Pet Deposit post-tenant move out

[Thor Camargo]

So I had tenants that have already moved out. During the last part of their stay - they brought in a dog, without any notice, claiming it was a service animal.

Turns out the rental falls into an exception for the "service/assistance" animal law.

At the time we didn't really want to push anything since we had already had a date for them moving out set and it was in the middle of Covid, and they were hit pretty hard financially (which, if some of you are thinking "then why get a dog???" - we're right there with you).

Our question is - can we take the pet deposit we would have charged out of their normal security deposit now that we've confirmed the
"service/assistance" animal law never protected them?