Service / Emotional Support Dogs

[Levi Kruse]

Washington state, Cowlitz County

Hello, I am new (2 days) to the landlord scene and I have a duplex with inherited tenants. One tenant has 4 small (large rat size) dogs and claims that they are emotional support/ service dogs and that I can not legally charge pet rent. I am reading up on service dogs and I cant find reference to limits, can a tenant have as many service animals as they like without any recourse on my end (even though damage is more likely and insurance is more expensive for me)?

Sorry if this has been answered already I cant seem to find anything useful with my search terms :-(

[Michael Hayworth]

Your tenant is full of ****. 

There are specific rules as to what constitutes an actual service animal, and, unfortunately, landlord's hands are fairly well tied with service animals, even when someone abuses the system. (And they don't typically come in packs. An actual service animal is very highly trained and bonded to its human.)  Emotional Support Animal, on the other hand, is a ******** category that is not the same as an actual service animal. Search "service animal" and "emotional support animal" on this site and you'll find many in-depth discussions.

However, a couple of things to consider here:

1. You're in a very liberal state that is somewhat hostile to landlords.

2. Tenants who game the system like this can make a landlord's life miserable and eat up loads of time if they file complaints, even if you eventually win.

Since you inherited the tenant, it seems likely that whatever damage the little rats are going to do is already done. (I do allow pets, but I swear, I'd rather have a tenant with a lab or pit bull than those little rat dogs.) So you probably only have a few more months on the lease, or a year, max. If it were me, I'd just wait out the lease, then either not renew it ("taking this unit down for renovation"), or offer a renewal at a much (MUCH) higher rate, without ever mentioning the service animal thing.