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Hi everybody,
I have a condo in Northern NJ in a high rise building and I have tenant who wants to get a service dog and i don't know if i am legally obliged to accept it.
When she moved to my condo about 6 months ago, i went over her lease and made sure she didn't have any pets and that no pets were allowed in the apartment.
However, she recently had Covid and now she works from home and is saying that her therapist suggested her to get a service dog.
She is a good tenant, always pays on time and i feel sorry for her that she had Covid but i also would prefer if she didn't get a dog in the apartment. What are the legalities involved for the landlord in this case?
Hi everybody,
I have a condo in Northern NJ in a high rise building and I have tenant who wants to get a service dog and i don't know if i am legally obliged to accept it.
When she moved to my condo about 6 months ago, i went over her lease and made sure she didn't have any pets and that no pets were allowed in the apartment.
However, she recently had Covid and now she works from home and is saying that her therapist suggested her to get a service dog.
She is a good tenant, always pays on time and i feel sorry for her that she had Covid but i also would prefer if she didn't get a dog in the apartment. What are the legalities involved for the landlord in this case?
The legalities are that you call your attorney today. "Service Animal" is a whole pile of ADA involvement. They're trained to perform certain tasks (seeing eye dogs, for example) for those with a disability.
I'll bet what she wants is an emotional support animal, which is a whole different thing and aren't necessarily under ADA.
The legalities are that you call your attorney today. "Service Animal" is a whole pile of ADA involvement. They're trained to perform certain tasks (seeing eye dogs, for example) for those with a disability.
I'll bet what she wants is an emotional support animal, which is a whole different thing and aren't necessarily under ADA.
Yes, she does not have a disability so yes i suppose 'emotional support animal' is what she means.
And people have been known to conflate the terms and cause problems. Call your attorney.
Why do people offer this as the first line of defense? Lawyers charge a fortune and we don't know yet if it's needed. It sounds like tenant is simply asking, not threatening. First of all, I would research the ADA laws myself and see if emotional support animals are even covered, then I'd ask the tenant for a letter from the therapist stating if she has a disability (if she were diagnosed with PTSD, etc) and whether the animal was medically ordered or just a suggestion. If it's just a suggestion there shouldn't be any legal obligation at all, especially if she doesn't have a disability. Actual service animals require a prescription and a diagnoses. If you say no and she persists or escalates, that is the time for a lawyer, but to me it doesn't sound like an issue you should have to invest thousands in.
Why do people offer this as the first line of defense? Lawyers charge a fortune and we don't know yet if it's needed. It sounds like tenant is simply asking, not threatening. First of all, I would research the ADA laws myself and see if emotional support animals are even covered, then I'd ask the tenant for a letter from the therapist stating if she has a disability (if she were diagnosed with PTSD, etc) and whether the animal was medically ordered or just a suggestion. If it's just a suggestion there shouldn't be any legal obligation at all, especially if she doesn't have a disability. Actual service animals require a prescription and a diagnoses. If you say no and she persists or escalates, that is the time for a lawyer, but to me it doesn't sound like an issue you should have to invest thousands in.
I typically don't push the lawyer button right away but ADA compliance in incredibly confounding, You have a landlord that doesn't have a clue about it and, if I remember correctly, has posted about other landlord problems previously that should have been Being a Landlord 101.
I typically don't push the lawyer button right away but ADA compliance in incredibly confounding, You have a landlord that doesn't have a clue about it and, if I remember correctly, has posted about other landlord problems previously that should have been Being a Landlord 101.
It doesn’t sound like ADA though. First it was only a suggestion from the therapist, which doesn’t carry any weight especially since a psychologist is not a doctor and can’t diagnose nor prescribe, both of which are needed to fall under ADA. If she’s not diagnosed by an actual M.D. with a disability then it’s really just a request.
Why do people offer this as the first line of defense? Lawyers charge a fortune and we don't know yet if it's needed. It sounds like tenant is simply asking, not threatening. First of all, I would research the ADA laws myself and see if emotional support animals are even covered, then I'd ask the tenant for a letter from the therapist stating if she has a disability (if she were diagnosed with PTSD, etc) and whether the animal was medically ordered or just a suggestion. If it's just a suggestion there shouldn't be any legal obligation at all, especially if she doesn't have a disability. Actual service animals require a prescription and a diagnoses. If you say no and she persists or escalates, that is the time for a lawyer, but to me it doesn't sound like an issue you should have to invest thousands in.
And if you do what you just recommended...in the State of NJ...you just violated the law!!! That's why you call an attorney!!! Good lawyers charge for their time. A fortune is a relative term. Good lawyers are worth what they charge, and more! Want to know what a fortune is? Paying a lawyer to fix what you may have broken. Paying a lawyer to re-do correctly what you've done incorrectly. And paying a lawyer to get you out of a problem which you created by not contacting the lawyer in the first place.
It is never wrong to give advice that says "Contact an attorney" -- and by the way, if you have an attorney you work with, he/she will probably not even charge you for a preliminary discussion, to assess the situation, etc.
I think ADA covers mainly blind and deaf, but may also include amputations. The rest, I think, is State and local rules.
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