Reply to Tenant brought in a pet and is calling it an emotional support animal

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]New poster. Came here to emphasize something I see is pointed out in the excellent 13:20 and 11:53 posts above.

A legitimate service animal must perform tasks or do work. Specific tasks. A vague "it helps me to cuddle him" does not cut it. Your attorney should be able to ask her to describe the specific life tasks the dog performs and she should have to produce some evidence he was trained.

And be wary of any documents she shows. Anyone can purchase a variety of official-looking documents, some quite realistically detailed, to say an animal is a service or support animal. Doctors with actual licenses will sign off on these documents, unfortunately. I would ask your attorney--if he starts to press the tenant to give the name and contact of a medical professional who can explain her need for a support animal and the trainer who trained the dog. I'd bet that request might scare her into leaving because at least for the trainer, no such person exists.

OP, isn't it possible that if the dog injures one of the other tenants, that tenant could sue you as well as her, on grounds that you allowed the dog to continue to be there when the lease said no animals? If someone gets injured, the "fact" it's a supposed service animal might not matter. You could end up with liability. I'd get that lawyer working to get the dog out ASAP because of the other tenants.[/quote]

After speaking to our lawyer, we’re confident this is something we’ll quickly remedy. The girl has passed along her ESA doc. and it is clear by the dates/source that she cobbled the ESA defense together well after she brought the dog in and about 2 days after I was informed of the dog by the other tenants. Our lawyer is prepared to subpoena all of her medical records, which will certainly support fraud on her end.

We still want to option her to leave peaceably, as this is certainly the best case for our other tenants. As some have noted we have great cause for the other girls to understand we a fighting for their protection. A stern letter from our lawyer should do the trick. If they are foolish enough to continue to contend moving forward with eviction should work in our favor.

Thanks again for all your help/advice.[/quote]

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