Realtor · Ogden, UT · Member since 2019 · 338 posts · 415 votes
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?
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.
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.
Something that may or may not help with the understanding of the applicability to all of this...it did help for me. ESA/Service animals are a 'medical device' not a pet. So when you say 'pet rent' or 'pet deposit' or 'no pets allowed' etc, that doesn't apply because they aren't considered pets. It's a subtle terminology shift but made the distinction so much clearer for me when I was reading through posts like this providing info on how the guidance is implemented.
I agree with the others. Change your terminology to "animals" and then treat pets and service animals differently. You cannot discriminate against a service animal, but they do have to meet the legal requirements. You can't charge a deposit or rent or even an application fee for a service animal, but they are still subject to rules (no barking, always leashed, clean up after them immediately, etc.) and violations could result in fines, removal of the animal, or termination of the lease.
It's very important for Landlords do educate themselves on the law. Print this out, highlight it, ask questions, and learn it inside/out so you're properly protected.
Thank you three so much! These answers are excellent and I especially appreciate @Matt Devincenzo's recommendation to mentally consider service animals "medical devices." That clicked in my head well.