Pet Screening and Emotional Support Animals
Landlords have the right to ensure that any pets moving in are well-behaved, healthy, and well-cared for; so as to avoid pet-related property damage, noise complaints from other tenants, or even legal liability for injuries to tenants or visitors caused by errant pets. The problem for landlords is that not all pets are considered pets by law. Find out more about pet screening and emotional support animals below. Or see our owner services to find out how we can help you today.
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Not All “Pets” Are Pets
There are three categories of animals that the law does not regard as pets:
- – Service animals (sometimes called assistance animals) are defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal that is trained to provide assistance to an individual with a mental or physical disability. Service animals are not considered pets.
- – Emotional support animals (also considered assistance animals) provide an individual with emotional support that relieves a disability but are not necessarily trained for that purpose. As the name suggests, the primary role of an emotional support animal is to provide its disabled owner with emotional comfort. A mental health provider for the owner can certify a regular pet as an emotional support animal.
- – Therapy animals are trained to make clients, other than their owner, feel better. Therapy animals interact with many people.
Different rules apply to each category in terms of the requirements for living in a rental unit.
How ADA Defines Disability
Both service animals and emotional support animals provide assistance for people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines disability as a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” The ADA provides protections for people who are actively affected by a disability, who have a history or record of such impairment, or who are perceived by others as having such an impairment.
Impairments considered as disabilities under ADA include:
- – Visual impairment
- – Hearing impairment
- – Mobility impairment
- – HIV infection
- – A history of drug addiction (though not current illegal drug use)
- – Mental illness
- – Intellectual disability, and more
Protections for Tenants with Assistance Animals
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing practices on the basis of disability, which means landlords cannot deny rental housing to any person with a physical or mental disability who relies on a service animal or emotional support animal even if they do not normally rent to tenants with pets. (To be considered an assistance animal, the animal must work, perform tasks or services, or relieve the emotional effects of the owner’s disability.)
Because assistance animals are not considered pets, they are not subject to pet screening by potential landlords. Additionally, their owners cannot be charged a pet deposit or pet fee, though they can be charged for any damage caused by their assistance animal. Landlords also have the right to pursue legal action to “evict” an assistance animal that raises nuisance issues.
HUD’s 2020 guidelines allow landlords to request “reliable documentation” of an assistance animal’s status. In the case of an emotional support animal, that documentation is an Emotional Support Assistance letter signed by a licensed mental health professional (psychiatrist, psychologist, or therapist), on the professional’s letterhead.
What About Pet Screening for Therapy Animals?
Therapy animals are not classified as pets under ADA or FHA rules, but they also do not qualify as assistance animals. Yes, they serve a therapeutic purpose, but not for their owner/handler. They do not perform work or provide specific services for an owner with a disability. Rather, they interact with multiple people—their human “clients”—and have been trained to meet their needs for physical or psychological therapy.
The only case in which a therapy animal may qualify as an assistance animal is if it is documented as providing emotional support for its owner. In that instance, if the owner were to apply for a rental unit, the landlord could not refuse, and the therapy animal would be exempt from pet screening. But under normal circumstances, owners of therapy dogs could be turned down by landlords who maintain a strict “no pets” policy.
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