Re: ESA Emotional Support Animals - Landlord Forum thread 359022

Re: ESA Emotional Support Animals by AnonymousFL on February 7, 2019 @09:31

Gary, I disagree with you. If you can provide some legitimate source that states 'how long' a doctor's letter 'lasts', I could be convinced.

I think that asking for a doctor's letter every month is excessive and could even be considered badgering. However, I don't think it would be out of line to require a new letter at renewal time.

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Re: ESA Emotional Support Animals by Garry on February 7, 2019 @12:21	[ Reply ]

You're right, anonFL, that was just my opinion. So now I will try to back up my opinion. Nowadays, most of us know there are dogs out there that can detect seisures , heart problems, even drug over doses. There are people that have mental disabilities, too. You can't "see" those disabilities, but they are real and they are there. Those people can qualify as disabled, and can have service dogs, or ESAs. Would you ask each of them to provide a letter each year from their Dr. saying they still need a ESA or service dog? And if we LLs have to treat all disabled persons the same way in that we can only ask certain questions about their disabilities, That would mean we would have to ask ALL disabled peoples the same questions. Which, to me, with your way of thinking, means we would require totally blind people, people missing limbs, even paraplegics to give a letter once a year to prove they are disabled. If I remember right, those letters do not have to state what the disability is, just that they are disabled and require an animal. And, really, if you don't know the exact wording of the disability laws, do you really want to take the chance that some attorney that knows more than we LLs do about them, decides to file a law suit against us? To me, once a LL approves of the disabled person, AND their ESA, they can stay in my place as long as they want, unless they are causing problems in other ways (causing damage, not paying rent,etc), that I need to ask them to move.

Re: ESA Emotional Support Animals by Garry on February 7, 2019 @14:57	[ Reply ]

Something else I just thought about. We LLs do credit, criminal, and employment checks before a person rents from us. Once they move in, how many of us check out those things at the 1,2,3,4,or 5 year points, if a T is with us that long? How about physical inspections of the rentals. Many LLs do 6 month or yearly. But many don't get into their units for several years. If LLs don't worry about these things on a regular basis, why should a LL worry whether a T qualifies yearly as a disabled person to keep their ESA? And here's another thing-----what does a LL do if the T CAN'T produce an ESA letter a year later? Is the LL now going to request a deposit for the "pet" ? If the T refuses, is the LL going to kick out what is possibly a good-paying T that keeps up the place? As I said in my 1st post, I have a lot more problems with people than animals.

Re: ESA Emotional Support Animals by AnonymousFL on February 9, 2019 @12:25	[ Reply ]

If a tenant needs an ESA, there should be no problem getting a letter. IF they cannot, it really be the same as if a tenant who had no pet brought a pet home without prior approval. Every landlord that allows pets most likely has dealt with that situation at one time or another.