Potential tenant has a emotional support dog

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I guess I am more concern about the tenant itself. His finance is good and his gf is also moving in as well. But will he be emotional problem for me?? LOL

Not a landlord, but I manage a team at work and I will say what I would only say anonymously. People with emotional support animals (as opposed to a seeing eye dog or a seizure / blood sugar alert dog) are more likely to be entitled, high maintenance, and emotionally draining.

Should I share this with my son? His best friend was blown up in front of him. He carried the body parts back to their base. He has an emotional support dog and it’s made a huge difference in his PTSD. She is a German Shepherd. Somehow she just knows when he needs her. She climbs onto him and covers him with her body.

He is not entitled, high maintenance, or emotionally draining. He is hurting.

Sad story. But I wouldn’t rent to someone with a German Shepard. I guess not no pets but simply no animals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not rent to this person if possible. They are sidling around the pet fee with emotional support animal. What other things do you think they will try ? Also fiancé: just that wouldn’t be a flag but both? What if they break up? Will they have enough to pay the rent? Too many questions for me. Pass.

You'd never rent to an unmarried couple? OK, Goody Johnson...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a single family house rental that is not rented through a real estate broker or agent, then you are not required to allow the ESA. Both the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) exclude that case and you will not be required to cover it. Also, if you have a multi-family unit (like a condo or duplex) and you inhabit one of the units.

However, assuming that doesn't cover you, then you are allowed to request documentation of a disability that needs an ESA. You can request that a physician or mental health professional send you a letter on their practice's official letterhead and include their professional license number that documents the prospective tenant's disability and need for an ESA. Note that they do not need to identify what the disability is, only that the prospective tenant has one that requires an ESA to treat. Alternatively, you can provide the medical or mental health professional to complete. I personally would specify that the mental health professional has seen the prospective tenant more than once and for more than a year.

You cannot charge a pet deposit, but I would make sure to have a larger deposit (at least one months rent) for such a situation to ensure that any damage can be covered.

You can read more details about your obligations and your rights as a landlord here. I recommend that you read this before you respond to the prospective tenant, as it specifically includes how to respond to the tenant and questions you can and cannot ask the tenant. Note although the page is named "service dog documentation" it covers both service animals, ESAs and the difference between the two and what you can and can't say or do in both cases.
https://ipropertymanagement.com/blog/service-dog-documentation

That’s crazy that you can’t charge a pet deposit for animals that have no special training. Does the law distinguish between emotional support dogs and emotional support miniature horses?

HUD specifically identifies ESAs as a lower, but still regulated class of animals to service animals.
https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/assistance_animals

What Is an Assistance Animal?
An assistance animal is an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified effects of a person’s disability. An assistance animal is not a pet.

Obligations of Housing Providers
Individuals with a disability may request to keep an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation to a housing provider’s pet restrictions.

Housing providers cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

[...]

Examples
A reasonable accommodation request for an assistance animal may include, for example:

A request to live with an assistance animal at a property where a housing provider has a no-pets policy or
A request to waive a pet deposit, fee, or other rule as to an assistance animal.

However, there are limits to what a landlord has to allow. Something like an ESA horse can be restricted by the exceptions:

The housing provider has not demonstrated that:

Granting the request would impose an undue financial and administrative burden on the housing provider

The request would fundamentally alter the essential nature of the housing provider’s operations

The specific assistance animal in question would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the threat

The request would not result in significant physical damage to the property of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the physical damage

The landlord can certainly claim that the horse would violate (1), (3), and/or (4).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I guess I am more concern about the tenant itself. His finance is good and his gf is also moving in as well. But will he be emotional problem for me?? LOL

Not a landlord, but I manage a team at work and I will say what I would only say anonymously. People with emotional support animals (as opposed to a seeing eye dog or a seizure / blood sugar alert dog) are more likely to be entitled, high maintenance, and emotionally draining.

Should I share this with my son? His best friend was blown up in front of him. He carried the body parts back to their base. He has an emotional support dog and it’s made a huge difference in his PTSD. She is a German Shepherd. Somehow she just knows when he needs her. She climbs onto him and covers him with her body.

He is not entitled, high maintenance, or emotionally draining. He is hurting.

This is a service dog, not an emotional support animal.

I agree-this is a service dog. I'm a landlord. I would absolutely rent to someone with this sort of dog much quicker than I would rent to a high maintenance millennial with an emotional support Chihuahua.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is an Emotional Support Animal (ESA)?
An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is an animal that provides therapeutic benefit (e.g., emotional support, comfort, companionship) to a person with a mental health or psychiatric disability (such as a serious mental health condition). An ESA is not considered a Service Animal, but under U.S. law, an emotional support animal is also not considered a pet and is generally not restricted by the type of animal.1, 2 Any domesticated animal may be considered as an ESA (e.g., cats, dogs, mice, rabbits, birds, hedgehogs, rats, minipigs, ferrets, etc.) and they can be any age. However, an ESA must be able to be manageable in public and does not create a nuisance.

ESA’s do not perform specific tasks, instead it is the presence of the animal that relieves the symptoms associated with a person’s serious mental health condition. For a person to legally have an emotional support animal (ESA), the owner must be considered to have a qualifying mental health or psychiatric disability by a licensed mental health professional (e.g., therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, etc.), which is documented by a properly formatted prescription letter. The difference between a legitimate ESA and a pet is the letter from your licensed mental health professional.

https://www.umassmed.edu/TransitionsACR/resources/emotional-support-animals-101/

YIKES. Can you ask him for the letter to prove it? I'd want proof to waive any fees. And if he can't produce one, then he's a liar.

My acupuncturist says my emotional support raccoon (who loves to burrow in drywall) keeps me centered. Suck on it landlords

Sorry, but you are not protected by the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act allows landlords to require documentation from a licensed medical or mental health professional that you have a disability (not what it is, but that you have one) and required a ESA to treat the disability. The landlord can require that it be a licensed professional and list their licensing identification number on the letter. Unless your acupuncturist is a licensed medical or mental health professional with state identification or federal NPI, the landlord does not need to accept that documentation and can decline you as a potential tenant.

If you want to game the system, you have to do better than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you can never be totally sure that you’re getting a low-maintenance tenant. I know people with emotional support animals and I don’t think any of them actually *need* them (we aren’t talking veterans), but it’s not like their landlords would ever know anything about their personality. I have been a pain in the ass for my landlords because I’m an attorney (and my husband is too). Outside of somebody being unemployed, being an attorney is probably the biggest red flag out there.

Notorious lawsuit in Boston where law students brought suit against landlord charging discrimination against them. The court ruled that lawyers are not a protected class.

Law students are usually the best tenants. They pay on time and know that they won't pass character and fitness if they don't

In this case they were not. Law students were notorious for enduring every tiny bit of leases and landlords would not rent to them. This the discrimination suit. Court ruled landlords were not discriminating against them

And speaking from experience, the only time I evicted a tenant was a lawyer who was “too busy” to pay his utility bills, the electric was turned off which caused the refrigerator to stop working. Ice in the icemaker melted and seeped from the fridge onto the floor and into the basement which caused the ceiling to collapse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I guess I am more concern about the tenant itself. His finance is good and his gf is also moving in as well. But will he be emotional problem for me?? LOL

Not a landlord, but I manage a team at work and I will say what I would only say anonymously. People with emotional support animals (as opposed to a seeing eye dog or a seizure / blood sugar alert dog) are more likely to be entitled, high maintenance, and emotionally draining.

Should I share this with my son? His best friend was blown up in front of him. He carried the body parts back to their base. He has an emotional support dog and it’s made a huge difference in his PTSD. She is a German Shepherd. Somehow she just knows when he needs her. She climbs onto him and covers him with her body.

He is not entitled, high maintenance, or emotionally draining. He is hurting.

This is a service dog, not an emotional support animal.

There is a big difference. Your son like many others suffered a genuine trauma and benefits from support.

He is not a person who chooses to hide from life through an animal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't discriminate against a tenant with a service animal and have to rent to him and allow the dog without a pet fee. You don't have to do that with an emotional support dog.

Let them rent, let them have their dog, and don't charge a pet fee. Charging a pet fee is not only gauging and a recipe for bad feelings, it can also backfire. A tenant paying a pet fee is less likely to be careful with their animal because they know the fee covers it. Besides, most dogs don't do any real damage. That's a cat thing.

Be nice.

Right but this is NOT a service animal. This is likely someone using the term emotional support animal to play the system. I’d be leery / i only rent to people with dogs in properties with no carpet and not great wood floors. I’ve seen dogs destroy the finish on nice floors, drive neighbors crazy, ruin landscaping, chew wood work, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, you've gotten really bad advice in this thread so far. You cannot charge more fees for an emotional support animal or refuse to rent on that basis. It's against local, state, and federal fair housing laws.

It sounds like you're not contemplating doing these illegal things, though, and are just asking about any perils of people who require emotional support animals, right? Lots of veterans have them to help with PTSD. Lots of people with depression or anxiety have them. The animals help their person keep their mental health under control. No reason to be worried about a potential tenant who is taking care of their mental health in this way.

Veterans would get a service dog.

Run from this person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I guess I am more concern about the tenant itself. His finance is good and his gf is also moving in as well. But will he be emotional problem for me?? LOL

Not a landlord, but I manage a team at work and I will say what I would only say anonymously. People with emotional support animals (as opposed to a seeing eye dog or a seizure / blood sugar alert dog) are more likely to be entitled, high maintenance, and emotionally draining.

+1. This person is going to have an excuse every month about why the rent is late and expect you to honor it. If they had a legitimate disability, they would have a service animal who has gone through rigorous training.

[Anonymous]

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/assistance_animals

No, you cannot charge a deposit. You can charge for damages. And if the animal creates a problem beyond what would be regarded as a reasonable accommodation you would not be obligated to continue to have the animal there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, you've gotten really bad advice in this thread so far. You cannot charge more fees for an emotional support animal or refuse to rent on that basis. It's against local, state, and federal fair housing laws.

It sounds like you're not contemplating doing these illegal things, though, and are just asking about any perils of people who require emotional support animals, right? Lots of veterans have them to help with PTSD. Lots of people with depression or anxiety have them. The animals help their person keep their mental health under control. No reason to be worried about a potential tenant who is taking care of their mental health in this way.

Veterans would get a service dog.

Run from this person.

And if that is the reason OP is running OP is liable under the Fair Housing Act.

No different than if the reason was race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- I guess I am more concern about the tenant itself. His finance is good and his gf is also moving in as well. But will he be emotional problem for me?? LOL

Not a landlord, but I manage a team at work and I will say what I would only say anonymously. People with emotional support animals (as opposed to a seeing eye dog or a seizure / blood sugar alert dog) are more likely to be entitled, high maintenance, and emotionally draining.

+1. This person is going to have an excuse every month about why the rent is late and expect you to honor it. If they had a legitimate disability, they would have a service animal who has gone through rigorous training.

"legitimate disability"???? This all depends on the purpose of the animal. Mental health support does not require specific training from an animal, it basically requires the animal to have a temperament that allows for an emotional connection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, you've gotten really bad advice in this thread so far. You cannot charge more fees for an emotional support animal or refuse to rent on that basis. It's against local, state, and federal fair housing laws.

It sounds like you're not contemplating doing these illegal things, though, and are just asking about any perils of people who require emotional support animals, right? Lots of veterans have them to help with PTSD. Lots of people with depression or anxiety have them. The animals help their person keep their mental health under control. No reason to be worried about a potential tenant who is taking care of their mental health in this way.

Veterans would get a service dog.

Run from this person.

And if that is the reason OP is running OP is liable under the Fair Housing Act.

No different than if the reason was race.

They can get a licensed service dog. OP, say no pets and be done with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, you've gotten really bad advice in this thread so far. You cannot charge more fees for an emotional support animal or refuse to rent on that basis. It's against local, state, and federal fair housing laws.

It sounds like you're not contemplating doing these illegal things, though, and are just asking about any perils of people who require emotional support animals, right? Lots of veterans have them to help with PTSD. Lots of people with depression or anxiety have them. The animals help their person keep their mental health under control. No reason to be worried about a potential tenant who is taking care of their mental health in this way.

SERVICE ANIMAL does not equal EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL.

OP, this renter is not trustworthy, since emotional support animals are not a thing. I would not rent to them. If you do, they might lie about other things.