Emotional support pets—what’s the scam?

[Jane S.]

Can I refuse to rent to applicants who have emotional support pets? Do tenants use the seemingly loose rules for categorizing animals as emotional support in order to avoid paying pet deposit? When you think about it, every pet is an emotional support pet. Lonely? Get a dog … Someone just called about my rental and the 2nd question I ask is do you have pets and she said “3 emotional support dogs” so that was the end of the call. Wished her good luck.

Like they are gonna really take these dogs for walks 3 times a day! I’m paying $4500 to repair the back yard from the destruction of just one dog! But it seems like every tenant has a dog or 2 or 4 … Personally I love dogs but I dont have the energy or time to do right by one. So I am pet free now. Also love and adore kitties but they throw up a lot. Nature made them so attractive to us humans with their big eyes and cute smiles.

Woof or miaoww

[Nathan Gesner]

The Fair Housing Act applies to most rentals, but not all. Review this to see if you are subject to Fair Housing requirements: https://www.nolo.com/legal-enc...

I think most people understand it's a scam. Either that or we are experiencing a mental illness epidemic in this country. Airlines finally waved the BS flag and shut it down. I hope rentals are not far behind.

This is HUD's latest guidance. It includes a little checklist to help you process applications, but they still have language in there that makes it easy for Tenants to claim their pet as an ESA and shut you down. https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfil...

One thing they added that helps: Tenants can only be authorized one support animal per disability. So three dogs to help with depression is fraudulent. However, it's not hard for a tenant to get a letter for three separate issues and I've personally seen it done.

Trying to stop this is like standing in the ocean and trying to stop the waves. It's fraud, you know it's fraud, even the legit prescriptions are more likely to coddle than cure, but it's the law and we have to abide by it. Do your best, write your representatives, and move on.