Would you accept this applicant or wait for more verification?

[Michael Weismann]

Hello Biggerpockets!

I havee a SFH I'm trying to rent out, and my only qualified applicant so far has an ESA. The letter she gave me was clearly from one of those online "pay us money and we'll give you a letter" sites. I don't think she's ever even seen the therapist who wrote it. i want to follow the law, but am I our of line for wanting more verification? What would you do?

[David Stumpf]

Check into petscreening.com. I am not affiliated and have not used them but when I let tenants know that I screen their ESAs using this service  I rarely hear any more from them. I usually respond with "We are happy to accept your ESA/ service animal. We use petscreening.com to verify shot record, service animal documents, and make sure there is no aggressive history"