Renting to tenants with service animals

[Andy Sabisch]

We are renting one unit in a building we have and the person looking at it has a German Shepard that she said is a service animal.  We have a breed / weight limit on dogs based on our insurer (Steadily) which would negate our liability coverage.  We also charge a $200 non-refundable deposit for the dog and $25 / month additional on the rent.

We did a quick search and it looks like we can not exclude someone with a service animal nor charge for a deposit or extra rent.  We cant exclude the tenant based on breed or weight even though our insurer will cancel coverage.

Is this a correct interpretation of the law and have you run into this before.  We have a number of people interested in the apartment but wanted to know about this issue which can impact us both in terms of insurance and damage to the property.

[Scott M.]

Hey @Colleen F. you are 100% correct that there is a carve out for an ESA and an undo hardship put on the landlord if the breed will get their insurance cancelled.  

Personally, if this is a tenant you want I would start with petscreening.com so you know exactaly what you are dealing with.  ESA (as Colleen said) or "service" animal as the OP said, maybe they are the same in general talk but there is a difference between ESA and Service animals in the law.  

Potential tenants have been known to say my animal is a ESA or Service animal but when you have them go to petscreening.com their story changes.  I would start there, get the facts if this is someone you are considering.