Emotional Support Animal

[Peter Tverdov]

To quickly get my opinion out of the way, I think these things are generally a load of baloney...

Here is my situation. I manage a property where the tenant signed with the owner (a few months prior to me taking over) and understood the owner had a no pet policy in place in the Lease. Tenant signed the Lease. Once the tenant is in the property of course they request a dog (for emotional support due to their anxiety), owner says no...they later come up with a letter from a therapist (someone who has yet to return my calls) and in the letter it states according to the FEDERAL Fair Housing Act, you cannot prohibit someone with an ESA from living in the premises and having the animal. The NJ Law Against Discrimination also covers ESAs.

I would understand if the tenant were upfront about this prior to the Lease signing, because I would agree the owner or property manager cannot deny the person from renting the apartment. However, I know most people have a friend/family member who try this load of baloney to get a dog on a flight or in an apartment after the fact and the NJ LAD or Federal Fair Housing Act isn't specific regarding people requesting this AFTER they have already moved in. The owner is totally firm on not allowing pets and personally I think this is a grey area. 

Wanted to get the thoughts from the board on this situation.