All Forum Posts by: Adam Giles

I will provide updates as I discuss this with my lawyer. So far its ambiguous, even for the lawyers, because the ESA case decisions are all over the map so far. It seems so far like it is reasonable for me to request a letter for each animal. Otherwise, how am I to know what is a pet and what is a service animal. Another consistency has been that the letter needs to show a disability and provide a link to the animal as treatment for the disability. A note stating "a pet would be helpful" for instance, does not constitute an ESA. There is very little detail in FHA but that is one area where there does seem to be consensus. If I do not receive documentation for each animal, I will likely charge the pet fee for those without documentation as I have no reason to associate them with any disability. I think that is key here.

Lynn - I agree and I do require screening which has not been done yet. Perhaps the short term resolution lies there. 

That seems to be the consensus of what I'm reading. It seems folks can just go online and get a letter for anything thing they want. FHA seems to rely vaguely on what is "reasonable". It seems like fair common sense that an additional 4 animals of the same type would not provide much addition emotional support however quadruple the chance that the landlord will end up with urine stains on their flooring.

Its a bit of a free for all at the moment it seems. 

You response brings up another nuance question. There does not seem to be any specifics on what must be in the letter form the provider. Based on the templates I am seeing on the "get you ESA today" websites, I am not anticipating any pet specific information in the letter. More they simply state "I am prescribing a support animal". It seems the tenant can apply the letter to their new crocodile if they wish. However, it seems that in many rulings the court has required there be a  specific "nexus" between the condition and the specific animal. This of course, is meaningless in many cases because the most common condition ESAs seemed to be prescribed for is some for of anxiety. Any loving creature could assist with this. 

It would appear, at least for the time being, that  we might as well just plan on having pets in all of our properties.......excuse me, not pets....support animals....

I have been searching around in previous discussions and have not found anything specific regarding my concern so I am posting this discussion on an admittedly common subject so people can hopefully share any experience. 

My concern is regarding therapy animals. Based on the recommendations of others, I plan on asking for a reasonable form to be filled out by a provider when tenant claiming a therapy animal applies for one of my properties that has either a no pet, or pet deposit requirement. I was recently presented with a specific scenario that I had not encountered before and I am wondering if anyone else has run across it. I will, of course, be running it past my lawyers as well. It goes a bit beyond the intial accommodation.

The issue is when a tenant has a legitimate not from a provider that says a therapy animal is "prescribed", but the tenants has multiple animals. There is a big difference between making a reasonable allowance for a specific therapy cat, and a therapy zoo. So I am wondering if I can charge my pet deposit for the additional animals. For instance, if the doctors note does not specify that the tenant needs 3 cats and 2 ferrets for their therapy, am I now ok to charge the deposit?