Service dogs have a job to do. I'm cool with them. I have friends who used to train service dogs.

Emotional support dogs-- there's a lot of people with a genuine need for them, but the label is used as a loophole for people who don't want no-pets policies in general to apply to their pet in particular.

It's nice to see the airlines are starting to crack down on the people who try to abuse the system, because the people who are most likely to abuse the system are also not the most likely candidates to put in the effort of training a well-behaved animal.

Once upon a time, in my first 3 years of ll'ing, I rented to a pair of sisters. One had a "teacup chihuahua" puppy that she claimed "helped her with her depression". Because she was so depressed, she couldn't hold a job. She was very proud of that. I rented to them because I figured Good Sister was Responsible enough for two and Bad Sister would just be along for the ride.

The dog was (a) totally untrained, and (b) had been taken from its mother at less than 6 weeks of age. She'd only had it for about 2 weeks before applying with me. The dog was dead within a month. She didn't bother replacing it. She had called it an ESA the first time she brought up the subject-- but always referred to it as a pet ever after. I just smiled and nodded.

(The sisters? They lasted about 2 months. Bad Sister ended up hooking up with Good Sister's Bad Boy Boyfriend in all her massive amounts of spare time and drove off into the sunset when Bad Boy Boyfriend told Good Sister about it. Good Sister couldn't afford the place any longer without Bad Sister's disability check.)

Like Sid said, do a search for the topic here, and you will learn a lot. Also do an internet search to learn the difference between the three - ESA, Service animal & pet. There are laws that say not only can you not deny them, but you cannot charge for ESA or Service animal.

On another note, though - you might not want to be so quick to refuse pets. Especially if you have a fenced yard, etc. (Depending on your class of rental = more successful in a higher class) IF you SCREEN carefully, you can fill a need for those who have pets and can't find a decent place that takes them. You can get more rent and potentially have a longer-term tenant. BUT YOU MUST SCREEN THE ANIMALS AS WELL AS THE PEOPLE!

I take carefully screened dogs. I will not accept an outside dog.

Outside dogs are not well cared for. They tend to be boredom barkers and they will damage landscaping.

There is a high chance that a chained dog will bite. If the backyard dog is fenced and not chained, there is still a higher chance of biting because the yard is very much the dog's personal territory.

6,

No outside dogs.

We LOVE pets! We only take animals we have met at the InHomeVisit. Proves they are ok. No risk.

Animals help make me rich. $150 Non-Refindable Animal Registration Fee per animal plus $35per animal on the rent.

Do the math:

12 x $35 = $420, plus the $150 = $570 extra income with making a single upgrade. We rent to MANY who have 2 animals so bringing in $1140 the first year then $840 per year after that.

Say they stay 4 years = $1140 + $840 + $840 + $840 = $3660 because I found a way to deal with WHAT PEOPLE WANT and ARE WILLING TO PAY YOU - ANIMALS!

80% of applicants either have or want to add animals. A no animal policy severely limits your ability to find quality renters.

Service animals: don’t sweat until someone says they have one. My app is clear: list all animals. Next line: Anything important we should know.

All agencies tell us landlords that we can't charge a pet deposit for service dogs. So I do my homework contacting previous landlords of the applicant. Not those on the application but the landlords that show up on the credit report.

With the applicants prior history with regards to damages and their ability to cover costs from known savings and spending habits, give me more tools to work with.

One applicant had a history of dog damages to rentals, taking no responsibility on the repairs. They would move out not having enough of a deposit to cover the damages. The prior landlords would either file a suit in small claims court or just not refund any of their deposit. (This was before the time government took the side of tenants over the landlords ability to protect themselves from uncaring tenants).

I was able to document that an applicant had a dog, service or not, that caused damages to rentals and wouldn't leave the rental in rent-able condition. My rejection was, "you allowed the hardwood floors to get destroyed and the yard to be torn up and refused to cover the repair costs". Nothing about a dog doing this.

What Sid said -- do a search. Just one minor adjustment to what Sid said though -- "Therapy" animals would actually be considered "pets" in a rental. These are animals that provide a service or fellowship for OTHER people. They are not Service Animals and are not Emotional Support Animals -- and are therefore not covered by the Fair Housing Act that we have to follow. They are just "pets" when it comes to rentals.

(There are a couple of STATE-level exceptions to that, so check your state laws, of course, but they are not protected under federal laws.)

- John...

I'm with Brad on this one...we make a LOT of money on animals. I have a relatively small portfolio of properties and estimate I take in over $2,000 each year for animal fees...and spend very little when the tenants move out to fix/repair things from animals (we don't have carpet in any of our units).

We charge both an animal registration fee (we have a brief form) and then a monthly amount. The monthly amount varies...$35/mo for any animal with a "full grown" weight of over 20 pounds and $50/mo for those larger...for the most part this separates cats from dogs (although cats can often do MORE damage with their urine odors). We have a limit of 2 animals per house.

Avoid using the word "pet"...always use "animal". You might also want to specify in your lease what you consider an "animal". For example, do you care about birds? Hamsters? Snakes? Iguanas? I have one tenant with a rabbit...it's in a cage and we agreed on $10/mo for potential odors and she's ok with that.

Although a bit unrelated...also think about fish tanks. The fish are not an issue...but a 100 gallon fish tank can cause a lot of water damage if it leaks or breaks...so we have a lease clause stating no liquid items over 5 gallons including waterbeds and fish tanks.

After you search for and read about ESAs and SDs, if you have specific questions, feel free to ask. John(MI) and I have nearly all the answers.

Just to clarify something so that you don't get the wrong idea: When looking at what Brad and Hoosier said -- that is ONLY FOR PETS. It DOES NOT APPLY to Service Animals (which is what you are asking about -- so their answers are really off-topic here, IMO).

You may not charge an "animal" registration fee, additional security deposit, nor extra animal rent for a Service or Emotional Support Animal.

I don't think Brad or Hoosier are doing that since it would be illegal -- but their answers here seemed to imply that a bit, so I wanted to make sure you understood that.

Thanks!

- John...