Apartment owner tries to evict tenant over their dietary choices: ‘What gives you the right?’

An apartment building owner has sparked a wave of backlash after sharing why they tried to evict one of their tenants.

The owner, writing under the username vegetarian_apartment, shared their reasoning in Reddit’s AITA (Am I The A******) forum. In their post, the Redditor explained that they wanted to kick a woman out of her studio apartment after learning he wasn’t a vegetarian.

READ MORE: Thousands of Amazon reviews rave about these reliable cleaning products

“[Would I be the a******] for evicting a tenant who repeatedly brings non-vegetarian foods into a vegetarian-only apartment in violation of the lease agreement?” the user titled their post.

‘No excuse whatsoever’

The Redditor explained that they regularly rent out the studio, which is in the basement of their building. However, they also made it clear that it is “explicitly stated in the lease agreement” that residents cannot bring non-vegetarian products into the apartment.

In the post, the apartment owner wrote that they recently saw their tenant getting groceries out of her car. After spotting meat in the bags, they confronted the woman.

“When I confronted her and pointed out the lease agreement, she gave me an extremely bewildered look,” the Redditor wrote. “She claimed ignorance, which I told her was no excuse whatsoever since she willingly signed the agreement.”

The owner said they showed the tenant the lease, then asked her to get rid of the meat. They also asked that the woman remove any other meat items from her apartment — adding that they’d be back for an “inspection” in three days.

“She screamed at me and told me to go to hell, refusing to discard the package that she was carrying,” the owner wrote.

‘She went hysterical’

The owner returned to the tenant’s apartment three days later, and found more meat in her fridge. They told the woman she had 15 days to stop breaking the meatless rule, or face eviction.

“When I handed it to her, she went hysterical and started crying,” the Redditor wrote. “She’s claiming that I’m violating her ‘human rights’ and that she’ll starve to death.”

The post drew more than 650 comments, with the overwhelming majority of users saying the apartment’s owner was in the wrong. Many wrote that they were being far too controlling with their tenant.

“[You’re the a******] for trying to police what people eat. It clearly doesn’t actually matter to living in the apartment, because otherwise you would have noticed before,” one user commented

“You’re the reason that vegetarians and vegans get a bad rep for being preachy. This is god tier preachy. What gives you the right to dictate what someone eats in their own private space, that they pay for?” another added.

Others questioned if the “no meat” lease was even legal. Some wondered whether the owner had pointed out the rule when their tenant moved in.

“Non-standard clauses really should be explicitly pointed out to the tenant, and it sounds like you had a rule you were VERY VERY strong on…. and didn’t tell them explicitly,” one user wrote.

“That’s such a nonstandard clause that I have difficulty believing it’s enforceable,” another added.

If you liked this story, check out the latest edition of Group Chat, In The Know’s new advice column.

More from In The Know:

I moved in with my boyfriend before lockdown — now I’m questioning everything

Putting kombucha on your face is the newest skincare trend

You can snooze like Audrey Hepburn in this “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” sleep set

Ladders as home decor have a bad rep, but they’re trending anyway

The post An apartment owner claims they tried to evict their tenant for eating meat appeared first on In The Know.