Federal Housing Laws - ADA and Service Animals For The Disabled

Federal Housing Laws - ADA and Service Pets For The Disabled

One of our agents was handling a rental. The tenants consist of a mother and her two young children. One of those children has a disablity wherein the doctor advised the family to obtain a service dog.

The agent found a home to rent that the son who has the disability fell in love with. He picked out his room. He was so excited about this new place his family was going to move into.

All the paperwork was done. Credit check was done. The tenants were approved.

It was disclosed right up front that the family had a service dog. Our agent ( we know for sure because the agent is our daughter;)) had in the contract for lease that there was a service dog. The MLS sheet said that pets were allowed.

The tenants were approved by the rental agent and the landlord to rent the house.

AFTER the approval the agent was notified that the tenants needed to pay a pet deposit.

"Service animals that assist persons with disabilities are considered to be auxiliary aids and are exempt from the pet policy and from the refundable pet deposit. Examples include guide dogs for persons with vision impairments, hearing dogs for people with hearing impairments, and emotional assistance animals for persons with chronic mental illness."

We informed the agent for the landlord who represented herself as the landlord's agent and property manager that she nor the landlord were allowed to charge the pet deposit to these renters.

We even sent her the following from HUD to prove that the tenants were not required to pay a pet deposit because the pet is a service pet for a disabled child. She had already seen the doctor's prescription for the service animal with the contract to lease.

According to ADA a service animal is not considered a pet. The service animal is viewed in the same way that a wheelchair, cane or walker is according to the disabilities act.

The landlord can not charge any more of a security deposit than what they charge someone without a service animal.

This is what we got back from the agent: " Your tenants can pay the pet deposit or go find another place to live BUT we are not turning them down because of the service pet."!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT??? So the tenants were approved for the unit and now all of a sudden they are not approved for the unit?

This agent had NO idea what service animal was, had no idea what the fair housing laws and the ADA act consisted of and in general had NO class or empathy whatsoever for this family who was upfront about the service animal from the beginning.

They ended not paying the pet deposit but they did pay an extra security deposit which was labeled something else entirely and some other excuse of why it was being charged.

Agents should not do business in areas of real estate where they don't know the laws and rules.

Authored by Katerina Gasset

#landlordtenantrules #serviceanimals