No-Pets rental and service animals - do you know? Ravin?

[Ginevra]

My question is this: must a landlord advertising a rental stipulated as “No Pets” consider a prospective tenant who has a service dog? I did try to find out through the Landlord law section of my state gov, but it doesn’t give an answer, just gives numbers a potential tenant can call if they believe they are being descriminated against. 

My gut feeling is that, yes, a LL must consider the applicant the same as a non pet owner, due to the disability being protected against descrimination. But it doesn’t seem that cut and dried, either, because a LL could have legitimate reasons for disallowing dogs; i.e., maybe LL is terribly allergic. Hmmm. I really don’t know. 

[hjffkj]

I believe it is that cut and dry.  They are not allowed to discriminate against them because of their service animal.

[TravelingChris]

Pretty cut and dried. Service animals yes but if the landlord has allergies, would his disability win out? Probably.

 

 

 

[freesia]

Yes to service animals and, at least in PA where we have a rental, emotional support animals.

[gardenmom5]

pretty sure service animal is federal protection.  not sure it applies to more than dogs.   

service dog has a legal definition.

[gardenmom5]

a resident LL might be affected by allergies to a service animal, how many are actually residents?  and of those - how many actually have significant allergies?

[Innisfree]

Any assistance dog, whether service dog or emotional support dog, is protected under the Fair Housing Act. Landlords who only have a few (less than four, maybe?) properties to rent get a break.

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/assistance_animals

Quote

Individuals with a disability may request to keep an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation to a housing provider’s pet restrictions.

Housing providers cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

The Fair Housing Act requires a housing provider to allow a reasonable accommodation involving an assistance animal in situations that meet all the following conditions:

• A request was made to the housing provider by or for a person with a disability
• The request was supported by reliable disability-related information, if the disability and the disability-related need for the animal were not apparent and the housing provider requested such information, and
• The housing provider has not demonstrated that:
  • Granting the request would impose an undue financial and administrative burden on the housing provider
  • The request would fundamentally alter the essential nature of the housing provider’s operations
  • The specific assistance animal in question would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the threat
  • The request would not result in significant physical damage to the property of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the physical damage

This came up in another thread lately. Somewhere there's more on who is exempted from the Fair Housing Act. That's where they say it depends on how many properties you rent out. I'll see if I can find it.

*I should add that I am not a lawyer, this is just what I've found doing research on the subject.

Edited June 17, 2019 by Innisfree

[Innisfree]

Quote

The FHA applies to most—but not all—types of housing. Types of housing excluded from the FHA include:

• Owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units. The FHA generally isn't applicable when a building has two to four units, and the owner lives in one of them.
• Single-family homes rented without a broker. The FHA doesn't apply when a single-family house is sold or rented without a broker, so long as the owner doesn’t own more than three houses.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/does-the-federal-fair-housing-act-apply-your-rental-property.html

There are a few more exemptions in the link.