Help tenant issue- Emotional support animals

[Monte Blunk]

Need help with tenant issue-

We have an older duplex that my husband recently remodeled that is an up/down duplex in the historic district of our city which is close to the university. The upstairs has 3b/2bath approx 1000 sq feet, all wood floors, no yard. The current tenants (all university students) had 1 dog on the lease. 2 of the 3 tenants just gave us notice that they now both have emotional support dogs that they are bringing into the upper unit and have letters for their ESA. One happens to be a new puppy that one of the tenants already bought!

We would not have allowed 3 dogs to be in this unit as it is an smaller upper unit with no yard. The tenants down below can hear all the dogs barking and running around very easily which makes it a noise and nuisance issue for the tenants below.

The main floor unit is a 2bed/2bath and is currently available to rent. We have a mom and daughter who are interested in renting that do not have pets. I am very concerned this is going to cause them to move into a living situation that is loud and quite annoying. Especially since one of the dogs is a new puppy which I am sure is not trained. I am a dog lover and know how much noise and damage new puppies can make.

I’m not sure how to handle this situation as it actually poses an issue to renters in the lower duplex. We just received notice of these dogs/puppy today. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Kim Meredith Hampton]

Monte,

I would really take a hard look at these letters they provided. Most people try and pay for them online to avoid a “no pet” or not pay a pet deposit. The letter must be from a physician that it currently treating them. You can ask to have their physician fill out your own form, this sometimes helps smoke out the people who are taking advantage of the system. I am happy to share my form with you.