Emotional Support Dogs - Legalities

[Brad Jacobson]

Hi Fellow BP Fans,

Recently I've had conflicts at both my short-term rental and a traditional rental with people claiming the pet policies don't apply to their support dogs.  I have two questions in regards to this:

1. In the short-term rental, no pets are allowed per the house rules.  My online searches haven't given me a clear answer as to if pets can or can't be rejected for a short-term stay if they're considered support dogs.  What are the laws and best practices here?  Are service dogs exempt from the house rules on a short-term stay?

2. In a traditional rental, I'm almost certain I'm not allowed to deny a support dog as that would be discriminatory, but I recently had an applicant demand that she did not have to pay the additional monthly fee for the dog at the rental.  Are service dogs exempt from paying the additional pet fee and deposit at traditional rentals?

Appreciate all the feedback in advance!

[Russell Brazil]

1) Long term rental. No additional fees, pet rent, or deposits allowed for service animals/esa. Applicable law is the Fair Housing Ammendments Act of 1988.

2) Short term rental. Basically the same as above, but with it being a "place of lodging" more akin to a hotel/motel the applicable law is the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Both FHA and ADA use the same terms of Service Animal and Emotional Support Animal....however each defines these completely different.

Please Reference HUD Guidance Memo FHEO-2013-01 to get an overview on how each is defined. Remember, FHA is for Residential Real Estate and ADA is for Public Accommodations.