emotional support animals - Landlord Forum thread 355266

emotional support animals by Anonymous (PA) on December 3, 2017 @18:35

OMG... I am officially confused after reading about this for hours. I read the ADA, Fair Housing and HUD on ESAs. It seems that the laws are more lax for ESA than service dogs. The prospect does not need a doctor's letter but a letter from a "qualified Person" (whatever that means) indicating the prospect's need for the ESA. the LL must waive the no pet policy and cannot charge a pet fee. the LL can charge for any damage the animal does when the tenant moves out. Our prospect has a cat. Should I go through the apartment with a black light and show him that there is no urine spots (never had any pets in this place with 1400 s/f of BRAND NEW carpeting) ?

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Re: emotional support animals by Garry (Iowa) on December 3, 2017 @22:48	[ Reply ]

Take a deep breath, and a step back. It's not the end of the world when someone brings a pet into a rental property. Most (90% in my opinion) pet owners are very responsible pet owners. In the case of cats, they can be trained to go to a litter box, unlike dogs who need to outside to do their jobs. And you are right----- tenants are still responsible for any damage done by their pets, no matter how much money you do or don't collect up front or on a monthly basis. Yes, there is paperwork involved that must say the T "needs" the ESA, so be sure to get it. But even before you talk about pets, does the prospective T check out in other ways-----criminal, credit, and employment backgrounds ? If those all check out OK, rent the place to him. If you are still apprehensive about the person, you could put them on a M2M lease, and do a inspection of the property every 6 months.

Re: emotional support animals by Jason (PA) on December 3, 2017 @23:52	[ Reply ]

Anonymous & Gary, I'm actually going through a similar situation myself, except the person has a dog (pitbull).

Re: emotional support animals

Re: emotional support animals by Anonymous (Ohio) on December 12, 2017 @16:25	[ Reply ]

go online to apply for a certificate to get qualified for a emotional support animal. There are about 6 questions. If you answer yes to 4 of them you are clearly crazy. The final 2 were "have you worried or been anxious inthe past 2 weeks" and a questions about having sleep issues. I legitamately answer YES to the last 2 questions. So now I qualify to pay the $125 to get my letter. In my opion this emotional support animal thing is a SCAM. I have gotten numerous inquiries about this. I tell them you must request resonable accomidation. AS of yet not a single person has applied. THANK GOD. I think anyone who would use this as a means to force a propery owner to house an animal in their property AND not be required to pay a fee to cover this risk is a MANIPULATIVE person.