People are particularly baffled by the storage fee and ban on unmarried fornication.
Most people were speculating that this housing complex was in Utah, and several even said that they’d also come across landlords that banned unmarried canoodling, even going as far as to walk in whenever they wanted to check.
Housing discrimination like this against unmarried couples is a very real issue. According to NOLO, many housing companies believe that unmarried couples are much more unstable than married ones, and are therefore less secure in a lease agreement. Under federal law, unmarried couples do not have a particular guaranteed right to housing. While there are laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, gender, and religion, marital status is not protected. This also means that landlords can ask about it before offering you a lease.
If horror stories like this make you want to live in the sewer like a ninja turtle, you are not alone. Maybe the next time you have to make a big move or look for housing, avoid Utah. Or just save your moving boxes and build a fort, it may be less of a headache.