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California: It's a single family dwelling with no yard and new carpet throughout the house. Keeping a dog constantly inside, I feel, would be animal cruelty--not to mention the wear-and tear on the expensive carpeting. Can I make a legitimate exception for renting to someone with a comfort companion dog or service dog because I have no yard?
A service dog accompanies its master wherever they go, so the lack of yard shouldn't be an issue. (I don't know the law; just thought I'd point out that it's probably less of a problem than you might think.)
California: It's a single family dwelling with no yard and new carpet throughout the house. Keeping a dog constantly inside, I feel, would be animal cruelty--not to mention the wear-and tear on the expensive carpeting. Can I make a legitimate exception for renting to someone with a comfort companion dog or service dog because I have no yard?
You can try to justify that your home isn't suitable for a dog for various reasons and some states do have written criteria that exempts certain home owners but the lack of a yard will not be what exempts your property. Think about it a second, were that true no apartment buildings would have to accommodate a service dog or emotional support animal.
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Yes, you're all correct and thanks much, Faworki for those links. I read through them in their entirety. Very interesting info. Makes me think that Landlording is not for the faint of heart these days when nearly everyone I see has a dog.
No. A service dog is a medical necessity, like a wheelchair. That's how you have to think about them. Not having a yard is irrelevant. They could walk it, pay someone else to walk it, etc.
But, in order to have an emotional support animal, they must ask you for a reasonable accommodation based on their disability - if you don't normally allow animals. This basically asks that you make a "reasonable" exception to your rules, so that a disabled person can live in your unit, in reasonable comfort, in spite of their disability.
You do have rights, though. You can ask them to prove they meet the requirements in order to ask for the above. Here is letter that is written by HUD (the gov dept that regulates disabled persons' fair housing rights):
This is a copy of HUD document #7399:
Sample letter for Companion Animal
DATE
NAME OF PROFESSIONAL (therapist, physician, psychiatrist, rehabilitation counselor)
ADDRESS
Dear [HOUSING AUTHROITY/LANDLORD]:
[NAME OF TENANT] is my patient, and has been under my care since [DATE]. I am intimately familiar with his/her history and with the functional limitations imposed by his/her disability. He/She meets the definition of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Due to mental illness, [FIRST NAME] has certain limitations regarding [SOCIAL INTERACTION/COPING WITH STRESS/ANXIETY, ETC]. In order to help alleviate these difficulties, and to enhance his/her ability to live independently and to fully use and enjoy the dwelling unit you own and/or administer, I am prescribing an emotional support animal that will assist [FIRST NAME] in coping with his/her disability.
I am familiar with the voluminous professional literature concerning the therapeutic benefits of assistance animals for people with disabilities such as that experienced by [FIRST NAME]. Upon request, I will share citations to relevant studies, and would be happy to answer other questions you may have concerning my recommendation that [FULL NAME OF TENANT] have an emotional support animal. Should you have additional question, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Signature
[NAME OF PROFESSIONAL]
What I suggest, is that you give the applicant a copy of the above HUD letter and ask the applicant for the name and address and fax number of their medical care professional, so that you can fax them this HUD form for them to certify that they are disabled and qualify for an emotional support animal under HUD rules.
Then, google the heck out of the info they give you, make sure it's legit, call them, verify their fax number, fax them the form and give them your fax number to fax it back to you completed.
Many applicants will not pass this test - or even bother to get back to you with their doctor's info, as they know they can't fake it. Those that do, still must pass all of your other criteria - credit score, landlord references, income verification, etc., references for the animal, too.
And, if the animal is a breed that will cause you to lose your insurance because of it's breed, you can say no to their request for a reasonable accommodation, as an unreasonable request.
And just by the way, if you turn them down and they file a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, it will be at least a year before it ever gets to a hearing - and only after the complainant convinces them that they have a legitimate case. And they are TOUGH interrogators. I know, because I filed a complaint with them. So, in the meantime, you will have dodged a bullet. And worst case scenario, DFEH will offer mediation, after they determined the case was a worthy one, and a year later you meet with the mediator where you say, woops sorry, I'll rent to them or pay them for actual out of pocket damages caused by you turning them down, which they probably won't be able to prove was much if anything - and by now they're living somewhere else and don't want to rent from you anyway. I only know this from actually filing a complaint for a different housing violation, and going through this process as a tenant. It's honestly, a joke. CA may have stringent laws - but pretty much nobody is enforcing them. Sad but true.
I also used to be an apartment manager in Santa Clara, CA.
By the way, if you don't have this book, you should get it:
You do also keep the right to kick them out if the dog causes any problems, though, and you can charge them for damage. You cannot, though, charge them any pet fees (as it's not a pet - it's a medical necessity) or an animal deposit.
I learned from the owner I worked for that month to month agreements are always the way to go, too. It's the easiest way to get rid of a problem tenant. In CA, all you have to do is give them 30 days notice (unless you have rent control). If they've been there longer than 12 months, you give them 60 days notice. But, that way, you aren't stuck with them for a year, if you were to have gone with a year lease. The owner I worked for only used month to month agreements. I thought at first this was crazy, but after a couple tenants turned out to be bad, I saw the beauty in them. Don't need to go into why, just give them 30 days notice to move. That way you don't have to prove breach of contract, etc.
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 10-24-2017 at 10:13 PM..
California: It's a single family dwelling with no yard and new carpet throughout the house. Keeping a dog constantly inside, I feel, would be animal cruelty--not to mention the wear-and tear on the expensive carpeting. Can I make a legitimate exception for renting to someone with a comfort companion dog or service dog because I have no yard?
As a dog owner, I can tell that the dog will do perfectly fine as an inside dog. Unless the dog is an actual working dog, keeping it outside would be animal cruelty. My 60 lb dog dog does quite well inside the home..we take daily walks and hit the dog park whenever possible.
As to your service/companion dog questions, I'll leave that up to the experts here.
Just another thought. I was looking at properties with a PM a while ago and we needed a dog friendly property. He shook his head when I asked about a lsiting that turned out not to allow dogs and made the comment that in the renter profile of some of the properties he was showing, you pretty well needed to allow pets (In our market.) His comment was, "in this neighborhood, most people wanting to rent are young professional people, most often couples, that have a dog. Its one of this first steps a couple makes about the same time they start cohabitating and getting engaged. Restaurants and bars cater to this group. Its one of the few really walkable neighborhoods in Raleigh."
No. A service dog is a medical necessity, like a wheelchair. That's how you have to think about them. Not having a yard is irrelevant. They could walk it, pay someone else to walk it, etc.
But, in order to have an emotional support animal, they must ask you for a reasonable accommodation based on their disability - if you don't normally allow animals. This basically asks that you make a "reasonable" exception to your rules, so that a disabled person can live in your unit, in reasonable comfort, in spite of their disability.
You do have rights, though. You can ask them to prove they meet the requirements in order to ask for the above. Here is letter that is written by HUD (the gov dept that regulates disabled persons' fair housing rights):
This is a copy of HUD document #7399:
Sample letter for Companion Animal
DATE
NAME OF PROFESSIONAL (therapist, physician, psychiatrist, rehabilitation counselor)
ADDRESS
Dear [HOUSING AUTHROITY/LANDLORD]:
[NAME OF TENANT] is my patient, and has been under my care since [DATE]. I am intimately familiar with his/her history and with the functional limitations imposed by his/her disability. He/She meets the definition of disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Due to mental illness, [FIRST NAME] has certain limitations regarding [SOCIAL INTERACTION/COPING WITH STRESS/ANXIETY, ETC]. In order to help alleviate these difficulties, and to enhance his/her ability to live independently and to fully use and enjoy the dwelling unit you own and/or administer, I am prescribing an emotional support animal that will assist [FIRST NAME] in coping with his/her disability.
I am familiar with the voluminous professional literature concerning the therapeutic benefits of assistance animals for people with disabilities such as that experienced by [FIRST NAME]. Upon request, I will share citations to relevant studies, and would be happy to answer other questions you may have concerning my recommendation that [FULL NAME OF TENANT] have an emotional support animal. Should you have additional question, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Signature
[NAME OF PROFESSIONAL]
What I suggest, is that you give the applicant a copy of the above HUD letter and ask the applicant for the name and address and fax number of their medical care professional, so that you can fax them this HUD form for them to certify that they are disabled and qualify for an emotional support animal under HUD rules.
Then, google the heck out of the info they give you, make sure it's legit, call them, verify their fax number, fax them the form and give them your fax number to fax it back to you completed.
Many applicants will not pass this test - or even bother to get back to you with their doctor's info, as they know they can't fake it. Those that do, still must pass all of your other criteria - credit score, landlord references, income verification, etc., references for the animal, too.
And, if the animal is a breed that will cause you to lose your insurance because of it's breed, you can say no to their request for a reasonable accommodation, as an unreasonable request.
And just by the way, if you turn them down and they file a complaint with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, it will be at least a year before it ever gets to a hearing - and only after the complainant convinces them that they have a legitimate case. And they are TOUGH interrogators. I know, because I filed a complaint with them. So, in the meantime, you will have dodged a bullet. And worst case scenario, DFEH will offer mediation, after they determined the case was a worthy one, and a year later you meet with the mediator where you say, woops sorry, I'll rent to them or pay them for actual out of pocket damages caused by you turning them down, which they probably won't be able to prove was much if anything - and by now they're living somewhere else and don't want to rent from you anyway. I only know this from actually filing a complaint for a different housing violation, and going through this process as a tenant. It's honestly, a joke. CA may have stringent laws - but pretty much nobody is enforcing them. Sad but true.
I also used to be an apartment manager in Santa Clara, CA.
By the way, if you don't have this book, you should get it:
You do also keep the right to kick them out if the dog causes any problems, though, and you can charge them for damage. You cannot, though, charge them any pet fees (as it's not a pet - it's a medical necessity) or an animal deposit.
I learned from the owner I worked for that month to month agreements are always the way to go, too. It's the easiest way to get rid of a problem tenant. In CA, all you have to do is give them 30 days notice (unless you have rent control). If they've been there longer than 12 months, you give them 60 days notice. But, that way, you aren't stuck with them for a year, if you were to have gone with a year lease. The owner I worked for only used month to month agreements. I thought at first this was crazy, but after a couple tenants turned out to be bad, I saw the beauty in them. Don't need to go into why, just give them 30 days notice to move. That way you don't have to prove breach of contract, etc.
Thanks much, NoMoreSnow. Very helpful info as well.
Yes, it's much like getting a handicap placard for your auto these days. Simple, really. I have one, so do healthy young straplings. I see them whipping out the placards all the time in our Whole Foods market. I just went in to my PCP, explained I'm older now and it's hard to walk long distances in a parking lot like malls, and he filled out the paperwork just like that without an exam. No muss, no fuss.
Anyone can tell their doctor their beloved dog is a comfort animal to them. Visit your friendly neighborhood Medicare shrink, tell them you get depressed if you don't have your pet with you and voila, you get a paper you have a mental and emotional disability that entitles you to keep your dog with you.
Please don't be naive, people. It really IS that simple.
For those of you who are LL's here's all I can suggest: get two month's deposit in addition to the first month's rent. That's as much as California law will allow. If you throw a little cheap furniture in there you can get three months deposit in addition to the first month's according to the law. Go down to your local Goodwill and buy an old sofa, a cheap dinette and a cheap metal bedframe and nightstand with lamp and put them in the house/unit and bingo! It's furnished.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 10-25-2017 at 09:43 AM..
OP, no you can't deny a service animal or emotional support animal just because you don't have a fence and you have new carpet. You can not charge a security deposit for the animal, either, or any pet fees or pet rent. In fact, there are very very few reasons you can deny a service animal or emotional support animal. If the dog jumps out of the car and bites you badly enough to require stitches, you can probably deny the dog for that. Maybe.
I suggest that you put together very extensive written criteria and when someone shows up with a comfort animal, you screen hard and you can probably find a legal reason to reject them that has nothing to do with the animal.
My experience with everyone so far with a fake ESA is that they all have bad credit. People trying to fake a dog to break the rules are people who happily break other rules, too.
But for just the animal, if there are no other grounds to reject the human, you are stuck with the dog.
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