Need advice on wether or not to rent to people on disability.

[Gary Dale McKee]

So, I recently listed a property for rent or for sale by owner.  I have had several inquires about the property as a rental and the majority of them have been people on disability benefits.  I know enough to know that I have to be careful not to discriminate against anyone.  I have a couple questions about how to handle this situation.

• Is it wise to rent to someone on disability seeing how it would probably be very difficult to evict and get your past rent if the tenant defaults.
• If I do not want pets in the home and the tenant has a service animal how do I handle that situation, or any animal for that matter service animal or not.
•  How do I disqualify them without getting myself into a legal mess.

I am just really hesitant to rent to anyone of disability and would like to hear from someone more experienced them I am in this area. 

[John Thedford]

Beware taking BAD advice. Setting standards just to deny people is BAD practice, BAD business, and ILLEGAL. Instead of worrying about their disability, your ONLY concern should be will they pay as promised, do they have enough income to meet your standards (I look for 3x the monthly rent). As to service animals, they are NOT pets. You cannot deny anyone just because of a service animal. You cannot charge one dime more nor a "pet fee" because service animals are NOT pets.
If the applicant wants special features such as a wheel chair ramp, etc they MUST install that at THEIR expense and you can require them to bring the property back to its original configuration at the end of the lease at THEIR expense.