ADA Accommodations for apartments

mom2and
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 21:50:22 +0000

Greenwitch: as noted above, the federal ADA does NOT include emotional support dogs, only specifically trained service dogs. ADA also does not include other animals. This is not an unintended consequence of ADA. It could be if a blind person requested the apartment and needed his or her seeing eye dog, but not an ESA. So not an unintended consequence of this very important law.

Fair Housing law does seem to allow an ESA, but the landlord can request documentation from a licensed mental health provider that the person has a disability and prescribes an ESA. It sounds like, in general, the landlord must then allow the animal, cannot charge extra rent, but can evict the animal if it is not controlled or is destructive, and can require the tenant to pay for any damages. The animal does not need to be specially trained.

Local laws and definitions may be different, as may the definition of a service/support animal.

Very interesting!