I am visiting a friend and her lease states that she is not allowed a pet. Now her landlord is going to evict her because of my service animal. Is this legal?

Nope The person with the service animal or ESA that is visiting is exempt from the LL rules \

Not true OPM if the lease (like mine) states that guests can only stay for up to one week. Most are limited to one (maybe two weeks max).

Donna,

Visiting for how long? An hour, a month, a year?

We do not allow visitors over 14 days in a year without being screened and approved.

What task does the dog perform?

What paperwork do you have for the dog?

You have to excuse us a bit on this -- this is primarily a site for landlords and most of us have been tricked by fake "service" or "emotional support" animals in the past. So, we tend to be a bit cynical. :)

Put simply: You have not given us enough information to know if there is "more to the story" or not.

If you really are just a friend VISITING someone for a DAY or TWO like a normal "visit", then what opm said is the correct answer: even if her lease does not allow "pets", you may legally visit for a day or two with your Service Animal and she cannot be evicted for it. The LL is allowed to ask you questions -- for example, he can ask if you have a disability (but not what it is) and if the dog is trained to assist with that disability. He can ask what task the dog performs for you.

If it is a legal Service Animal, then he would be wrong to evict because you visited for a few days.

Most of the other replies here are simply a little more harsh because we start to assume that there is more to the story -- such as you "visiting" for months at a time (i.e. you're living there, but just won't say so). That is why they come off a little differently.

So, yes, if this is a normal "visit" to a friend for a weekend, then it is fine. You just didn't give us enough information to know for sure.

- John...

You have to excuse us a bit on this -- this is primarily a site for landlords and most of us have been tricked by fake "service" or "emotional support" animals in the past. So, we tend to be a bit cynical. :)

Put simply: You have not given us enough information to know if there is "more to the story" or not.

If you really are just a friend VISITING someone for a DAY or TWO like a normal "visit", then what opm said is the correct answer: even if her lease does not allow "pets", you may legally visit for a day or two with your Service Animal and she cannot be evicted for it. The LL is allowed to ask you questions -- for example, he can ask if you have a disability (but not what it is) and if the dog is trained to assist with that disability. He can ask what task the dog performs for you.

If it is a legal Service Animal, then he would be wrong to evict because you visited for a few days.

Most of the other replies here are simply a little more harsh because we start to assume that there is more to the story -- such as you "visiting" for months at a time (i.e. you're living there, but just won't say so). That is why they come off a little differently.

So, yes, if this is a normal "visit" to a friend for a weekend, then it is fine. You just didn't give us enough information to know for sure.

- John...

Suppose you'll ve leaving soon... that helps everyone out. My mom would call this "wearing put your welcome "

Suppose you'll ve leaving soon... that helps everyone out. My mom would call this "wearing put your welcome "

I'm thinking that strictly speaking, the landlord must allow a service dog for tenants. Businesses open to the public must allow service dogs (with some exceptions). But an apartment is not a business open to the public nor is OP a tenant.

Not that I would want to be the one to challenge it and end up a test case.

Service dogs must be allowed in PUBLIC PLACES such as lobbies, stores...

I do not recall a law demanding access to PRIVATE PLACES such as inside a home.

My lease is clear: no visiting animals.

If the housing is covered under the Fair Housing Act guests are covered.

§100.202 General prohibitions against discrimination because of handicap.

(b) It shall be unlawful to discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions, or privileges of the sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection with such dwelling, because of a handicap of—

(1) That buyer or renter;

(2) A person residing in or intending to reside in that dwelling after it is so sold, rented, or made available; or

I had a conversation about this recently with someone. The first thing we discussed was, ASK the LL politely. Something like, "Hi LL, my dear friend of 20 years would like to come for a visit. She has a SD due to her disability. The animal is fully trained and we will be responsible for picking up the waste. The animal won't damage anything, but in the unlikely event something were to be damaged, we'd pay to repair. Is that OK. She'll be here about a week. "

Landlord says, OK, but you'll need to make sure to pick up. I'll be by for an inspection the following week to be sure there is no damage, and to check the smoke detectors and change the furnace filter.

Or, LL says, you are in a no pet building. WHy don't you go visit your friend at her house?

It gets tricky. As a LL, I'm allowed to ask for documentation of a disability from the medical provider that the person is disabled, and the SD mitigates the disability.

Vee: Your lease is illegal then and violations the FHAA if you refuse to allow a guest with a Service Animal. And fining them like you said would likely get you into some real trouble if they bothered to follow up on it.

Ken: I believe that you are incorrect. The FHAA actually does specifically specify that you cannot discriminate by disallowing a GUEST with a Service or Emotional Support Animal to visit.

Brad: You may not "recall" it, but that doesn't change the law. §100.202b3 covers it as posted above. HUD has also issued guidance to make it clear that they intended to allow visitors with such animals to be allowed. Your "no visiting animals" clause does not apply to guests with SAs or ESAs - and if you are denying access to people with them, then you are violating federal law.

LOTS of people in this thread making assumptions about how they THINK the law works. I'm surprised so few actually look into it. Just lots of landlords going "I'm pretty sure that isn't the case" or "No, you only have to allow them in public places, but not homes." It simply isn't accurate.

- John...

Note that I agree with Barb, of course. The polite thing to do would be for such a person to talk to the LL first. I'm not a fan of the original poster here since they do seem to be causing some real trouble (and we STILL don't know if this "visit" was 2 days or 2 months -- and THAT makes a difference).

But that doesn't change the law when people DON'T do the polite thing and just bring them anyhow. They still have a right to do that and we need to know the law when it happens so that we don't react the way that several LLs said they would above -- which would most likely be illegal.

- John...

To be honest, often the OP never returns and responds. Fairly typical on this forum.

I don't see how you got that it is "pretty obvious" that she's been there a long time from the one-line post that we got. We simply don't have the information.

If your "rules" violate federal law, then telling them to "take a walk" will likely get you into court. Good luck.

- John...

Well, to each their own. "I've been violating federal law for years and haven't been caught yet" doesn't sound like a good enough reason to me to keep doing it.

And, again, the fight won't be with the tenant. It'll be with the government/HUD. That's a very different beast to act tough and "stand up" to just because you disagree with federal law.

As I said -- good luck!

- John...