Hi All.

I spent hours to talk with the local fair housing office regarding so-called emotional disability and reasonable accommodation.

Here are what I was told, I shared with you. So you are aware of. (even though, you know it is a loophole for this case.)

It says the moment the doctor gave the statement and says the tenant is emotional disability and needs an animal, the tenant can have any kind animal. It does not require to have a certified service dog, nor it need to be trained, can be an aggressive breed, too. I can not touch them, because an animal is a service animal now. I can not ask them to purchase the pet liability policy. It means I am stuck, and just wait for the time bomb to explore.

Here are the extra points I shared with you:

1. they did not have emotional disability in their last two leases.

2. the first lease refused to renewal, because the owner knew the pit bull acted not trained.

3. the second lease had $1000 pet deposit, and not require to carry the renter policy. (it was a big leasing company.)

4. the tenant did not tell me she is emotional disability and request any reasonable accommodation. Only asked to have a yard.

5. The doctor gave the statement right before they signed the lease. and refused to answer why an animal is an aggressive pit bull. The doctor has treated her for more than 10 years. (not sure if it was a typo. 2007 vs 2017)

6. Her father does not know his daughter is emotional disability

7. However, the housing office said that I can ask the tenant what is the relationship between her and an animal, how the animal assist her disability. But, I am afraid that if I get something wrong, I will be in trouble. Before all this happening, her doctor already told me to ask her, but she did not answer.

8. should they list it in the application? they did not. They also did not bring the pit bull to show the place the first time.

Oh, well. You're right, my kindness is becoming my nightmare.

I do not understand the reply from cjoh/CT.

What does the message mean?

I am kindly share my knowledge with the group.

You were afraid of her dog so Charlie was saying your dog shd be bigger then her dog. It was a joke, Alice, but not a good one.

Charlie was saying you shd go to visit the tenant at her current place BEFORE you approve her in your rental. Then you would see that her dog is a pit bull and you would find some other way to dis-approve her so she would not get your rental. (money/income, job history, credit or criminal history, etc).

Anyway, at this point, even tho you may not ask the tenant to get a specific dog-bite policy you can require the tenant to buy a renter's insurance that covers her household goods inside the rental that protects against theft, fire or water damage to furniture, clothing, electronics, and also pays her for medical liability to people that get hurt in her unit. It will include liability for a dog bite too. Funny thing is--YOU as a LL--can also get the same policy for her and have yourself named as the payee if you have dog damage or a bite situation. You will have to pay for it (some cost as little as $10/mo) but that is way cheaper than a claim you have to pay out of hand if the dog is aggressive.

Alice,

Congrats on going to the source for real information. And thanks for posting real info. This issue is getting out of hand and I'm starting to blame the doctors - physicians acting as psychiatrists.

Was she already in the home when the dog issue came up?

The doctor's statement only counts if it is a Letter Of Medical Necessity. A prescription or comment does not count. Did you show the statement to the director?

You CAN deny the dog if it is misbehaved or the res does not pick up the poo.

Have you checked if TX has a law to prosecute fakers? Several states do.

Lynda,

We can only require renters' insurance if we require it of residents.

Ed,

The law does not care about our insurance woes. My local Fair Housing director said there is not a single example of an imsurance co cancelling someone's policy over a losted breed acting as a serivce animal.

My Dog Catcher says they are all MIXED BREED so how can anyone name the breed of a single dog unless they have pedigree papers.

Me? Solutions: The 2 Minute In Home Visit prior to final approval would have spotted the dog and perhaps sniffed out their desire to name a service dog.

I would have collected the Non-Refindable Animal Registration Fee and animal rent up until the service dog issue popped up.

The rent automatically increases 2.9% at automatic renewal, which helps make up for lost animal rent. Not perfect but helps.

BRAD

Any lost pet fee or pet damages is orders of magnitude less than a dog mauling lawsuit. That is what the real concern is.

Unfortunately, I'm seeing several mixed up responses on this post, both the original poster and in some responses. We must be CLEAR on what we are discussing here.

What Alice is asking about is an EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL (ESA). Not a SERVICE ANIMAL. Those are (literally) two different animals.

ESA do not have to be trained. All they have to do is--according a medical service provider--help with a tenant's disability/anxiety/whatever. It can sit on it's butt all day. Real SERVICE ANIMALS are trained and do perform one or more specific tasks.

It is correct that the ESA must not cause damage to the property, and the owner must clean up after it.

So...Alice, if you want to get rid of the liability this tenant/dog bring to you, there are a couple of legal options:

1) Non-renew her lease effective today. Sure, she may have another 11 months and 29 days to live there, but you have peace of mind knowing she and her dog will be gone in less than 1 year. DO NOT STATE THE REASON FOR NON-RENEWAL. Copy and paste this text into your letter: "Effective today, this notice is your lease is not being renewed. Please be moved out and return all keys to Manager on or before (fill in the date the lease end). Signed, The Manager."

2) Buy a renter's policy for her and name yourself as the insured. I had to do this briefly when some M2M tenants I inherited brought a trampoline onto the property. My insurance was going to cancel me unless I signed a trampoline exclusion, but I was able to cover myself this way. Cost is cheap" $10/month. Buy it today! Next year, bump her rent $50-$100 so she's paying for it. If she moves...oh well. Bye, bye doggie.

There is an excellent article on the Apartment Owners Assoc website that clearly defines HUD's revised policy on landlord / tenant rights as it pertains to service / emotional support animals. You might also want to make a copy of the guidelines shown on rentprep.com which also h has an excellent and accurate post on assistance dogs.

The number 1 violation HUD receives is about service and ESA animals. The person you spoke to at Fair Housing gave you incorrect information: The moment the tenant provided you with a DR. note stating her need for an ESA all other questions especially any asking about her needs for an ESA or what relationship she has with her ESA is off limits. And breed and size are not allowable exemptions.

As a Realtor I have to attend CE classes every year. One of my courses this year focused solely on property management. It was a 4 hour course and we spent 3.5 hours of it on fair housing and specifically assistance animals. It is the number one law suit that HOA's face every year and the fines are exorbitant.

Thanks to all your input.

Although, my kindness became my nightmare. (the tenants had a lawsuit to their previous owner due to rodent issue, (I do not know it true or not.) and no one wants to lease the property to them due to the 70 pound pit bull, he told me in person after they moved in. they were staying in the hotel.) By the way, all of sudden after they moved in, my property has a rodent issue and roaches issue. I told the tenant that my property never has a rodent issue since inception. The only roach I saw was from the previous tenant had rotten cardboards outside.

I compassionately leased my only property to them, even with their lower credit score 500....

It is the first time I have a tenant who has a doctor's note that she is emotional disability. I have no knowledge any of this. (they submitted it after the lease signed.)

I merely want to know from her doctor why a ESA is a pit bull. (especially, the dog is not with her all the time, her mother told me, it was her stepdad's dog, now she has it because they are getting another one for the stepdad.)

Here is what the doctor's note say """"" I have prescribed the tenant to obtain an emotional support animal. The presence of this animal is necessary for emotional health of tenant because its presence will mitigate the symptoms she experiences."""""" It was so convenient issued after the tenant ends their previous lease.

Yes, I stuck for the tenants using this loophole to get an aggressive breed (actually both of dogs are) in my property.

I have to stop asking any questions regarding this issue now. It is a potential time bomb. No one knows what an aggressive dog can do.

Allstate has not responded my request, only said that my policy has liability coverage. I want to prevent things could happen down the road, e.g. a dog mauling case..etc

The male tenant has shown the dangerous behavior toward to me from the beginning, and used foul, profanity language, even started demeaning, false accusations toward to me in the communication. The tenant violated the lease term, those behavior are not allow, I asked them to leave on their own. The truth is I fear my personal safety and my property. (never in whole life I have such a fear, but the reality told me so.)

I pray they would. Only God knows. I pray God is watching.

Thanks. Well, a lesson learned, wonder who can I trust?

This is the question to "VEE"OH" on the statement:

>>>>>where to begin I suggest hiring an eviction service to handle this unauthorized animal problem before a relative of your tenant sues you and takes away the house they live in plus the one you live in.>>>>>>>

How can it be? In what ground and what agency of the government can do that? to take my rental and my own residence? I never heard of such a thing. Any cases you know of? Why a relative of the tenant can make such a pursuit?? It sure does not matter any sense to me. Would like to know the examples.

Again, as of right now, according to Fair Housing, the moment I received doctor's note, the emotional disability can have any dangerous/aggressive animal, without training and without certification of service animal. It is an ESA.

There is no regulation on an ESA.

Actually, it also says that in the rental application process, the landlord can not ask if the tenant has any medical issues, e.g. no obvious emotional disability. We all watched those horrify movies that what had happened when the person with the emotional disability outburst.

And we, as in the leasing business, cannot say a word.

Alice,

First thing: stay calm. Don't let this basic "lousy resident" get under your skin. And no the world will not collapse because of this one resident. I'm sure you've had bad residents in the past.

Lots of conflicting, well meaning but under-informed opinions on this thread.

If you can PROVE the dog is aggressive and a danger to others, maybe a video, you CAN deny it. I would take that video to the Fair Housing director and get his/her agreement the dog is dangerous beo fore notifying the resident.

My experience is residents like this "shoot themselves in the foot" by not paying or skipping out. I suggest you hold them to the rent deadline and evict the first day possible for NON-PAYMENT OF RENT.

Pests: give them notice to treat within 48 hours, if not you will send in your professional and bill the resident.

Add this to their rent ledger.

My lease is clear: any unpaid BALANCE on their ledger is considered unpaid RENT and grounds for eviction.

At that point they owe rent and can be evicted.

The hard news: you let them in. Figure out where you went wrong and vow to never do that again.

Best of luck!

BRAD

Brad:

Indiana must be a very friendly LL state.

Thank you for all your input.

I think you all miss one key issue here. Yes, I granted the lease to those tenants, and all of them turned out to be lousy tenants. But, at least, at the beginning, they all knew that I was the only one helped them to have a place to call home. They all thanked me, but at the end was a different story. Yes, I have found out many dark sides of human being.

The current tenants are the worst from the beginning. I already asked them to move, because the male tenant had used profanity language, and demeaning and false accusations toward to me. It is in the lease, three times will cause the eviction. I asked them to leave. (they already wanted to leave.), but now, they do not.

The longer they stay, the more fear I become.

I thought I already share with you what the local fair housing told me. I am no long dare to ask anything both aggressive dogs and emotional disability. I am just sitting on a time-bomb.

I still want to know about this case. Could someone share with me a true example. I want to believe that law is to protect a good people like me.

>>>>>where to begin I suggest hiring an eviction service to handle this unauthorized animal problem before a relative of your tenant sues you and takes away the house they live in plus the one you live in.>>>>>>>

How can it be? In what ground and what agency of the government can do that? to take my rental and my own residence? I never heard of such a thing. Any cases you know of? Why a relative of the tenant can sues me? It sure does not make any sense to me. I would like to know the examples.

Thanks.

Alice,

Congrats on going to the source for real information. And thanks for posting real info. This issue is getting out of hand and I'm starting to blame the doctors - physicians acting as psychiatrists.

Was she already in the home when the dog issue came up?

The doctor's statement only counts if it is a Letter Of Medical Necessity. A prescription or comment does not count. Did you show the statement to the director?

You CAN deny the dog if it is misbehaved or the res does not pick up the poo.

Have you checked if TX has a law to prosecute fakers? Several states do.

Lynda,

We can only require renters' insurance if we require it of residents.

Ed,

The law does not care about our insurance woes. My local Fair Housing director said there is not a single example of an imsurance co cancelling someone's policy over a losted breed acting as a serivce animal.

My Dog Catcher says they are all MIXED BREED so how can anyone name the breed of a single dog unless they have pedigree papers.

Me? Solutions: The 2 Minute In Home Visit prior to final approval would have spotted the dog and perhaps sniffed out their desire to name a service dog.

I would have collected the Non-Refindable Animal Registration Fee and animal rent up until the service dog issue popped up.

The rent automatically increases 2.9% at automatic renewal, which helps make up for lost animal rent. Not perfect but helps.

BRAD

Alice,

Congrats on going to the source for real information. And thanks for posting real info. This issue is getting out of hand and I'm starting to blame the doctors - physicians acting as psychiatrists.

Was she already in the home when the dog issue came up?

The doctor's statement only counts if it is a Letter Of Medical Necessity. A prescription or comment does not count. Did you show the statement to the director?

You CAN deny the dog if it is misbehaved or the res does not pick up the poo.

Have you checked if TX has a law to prosecute fakers? Several states do.

Lynda,

We can only require renters' insurance if we require it of residents.

Ed,

The law does not care about our insurance woes. My local Fair Housing director said there is not a single example of an imsurance co cancelling someone's policy over a losted breed acting as a serivce animal.

My Dog Catcher says they are all MIXED BREED so how can anyone name the breed of a single dog unless they have pedigree papers.

Me? Solutions: The 2 Minute In Home Visit prior to final approval would have spotted the dog and perhaps sniffed out their desire to name a service dog.

I would have collected the Non-Refindable Animal Registration Fee and animal rent up until the service dog issue popped up.

The rent automatically increases 2.9% at automatic renewal, which helps make up for lost animal rent. Not perfect but helps.

BRAD

one more good reason to have ONLY month to month rental contracts. NEVER use the animal as the reason for a rent raise, a change in terms of tenancy such as a new rule about yard work, a removal of the A/C as an included service, the inclusion of a fridge, or simply a termination of tenancy for reasons COMPLETELY unrelated to the dog who you will NEVER refer to in any way. no texts, emails, voice mails...nothing ever cites the dog after they lob in their pretend certificate of need. they want to play games? fine...game on.

just throw 'em out for some other legit reason...MONTH TO MONTH BABEE! there is no defense to a simple termination.

brad, you are FAR too kind with the gentle rent bumps for folks that are up for renewal. i too am easy on the raises unless the tenant has proved they are a nuisance. a pit bull is the definition of nuisance. many will tell you that the dog is a product of their raising...that's grade A Boolsheet. all pits have a gene that can go 'boing' at any time.

brad, you are FAR too kind with the gentle rent bumps for folks that are up for renewal. i too am easy on the raises unless the tenant has proved they are a nuisance. a pit bull is the definition of nuisance. many will tell you that the dog is a product of their raising...that's grade A Boolsheet. all pits have a gene that can go 'boing' at any time.

alicewonder...please review your acts that led to their presence in your property. this one is due to bad screening, pure and simple. want to be nice? give to a charity or volunteer at the soup kitchen. deliver lunches for meals on wheels

a 500 credit score means THEY are the roaches

living in a hotel means they are the roaches

hold them to strict lease term compliance and have SOMEONE ELSE DO YOUR BUSINESS WITH THEM. they have clearly told you by their acts that they do not respect you or the home. a LARGE biker type is a good idea for the contacts. good luck