Tattoos cost couple an apartment

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- A Texas couple learned an apartment complex has a dress code when their application was rejected because of the husband’s tattoos.

Gilbert Carrillo of San Antonio has tattooed arms with the tattoos covering about the same area that the sleeves of a long-sleeved shirt would.

Carrillo and his wife, Melissa, told the San Antonio Express-News they would never have bothered applying to the Villas at Medical Center -- and paying a $70 application fee -- if they had known the tattoos were a deal breaker. Rejecting a potential tenant for tattoos is not illegal because getting the tattoos is an issue of personal choice.

Managers at the complex agreed to refund the fee when a local television station did a story on the Carrillos. In the meantime, the couple has decided to stay in the complex where they live now because a larger apartment is now available.

"It wasn't the money. It's the principle," Melissa Carrillo said.