Emotional support animal pit bull in Texas

[Molly Morlino]

We built our rentals on land in Kyle, TX that belongs to my parents - they have other rental homes on it as well - and my parents do not allow pit bulls or pit bull mixes on the property.  It's just such a risk.   I love pitties personally but can understand the restriction.  If they bite, they do damage.  It's just the way it is.

See the homes we built here

That being said, I had a prospective tenant claiming their dogs are not pit mixes (they look pit mix) and that they are ESA dogs (I have not seen the paperwork, we didn't get that far).  I sincerely apologized but clarified that we cannot accept pitties due to insurance limitations.

So now she's throwing all these rules and laws (copying and pasting) and is spitting mad.  I get it, I really do - these dogs are her babies and she's probably having a hard time.

I just told her, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, we'll look into it".

What ARE my rights as a private landlord?  We have two small rentals on the same property.  We do have landlord insurance through USAA with $1 million in liability.  I spoke to them, and they said that they will deny covered to any dog that has bitten in the past.  I assume that it's our responsibility to clarify that with the tenants and write it in the lease so we have legal documentation showing that the tenant said they did not bite.  Is there any responsibility beyond that on our part?

Anyone want to share their experienced advice?

[Jim Cummings]

@Molly Morlino. See the link below. This doesn't give any specific Code reference for Texas or Federal Law, but it does give you a good explanation of the differences between disability service animals and ESA animals. 

Generally speaking, you would need to accommodate a Disability Service Animal, but not an ESA animal unless it was psychiatric related. 

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/texas-laws...