HOA fighting ESA letter

[Steven Pressey]

Two weeks ago I selected a tenant with an ESA 70lb dog for one of my properties in Colorado Springs, CO. The ESA letter met all the legal requirements I could find so i accepted them even though my policy was no pets. The HOA has a policy of no dogs over 30lbs and is now threatening to start fining me $50 per day until the dog is removed. The HOA says the ESA letter is bogus because it is not from an in-state therapist, though the therapist is licensed in the state of Colorado. If I kick out the tenants I'm subject to a lawsuit from them, but if I keep them I'm subject to HOA fines. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

[Greg M.]

Doing a quick search, it appears that Colorado law only requires that the therapist be licensed in Colorado, not that they live or practice in Colorado. I would suggest finding a copy of the Colorado law showing that the therapist only needs to be licensed in Colorado on ESA and present this to the HOA. Perhaps it is worth it to spend a couple of hundred dollars and have an attorney draft the letter to the HOA.

If they refuse to back down, tell them to fine you, pay it, and file suit against the HOA. Let a judge explain the law to them.

[Russell Brazil]

Just tell them to take the issue up with HUD. Any action they take will result in you filing a fair housing complaint against the HOA. Let them know the penalty for a first offense is $16,000, and insurance does not cover fair housing complaints.

[Theresa Harris]

@Steven Pressey Ask the HOA for documentation to show that the therapists has to be in state and not just licenced in state.

[Colin Smith]

@Steven Pressey - We are going through the exact same thing. I would be curious to know which HOA it is. I would suspect it's the same one. Right now we are up to almost $8k in legal fees along and way more in fines as this has been dragged on for month.

@Greg M. - Where did you find that ruling online?

[Greg M.]

Originally posted by @Colin Smith:

@Greg M. - Where did you find that ruling online?

One of the sites that provides ESA letters, onlinedogtor, stated: Because the laws that allow you to live with your ESA (Fair Housing Act) and fly with your ESA (Air Carrier Access Act) are federal laws, the requirements in Colorado are no different than in all the other states. You need a properly executed ESA letter. 

There is one important difference, though. Your ESA letter must come from a mental health professional licensed in the state of Colorado.

[Elena Zhebrun]

@Steven Pressey

Just wanted to circle back and see if there is any outcome in your situation.

We are going through the same situation with our HOA in Florida. Tenant has a legitimate disability that requires assistance animals and they are not backing down, threatening us with their "attorney".

Is it easier to just get an attorney ourselves and have him explain the fair housing act the HOA? Manager just seem to only rely on the condo rules and regulations and completely ignore federal laws. On top of that this is not a condo association made out of owners, but rather individuals that don't even live there at all.

Let me know how it goes with your case, really want to get some perspective on what to expect.

[Colin Smith]

We ended up settling our case and the tenant moved out as they were sick of being in the middle of it. Not a lot of help here I realize. I would recommend getting an attorney if they won't drop it.

You might find this link helpful from HUD as well: https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfil...

[Theresa Harris]

Originally posted by @Elena Zhebrun:

@Steven Pressey

Just wanted to circle back and see if there is any outcome in your situation.

We are going through the same situation with our HOA in Florida. Tenant has a legitimate disability that requires assistance animals and they are not backing down, threatening us with their "attorney".

Is it easier to just get an attorney ourselves and have him explain the fair housing act the HOA? Manager just seem to only rely on the condo rules and regulations and completely ignore federal laws. On top of that this is not a condo association made out of owners, but rather individuals that don't even live there at all.

Let me know how it goes with your case, really want to get some perspective on what to expect.

if this is a true service animal and not an emotional support animal, you might want to ask the HOA if they really want to get involved with discrimination problems and the ADA. Emotional support animals are a farce and anyone can get documentation for those. Service animals are essential and require a lot of training.

[Steven Pressey]

I didn't want to get into a drawn out legal battle. Fortunately the tenants were easy to work with. I ended up giving them 30 days to find another place. The HOA ended up fining me $700 which is half of what the original fine was. It's definitely a battle that needs to be fought eventually, but I didn't feel like I was in a position to be the one to fight it. Reached out to HUD but they said they would only help if it was a section 8. Reached out to DORA and they were months out on being able to help out or even offer advice. I even talked to a reporter with a local news station. The lawyers will always want to fight it because they usually get paid either way, my pockets don't run deep enough yet.

[Elena Zhebrun]

Thank you everyone!

it seems its a tough one. The dogs are ESA, not actual service animals. But tenant has obvious and serious disability and he is under Section 8 program. Animals are not trained like service animals, but are alerting when someone knocks on the door, if there is smoke in the apartment, etc. They also do not leave the premises of the apartment. 

It just appalls me that the association wouldn't even work with us, refuse to even review FHA. I was under impression they should know those laws when getting into this business. Now I wonder - what else they really have no clue about?

We had tenant mail in the request for reasonable accommodation as suggested by Disability Rights nonprofit organization as they advised that if it gets denied, they have to state the reason and then we can file Fair Housing Discrimination Claim.

We also don't have much resources to fight the legal battle, but we won't have any resources for discrimination claim penalties if filed by the tenant. 

I am not sure if anyone has a suggestion on how to persuade HOA as they completely ignore and disregard all reasonable arguments we brought up, narrowing everything to rules and regulations of association.