Can A Landlord Require Proof For Need Of Service Animal

When managing a rental holding, whether it is pet-friendly or not, you lot will most probable see tenants with service dogs. As a landlord, y'all are permitted to enquire your tenant for specific documentation. However, you must always go on accessibility and fair housing laws in mind. Proceed reading to learn about landlord-tenant rights regarding service dogs and the kind of proof that you are immune to ask for.

Types of Service Dogs

It'south essential to empathize the differences between the types of service dogs people can take. Not all of these dogs have the same skills or rights. Hither are the 3 main kinds of service dogs and their specifications:

Types of Service Dogs

So, in theory, the ii types of dogs that yous'll be encountering are service dogs and emotional support animals (ESA). (Go on in mind that a tenant may have an emotional support animal that is not a dog.) There are a variety of subsets of service dogs that are trained to help people with unique disabilities. For case, some service dogs may specialize in guiding individuals who are bullheaded or alerting their owners of dangerously high or low levels of claret saccharide.

Service dogs accept special training to aid their possessor with their detail disability. An emotional support domestic dog, on the other paw, does non have whatever special preparation. This is simply an beast that provides comfort and companionship to an individual with mental health issues. A licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist volition commonly write an ESA letter of the alphabet to verify that the patient needs the domestic dog to meliorate their condition.

Reasonable Accommodations

If your tenant has a inability, they are able to request reasonable accommodations for their condition. Reasonable accommodations are changes in holding rules, policies, or practices so that a person with a disability tin can live in or use a housing unit. Note that there are sure requirements all units must meet regardless of the presence of a tenant with a disability. All rental units must accept:

An accessible route into and through the unit.
Accessible low-cal switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other environmental controls.
Reinforced bathroom walls to allow after installation of grab bars.
Kitchens and bathrooms that can exist used by people in wheelchairs.

Reasonable accommodations include waiving a "no pets" policy for someone who requires an assistance animal.

Landlords are NOT required to make a reasonable adaptation under the Fair Housing Human action for service dogs in these cases:

Buildings with 4 or fewer units where the landlord occupies one of the units
Single-family unit housing sold or rented without a real manor broker
Hotels and motels are not considered dwellings under the Fair Housing Act but are considered places of public adaptation nether the Americans with Disabilities Deed (ADA)
Private clubs

General Landlord Requirements

In general, a landlord:

Tin not require a pet eolith for a service canis familiaris or emotional support beast. However, the possessor of the service animal is liable for any damages, beyond wear and tear, that may be acquired by the dog. This includes teeth marks on trim, carpet torn past a domestic dog's digging, and carpet soiled past dog waste or vomit.
May require some sort of proof of disability as a condition of accommodation, and some sort of proof the brute in question is a trained service animal or emotional support animal verified by a licensed mental health professional.
Is permitted to exclude a dog, including a trained, certified service canis familiaris, if the presence of the animal poses a direct threat to the safety of those located on or nigh the bounds. The canis familiaris may also be banned from the property if it interferes with the covenant of quiet enjoyment of other tenants or neighbors. However, the landlord may choose to allow the tenant to stay, equally long as the domestic dog is no longer nowadays.

Kinds of Documentation You can Inquire For

Hither is the kind of documentation you are immune to ask for if your tenant claims to have a service dog or emotional support domestic dog. Service dogs and ESAs are not the aforementioned and they are treated differently under federal constabulary. Landlords may require medical documentation for ESAs, but not for service dogs.

A letter from the tenant'south licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist stating that they need the dog to help alleviate their symptoms. The letter should be an official certificate with the letterhead of the mental health professional forth with their contact data, telephone number, and electronic mail address. The letter should also include the professional person's license number. As a landlord, yous tin verify the letter in a number of ways. Keep in heed, however, that you may not, for any reason, have direct contact with your tenant'south therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist. Nowadays, it's very like shooting fish in a barrel to produce fake ESA letters. You can verify your tenant's letter by:
- Politely talk to the tenant and ask them most the letter of the alphabet. Recollect non to be accusatory; your tenant has chosen to disclose to you lot that they demand special accommodations, then always be considerate.
- Looking upwards the mental health professional person'southward license number and verifying its validity. You lot can do this by visiting the state website for their clinical discipline and inbound their license number. If you have trouble, your tenant should be able to obtain a screenshot of their counselor'due south or doctor's license verification by contacting them. Discover the link to your land'southward license bureau hither
- Asking the tenant to have their mental wellness professional fill out a reasonable accommodation form. Hither is an case of the certificate found online.
Identification of the service dog, such equally a photo.
Verification from the tenant (or their family fellow member/flagman), in writing, stating (1) that the tenant or a fellow member of his or her family is a person with a inability; (2) the need for the animal to assist the person with that specific disability; and (iii) that the animal actually assists the person with a disability.
Copies of the beast's medical records to ensure they are in good wellness, parasite-free and immunized/vaccinated.

What Y'all Can Not Enquire For

The following items are the kinds of proof you are not immune to inquire for:

A service dog's certification or training papers. While you are immune to inquire for some sort of proof of a dog's role every bit a service dog, you are not necessarily allowed to ask to run across certification. This is considering of the rules outlined past the ADA employ to housing as well.
Access to a tenant'south medical records.
Specific information about the tenant's disabilities. Yous are not allowed to inquire whatsoever questions like:
- "Do you take a disability?"
- "How severe is your disability?"
- "May I accept permission to run into your medical records?"
- "Have y'all always been hospitalized because of a mental disability?"
- "Have you ever been in a drug rehabilitation program?"
- "Practice you accept medications?"
- "How long have you lot been in therapy?"
- "How many sessions have you had with your therapist?"

You should never harass or accuse your tenant of lying. If y'all enquire your tenant any of these personal questions, your actions may exist considered discriminatory and in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Refusing Service Dogs

In rare cases, it may be possible to restrict a tenant from having a service dog. A landlord is permitted to decline adaptation for a service animal based on breed if assuasive the creature would be unreasonable. For case, if your insurance carrier drops your coverage because of a restricted brood on the bounds, you lot may be able to decline the service dog.

Some dog breeds are considered "dangerous" and many insurance companies change policies considering of the supposed higher risk involved. The dogs believed to have a propensity for violence are Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, Chows, Akitas, Alaskan Malamutes, German language Shepherds, Siberian Huskies, St. Bernards, and Wolf Hybrids. It also includes whatever mix of the dog breeds listed.

Here are another reasons where you may have the correct to deny a service dog or adios a tenant because of the canis familiaris:

The tenant is not legally disabled or cannot testify information technology in writing via a health intendance professional.
The assistance animal is not prescribed for the treatment of the tenant'south specific disability or no nexus is demonstrated or backed up in writing by a health care professional.
The assistance fauna would create an undue burden.
The assist animal is illegal or otherwise not allowed co-ordinate to state or municipal law.
The animal is a straight threat to the health and safety of other tenants which cannot be reduced or eliminated.
The presence of the animal "fundamentally alters the nature of the housing provider's operations."
The tenant won't take responsibility for the animal, such every bit cleaning upwardly waste material, letting it run free, or resolving dissonance bug.

No matter what, yous should e'er be aware of your state laws, the Fair Housing Human activity, and your requirements for accessibility.