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This may not be new news for the landlords here so I'll make it short.
My wife and I went to a metro fair housing conference this morning.
Effective Immediately! People with "service animals" are a protected class.
Now, before you say "No ish Sherlock." The way the regulation is worded and here it is verbatim is absolutely unbelievable.
"Under Oregon Fair housing law the "assistance animal" does not need to be a certified and/or trained service animal; it may also be a "companion.," "Therapy," "Emotional Support," or "Comfort animal"
That is already b.s., but the part that really gets me. "It is illegal to charge a deposit or a fee for an assistance animal."
It gets worse. "You may restrict breeds/species and animals by weight but a tenant may have a service"assistance animal" larger than your weight limit or a breed you don't ordinarily permit."
Now before you say, I don't see the problem. Here is the problem: This just opened up a pandroas box. Every yokel who wants a pet can get one by simply claiming they have a need for some sort of companion animal and we can no longer restrict the breed or charge them any deposit fee. All I can say is wow... I have no problem with a trained service animal.. but come on. This companion animal crap is getting out of hand.
Now, it states that these animals have to be prescribed by a physician but we all know that means. "My dad touched me and get scared at night, I need my Stafforshire Terrier to be my companion animal" "Okay, I'm convinced, here's your prescription"
So I asked the lady at Fair housing 5 questions:
1. What about insurance liability for dangerous breeds?
A: "The tenant is responsible".... riiiiggghhhhhttttt, yeah they will be responsible, I bet.
2. How do we know If Doctor "I.P Freely" is legit? I can make a pretty convincing b.s. letter head and prescription.
A: "That's on the landlord to figure out."
3. And what if I don't think the letter is legitimate but can't prove it?
A: "Well the tenant can have us advocate for them."
4. So you are saying you can eventually force me to accept a bogus letter with out any due process?
A: <stutter> We e ll um, we will work with both parties to resolve the conflict.
5. What if the tenant all of a sudden has a "PTSD" episode and gets a companion letter?Then is the pet rent or deposit banned retroactively or can I pro rate it?
A: Um, I'm not sure.
Any others know about this? Oregonwoodsmoke has to know about this. Is it as much of a Pandoras Box as I believe it will become? Am I overreacting. Any landlords have people claim companion animal recently?
There was even more ridiculous stuff like kids toys on the porch and in the yard, we can't even use the words child, young, youngster, adult or children in our contracts anymore.
Any small ops landlords thinking, hm, maybe my next property will be in Washington? Or maybe thinking of selling. I'm thinking of selling. The laws have already changed so much since 2012. Where are they heading next? No income restrictions? employment impaired people or fiduciary handicapped people are a protected class too. You have to rent your 2500/mo house out to the people who barely make 2000 a month? I mean that sounds ridiculous but its almost already like that in multifamily dwellings.
This may not be new news for the landlords here so I'll make it short.
My wife and I went to a metro fair housing conference this morning.
Effective Immediately! People with "service animals" are a protected class.
Now, before you say "No ish Sherlock." The way the regulation is worded and here it is verbatim is absolutely unbelievable.
"Under Oregon Fair housing law the "assistance animal" does not need to be a certified and/or trained service animal; it may also be a "companion.," "Therapy," "Emotional Support," or "Comfort animal"
That is already b.s., but the part that really gets me. "It is illegal to charge a deposit or a fee for an assistance animal."
It gets worse. "You may restrict breeds/species and animals by weight but a tenant may have a service"assistance animal" larger than your weight limit or a breed you don't ordinarily permit."
Now before you say, I don't see the problem. Here is the problem: This just opened up a pandroas box. Every yokel who wants a pet can get one by simply claiming they have a need for some sort of companion animal and we can no longer restrict the breed or charge them any deposit fee. All I can say is wow... I have no problem with a trained service animal.. but come on. This companion animal crap is getting out of hand.
Now, it states that these animals have to be prescribed by a physician but we all know that means. "My dad touched me and get scared at night, I need my Stafforshire Terrier to be my companion animal" "Okay, I'm convinced, here's your prescription"
So I asked the lady at Fair housing 5 questions:
1. What about insurance liability for dangerous breeds?
A: "The tenant is responsible".... riiiiggghhhhhttttt, yeah they will be responsible, I bet.
2. How do we know If Doctor "I.P Freely" is legit? I can make a pretty convincing b.s. letter head and prescription.
A: "That's on the landlord to figure out."
3. And what if I don't think the letter is legitimate but can't prove it?
A: "Well the tenant can have us advocate for them."
4. So you are saying you can eventually force me to accept a bogus letter with out any due process?
A: <stutter> We e ll um, we will work with both parties to resolve the conflict.
5. What if the tenant all of a sudden has a "PTSD" episode and gets a companion letter?Then is the pet rent or deposit banned retroactively or can I pro rate it?
A: Um, I'm not sure.
Any others know about this? Oregonwoodsmoke has to know about this. Is it as much of a Pandoras Box as I believe it will become? Am I overreacting. Any landlords have people claim companion animal recently?
There was even more ridiculous stuff like kids toys on the porch and in the yard, we can't even use the words child, young, youngster, adult or children in our contracts anymore.
Any small ops landlords thinking, hm, maybe my next property will be in Washington? Or maybe thinking of selling. I'm thinking of selling. The laws have already changed so much since 2012. Where are they heading next? No income restrictions? employment impaired people or fiduciary handicapped people are a protected class too. You have to rent your 2500/mo house out to the people who barely make 2000 a month? I mean that sounds ridiculous but its almost already like that in multifamily dwellings.
Familial status and disability have been protected classes for a long time and is protected on the federal level (moving to Washington will not help you as you will have to follow these laws there as well) and as state level. Service dogs are a "reasonable accommodation" as required by law. This is not new. When was the last time you took a fair housing class? Also, what is in your contract that you are mentioning kids?
It's a slippery slope, as many people just go online and can a "prescription" for and emotional support service dog. I have a FB friend who did that so she could fly first class with her dog
( Free passage) from Chicago to Hawaii for a 3 week vacation with her family, her father is a huge hedge fund manager.
This "cheat" allowed the dog to be loose in the airplane and bypass any quarantine rules in
Hawaii. Friend is not disabled, though she went through rehab for a vodka habit, she is entitled and wealthy...this is a way around the rules. NO disability.
It's a nightmare for landlords, every Pitt is going to become a " service" dog, just so the owners can get housing.
It's less of an issue for me because I allow pets. However, the "emotional support dog" has turned into a scam and it is going to get worse.
I am no so offended by the service animal issue as I am by the new law that landlords can not reject Section 8 as a source of income, landlords can not reject for felonies older than (6?) years and can not reject for evictions unless they are recent. Sorry, I wrote down the timeline so I don't violate it, but I'm not going to look it up for you.
My response is that I am selling my rentals as each one comes vacant. Too bad for the lower income tenant. I've got nice clean well maintained rentals in good areas for rent that is at the low end for the area. Those properties are being removed from the rental pool as they are sold. Two sold so far and both are now owner occupied. A third has a tenant who is trying to get funds together to buy it and then that one will also be owner occupied.
I know several other landlords that will be selling. Low income tenants can go sleep in the gutter and they should thank their state legislature when they can't find a place to rent because their legislature has driven landlords out of the business.
Familial status and disability have been protected classes for a long time and is protected on the federal level (moving to Washington will not help you as you will have to follow these laws there as well) and as state level. Service dogs are a "reasonable accommodation" as required by law. This is not new. When was the last time you took a fair housing class? Also, what is in your contract that you are mentioning kids?
Facepalm!
If you aren't going to read the entire thread post then don't respond.
The point is that now anyanimal can be considered an "assistance animal" regardless of wether it is trained or certified or even if it's a mastiff or pit bull. And.... no pet rent may be charged for any "assistance animal." These are not seeing eye dogs or highly trained animals, I have no problem with those. The point is now if somone dosen't like paying pet rent all they have to do is say their untrained animal is a companion animal and they not only force a landlord to accept pets even if they don't want to... they make it so that landlords can not charge pet rent. Pet rent is not some greedy money grab, it's to hedge bets that when the tennant leaves the animal(s) have caused tons of damage they will never pay for. (Animals always cause damage and tennants always fight tooth and nail to never pay a penny for damages.) Wether I have a case dosen't even matter as I will have to incur legal costs with little chance of ever doing anything other than having the debt turned over to a collection agency. I already allow pets, the point is I can no longer charge a fee for deposit or monthly if the tennant just gets a signed letter from a physician that states their animal is a companion or therapy animal. We are not talking actually disabled people, we are talking normal people who just want to have a pet. All they have to say is "My uncle touched me when I was 9 and it was very taumatic, i need my cat poopsie by my side at all times.' tennat hands doctor money, doctor says "okay that's legit, here's your official 'companion animal' documets." It's like the "I have a marajuana percription, go see this doctor he'll get one for you too" or the "I know a guy that can help you pass emissions" people. And just so you know, Metro is telling tennants this in their rental seminars. Metro and Fair Housing hates landlords, and they show it every day. The woman I talked to was annoyed she even had to bother to answer my legitimate concerns. I wasn't the only one pissed off after the convention. I just want other landlords to be aware of this before they have 3 large animals tearing up doors or cats peeing on rugs and there is nothing they can do about it.
Multifamily dwellings can no longer say "children may not play in the stairwell" and I can't say anything about toys in the yard. I have a clause that says there can't be toys spread out on the front lawn, childrens swimming pools need to be in the back yard. Those damn things kill the grass and people tend to get ones 9-12 feet in diameter and place them right in the center of the front yard. It's a catch 22. I was advised by a lawyer that contracts must be extremely specific, it's not a big deal I'll just have to change the wording to be overly descriptive and age neutral.
Oregon landlord tenant law is getting ridiculous, that is the point. This pet develoment was not on the books in 2012 nor was the "landlords must accept section 8" Law. I am very aware of past and present landlord tenant law and fair housing.
Yep, I'm thinking it might be time to sell and get into the stock market more. It's hard for anyone to be a landlord these days. They acquisition and maintenance costs are hard to justify getting into the game in the last 10 years. If you bought your houses in the 90's you are still doing well but if you bought anytime after 2005 you'll barely break even.
I'm afraid of having support pigs, goats, ferets. In Portland you can have a "companion animal" zoo as long as you apply for a permit. Which is speak for fill this out and we will likely approve it.
After the first lawsuit where the landlord is going to get sued because of a tenants pit bull attacked someone, things are going to get real.
Even home insurance doesn't cover certain breeds, what is a landlord to do to protect themselves? Are there breed specific policies that you can carry as an umbrella?
I got out of the horse boarding business due to liability (and I carried specific insurance for it). Although I never had any incidences, the risk is too high for the small profit. I imagine that a lot of landlords will feel the same way.
No need to facepalm. I did read it. I just view the world in a different way than you do.
If a professional psychiatrist/doctor is going to put on letterhead that the person has a mental health disability, and needs a service animal there isn't a whole lot you can do about that. I personally would call and speak with the doc on the phone to verify the letter. You can verify the authenticity of the need for the animal to do the best you can to try and not get scammed. I think you are overestimating the number of health care professionals that would be willing to do it. I've also never seen someone have three service animals. You'd be hard pressed to get a professional to insist that you have three working animals in a household. That would be worthy of a complaint to their medical board. When someone has a disability that isn't apparent, like a mental health issue, then you can just make it your policy that you require a letter from their psychiatrist/mental health therapist stating they need a service animal. I think you can request it directly from a mental health professional as long as your policy is consistent across applicants.
I think the Section 8 requirement is a bigger deal for landlords. It is 5 years for evictions, and you can still reject applicants based on criminal history if it was a drug crime, sex offense, person crime like an assault and such, and identity theft. You don't have to rent to sex offenders and drug dealers.
There will be a lot more cases in small claims court over companion dogs/cats. The tenant is liable for damage due to the dog, but since you can't charge a deposit for it, it means dealing with it in court. Just as if they lowered cabinets, built a ramp etc.
There will be lawsuits. You can reject the service companion if they are endangering others. So if someone has an aggressive dog as their "service companion" or a dog that is chewing up your doors, then you can reject that animal. It would a pain in the hiney for a landlord to go through, but someone will have to go through uncharted territory to set case precedence for the courts.
I do think more landlords will go month to month rather than be bound in long leases (especially for houses which are typically one year leases) so that they can easily give 30 day notice. There have been and always will be scammers in the rental pool. I've seen people that look awesome on paper bring in dogs illegally onto properties, and people that look horrible on paper give their dogs to the humane society because they follow the rules of the rental. No pets.
I think you are overestimating the number of health care professionals that would be willing to do it.
For $199 you can go here, Online Emotional Support Animal Approval & Prescriptions, and get a signed doctor's letter for your "emotional support" animal. I believe that the infamous flying pig owner used a service like this.
Its funny we don't complain about the god like powers and abuse landlords in Oregon have had thru time. The ability to get rid of anyone for anyreason and even for no reason (no cause evictions 30 days). To almost godlike rights in court.
But abuses will happen with anything, Unfortantly the reason we have these laws now is because there where abuses or discriminate practices in our society that warranted the need for our legislation to address it. Its sad but true.
But im also not supporting abuses in the pet ownership either, take em to small claims court.
Is the real issue tenents having rights to own animals? or that they be responsible with there animals?
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