What Are The Three Questions You Can Ask About A Service Dog

When managing a rental belongings, whether it is pet-friendly or not, you will most likely encounter tenants with service dogs. Equally a landlord, you are permitted to ask your tenant for specific documentation. However, you must always keep accessibility and fair housing laws in mind. Continue reading to learn about landlord-tenant rights regarding service dogs and the kind of proof that you are allowed to ask for.

Types of Service Dogs

It's essential to understand the differences between the types of service dogs people can have. Non all of these dogs accept the aforementioned skills or rights. Hither are the three primary kinds of service dogs and their specifications:

Types of Service Dogs

So, in theory, the two types of dogs that you'll be encountering are service dogs and emotional back up animals (ESA). (Go on in mind that a tenant may have an emotional back up creature that is non a canis familiaris.) There are a variety of subsets of service dogs that are trained to assist people with unique disabilities. For example, some service dogs may specialize in guiding individuals who are blind or alerting their owners of dangerously high or low levels of blood sugar.

Service dogs have special grooming to assist their owner with their particular disability. An emotional back up dog, on the other hand, does not have any special preparation. This is simply an animal that provides comfort and companionship to an private with mental health issues. A licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist will commonly write an ESA letter to verify that the patient needs the domestic dog to improve their condition.

Reasonable Accommodations

If your tenant has a inability, they are able to request reasonable accommodations for their condition. Reasonable accommodations are changes in property rules, policies, or practices then that a person with a inability can live in or use a housing unit of measurement. Annotation that there are certain requirements all units must run into regardless of the presence of a tenant with a disability. All rental units must have:

An accessible route into and through the unit.
Accessible calorie-free switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other ecology controls.
Reinforced bathroom walls to allow afterwards installation of grab confined.
Kitchens and bathrooms that can be used past people in wheelchairs.

Reasonable accommodations include waiving a "no pets" policy for someone who requires an assistance animal.

Landlords are Non required to make a reasonable accommodation nether the Off-white Housing Act for service dogs in these cases:

Buildings with iv or fewer units where the landlord occupies one of the units
Single-family housing sold or rented without a real estate broker
Hotels and motels are not considered dwellings under the Off-white Housing Human activity but are considered places of public accommodation nether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Private clubs

Full general Landlord Requirements

In general, a landlord:

Can non crave a pet deposit for a service canis familiaris or emotional support animal. However, the owner of the service fauna is liable for any damages, beyond wear and tear, that may be caused by the dog. This includes teeth marks on trim, carpet torn by a dog'southward earthworks, and carpet soiled past domestic dog waste product or vomit.
May require some sort of proof of inability as a condition of accommodation, and some sort of proof the animate being in question is a trained service beast or emotional support animal verified by a licensed mental health professional person.
Is permitted to exclude a dog, including a trained, certified service canis familiaris, if the presence of the animal poses a direct threat to the safe of those located on or virtually the premises. The dog may also be banned from the holding if information technology interferes with the covenant of quiet enjoyment of other tenants or neighbors. However, the landlord may choose to permit the tenant to stay, as long every bit the canis familiaris is no longer present.

Kinds of Documentation You lot tin can Ask For

Here is the kind of documentation y'all are allowed to ask for if your tenant claims to have a service domestic dog or emotional back up dog. Service dogs and ESAs are not the same and they are treated differently under federal police force. Landlords may require medical documentation for ESAs, simply not for service dogs.

A alphabetic character from the tenant's licensed therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist stating that they need the dog to assist convalesce their symptoms. The letter should exist an official certificate with the letterhead of the mental health professional along with their contact data, phone number, and email address. The letter should too include the professional'due south license number. Every bit a landlord, you can verify the letter in a number of ways. Keep in mind, however, that you may non, for whatsoever reason, have direct contact with your tenant'southward therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist. Nowadays, it'due south very easy to produce fake ESA letters. You tin verify your tenant's letter by:
- Politely talk to the tenant and inquire them about the alphabetic character. Remember not to be accusatory; your tenant has chosen to disclose to you that they need special accommodations, so ever be considerate.
- Looking upward the mental wellness professional person's license number and verifying its validity. Y'all tin exercise this by visiting the state website for their clinical discipline and inbound their license number. If you have trouble, your tenant should exist able to obtain a screenshot of their counselor's or medico'south license verification by contacting them. Observe the link to your country's license bureau here
- Asking the tenant to have their mental health professional fill out a reasonable adaptation form. Hither is an example of the certificate found online.
Identification of the service dog, such as a photo.
Verification from the tenant (or their family unit member/caretaker), in writing, stating (1) that the tenant or a member of his or her family unit is a person with a disability; (2) the need for the creature to assist the person with that specific inability; and (3) that the animal actually assists the person with a disability.
Copies of the animal's medical records to ensure they are in practiced health, parasite-gratuitous and immunized/vaccinated.

What You lot Can Not Ask For

The following items are the kinds of proof you are not allowed to enquire for:

A service dog's certification or training papers. While you are allowed to ask for some sort of proof of a canis familiaris'south office as a service dog, you are not necessarily allowed to ask to see certification. This is because of the rules outlined by the ADA utilise to housing too.
Access to a tenant's medical records.
Specific information about the tenant'southward disabilities. Yous are not allowed to ask any questions similar:
- "Exercise you have a inability?"
- "How severe is your inability?"
- "May I take permission to run across your medical records?"
- "Have yous ever been hospitalized because of a mental disability?"
- "Take you always been in a drug rehabilitation program?"
- "Do you take medications?"
- "How long have you been in therapy?"
- "How many sessions have y'all had with your therapist?"

Y'all should never harass or accuse your tenant of lying. If yous inquire your tenant any of these personal questions, your actions may be considered discriminatory and in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Refusing Service Dogs

In rare cases, it may be possible to restrict a tenant from having a service domestic dog. A landlord is permitted to refuse accommodation for a service animal based on breed if assuasive the animal would be unreasonable. For example, if your insurance carrier drops your coverage because of a restricted breed on the premises, you lot may be able to refuse the service domestic dog.

Some canis familiaris breeds are considered "unsafe" and many insurance companies change policies because of the supposed higher take chances involved. The dogs believed to have a propensity for violence are Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, Chows, Akitas, Alaskan Malamutes, German Shepherds, Siberian Huskies, St. Bernards, and Wolf Hybrids. Information technology also includes any mix of the canis familiaris breeds listed.

Here are some other reasons where you may have the correct to deny a service dog or evict a tenant because of the dog:

The tenant is not legally disabled or cannot evidence information technology in writing via a wellness care professional.
The assistance animal is not prescribed for the treatment of the tenant'due south specific disability or no nexus is demonstrated or backed upwards in writing by a wellness care professional.
The assistance animal would create an undue burden.
The assistance animal is illegal or otherwise not allowed according to country or municipal law.
The animal is a directly threat to the health and safety of other tenants which cannot be reduced or eliminated.
The presence of the animal "fundamentally alters the nature of the housing provider'south operations."
The tenant won't take responsibility for the animal, such every bit cleaning up waste, letting information technology run complimentary, or resolving noise problems.

No affair what, you should always exist aware of your state laws, the Fair Housing Act, and your requirements for accessibility.