Tenants with service dogs

[Rishita Tiwari]

Dear Community,

I was having an interesting discussion with another landlord on the real estate partners discord (https://discord.gg/pKh34Yu3PM) regarding tenants having service dogs. So basically, some jurisdictions in Florida don’t allow landlords to discriminate based off if a tenant has a service dog (i.e deny occupancy based on this) nor ask what the dog is for. Does this apply to other parts of the country? Curious, what is everyone’s experience with this?  

[Theresa Harris]

If it is truly a service dog (extensive training), then I wouldn't worry about it.  If it is an emotional support animal (ie a pet with easy to get documents), then I'd ask for specific papers (ie not off the internet) for documentation.  In either case you have to allow them.