ESA animal and no pet policy

[Jeffrey Richard]

A tenant brought in a pit bull as a ESA animal and got a letter to do so.

Our rental agreement says no pets allowed. 

Are we allowed to evict them or tell them to get rid of the animal?

[Nick Virovec]

Hey Jeff, 

In my property management experience, I was taught risk vs reward in these situations. If the documentation provided isn't legit, and they are in violation of the lease, its a considerably small win versus being wrong or asking them to leave when the documentation provided meets the crieria for a reasonable accommodation, which is what this is. So you can be right in a small way, or wrong in a big way and be subject to a fair housing suit. As the others stated, the verbiage of the letter is important. If it's legit, the pitbull is viewed as a medical instrument, and not a pet. That said, pet has to abide by any community rules, if you have any, and are able to collect any damages the pet causes. That's how it was always explained to me at least