Doctor's note for cats?!

[Account Closed]

Hey everyone... so I have a bit of a lease term question. I just bought this four-plex and it's my first local property. We're managing it ourselves. We've literally had possession for 4 days. Tenant #2 comes up with some doctor's note stating he needs therapy cats and his pet deposit shall be waived. My first thought: "What the... NO."

The lease he has in place does not allow for pets of any kind, however, the last sentence says ""Pets" does not include animals trained to serve the handicapped, such as Seeing Eye dogs or Hearing dogs."

What do I do here? Is a therapy cat even a real thing? And cats aren't exactly "trained to serve the handicapped..." 

And oh by the way, his quote when handing my husband the "note" said "I have 2 cats."

Any advice is welcome!!! Thank you!

[Lynn McGeein]

Be very careful about this and read up on the laws, local, state and federal.  If they have a doctor's note that states these animals are necessary for the tenant's health issues, it could be very detrimental to challenge unless you can prove a hardship of your own, and even then could lead to a battle you don't want.   If the note just states that these are therapy cats owned by the tenant, I'd ask for clarification from the doctor stating that that they are actually necessary for tenant's illness or disability (I'm not a lawyer, but I believe you can ask if they are necessary or if they are both necessary, or if just one is sufficient unless it is already specified in the letter.  I'm certain you are not allowed to ask what the illness or disability is).  I'm not sure of your local or state specific laws, but in our state, service animals do not have to be registered or certified, and a doctor's note should be taken very seriously.  I would consult a lawyer before I challenged it.  

I have told an applicant "no" on a therapy dog before, but it was because she said she trained them before and was thinking of adopting another dog for that purpose, not that she needed them herself.  I told her, in that case, she would have to abide by my policy, well-trained family dog considered, no puppies, and I must meet the dog before lease signing and that one dog is written into the lease.  She said she couldn't do that as she hadn't adopted or trained it yet, so I said, Sorry.