ESA and SA Rules - do they apply for a Room by Room SFH rental in Texas?

[Michael King]

I have a 6BR SFH in San Antonio TX that I will rent out on a room by room basis. I own the house and I am self-managing. My desired clientele are primarily traveling nurses, professionals and digital nomads. I have recently become aware of the insane FHA and HUD rules restricting landlords regarding Emotion Support Animals and Service Animals. Being forced to consider an applicant with perhaps multiple animals in this situation would be a disaster. My question is it legal for me to deny an applicant in this situation because of the disruption to other tenants, threats to their health and safety and additional costs? Having even one animal in a shared housing situation would be completely untenable. What are the exceptions to the ESA and SA rules in Texas?

[Hamp Lee III]

Welcome to BP!

Here’s the Texas State Law Library info on service animals: https://guides.sll.texas.gov/a...

I hope this helps.

I wish you all the best!

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Michael King:

Types of housing excluded from the Fair Housing Act include:

• Owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units. The FHA generally isn't applicable when a building has two to four units, and the owner lives in one of them.
• Single-family homes rented without a broker. The FHA doesn't apply when a single-family house is sold or rented without a broker, so long as the owner doesn't own more than three houses.
• Religious organizations. If you're a religious organization leasing apartments at a property that you're not operating for a commercial purpose, you may legally limit occupancy or give preferences to people of your organization's religion. However, the FHA points out that this exception is strictly limited to religion and cautions that a religious organization still can't discriminate based on race, color, or national origin (42 U.S. Code § 3607(a)).
• Private clubs. If you're leasing apartments on behalf of a private club and not for a commercial purpose, the FHA lets you limit occupancy to your club's members.
• Senior housing. The FHA includes "familial status" as one of its seven protected classes, which refers to the presence of at least one child under 18 living in a household. However, although the FHA bans discrimination against families with children, you may be exempt from this ban if your property qualifies as senior housing. Exempt properties include those that fit the rules of 55 and older or 62 and older communities, or those that participate in a federal, state or local senior housing program.

Even if Fair Housing applies, the request must be "reasonable" and I would argue it's not reasonable to permit animals in a shared living space because it is impossible to separate the animal from the living space of others. Dander, odor, allergies, barking, hair, etc. I read a news story a couple years back about a Landlord that allowed a Tenant in one apartment to have a dog, even though the tenant in an neighboring apartment was extremely allergic to dogs and had severe health problems. The tenant sued, and won, because it was not reasonable to place their health at risk. So there are exceptions.

[Bryan Noth]

@Nathan Gesner

The case I believe you are alluding to has popped up in RE Brokerage classes and has stuck with me.  Landlord made many attempts to accommodate both sides (tenant with pet allergies and tenant with support animal) and courts initially sided with landlord/support animal but ultimately this was overruled in favor of tenant who signed a lease because of no pet policy. 

Case linked below:

https://www.iowacourts.gov/iow…