Emotional Support Animals

[Timothy Bever]

I own and operate a rental property in Los Angeles County that I rent by the room to college students. Last month I rented to two individuals that knew each other for 2 rooms in my house. I was called out to the property today to fix the garbage disposal and found out there are two dogs living in the house. The 2 people apparently both have emotional support animal paperwork that had never been disclosed to me during the rental process. I was blindsided by the 2 dogs because neither tenant mentioned the emotional support paperwork and neither had a pet in the first 2 weeks of moving in to the property. I know that they did not have any pets for 2 weeks because I was at the property performing maintenance outside of the home for 2 weeks after they moved in. From what I've read, I have no rights in the situation regardless of them not disclosing the information beforehand. Does anyone have any experience with dealing with this type of situation?

[James Mcsweeney]

@Timothy Bever You cannot require a pet deposit from a tenant with an emotional support animal. If the animal does cause damage while residing in the property, you can make deductions from the tenant’s security deposit for this damage.
Service or emotional support animals do not usually require any type of certification. The evidence you should rely on is obtaining the doctor or other medical professional’s advice that the individual needs the animal for daily function.