Tenant seeking advice for ESA accommodation

[Lydia Belle reissmann]

Hey guys so I’m seeking a place to live with my roommates in a notoriously difficult housing market. There’s so few places out there and they get snatched up. I have a cat who has never caused property damage before and goes potty outside instead of a litter box so he doesn’t even stink up the place. I got him legitimately ESA verified through my doctor (no scam websites) because I have been diagnosed with multiple emotional disorders which he legitimately helps me with. I was hoping this would increase the pool of houses I can look at but it seems I’ll still be discriminated against no matter what. I don’t want to go about it in a way that would piss off a potential landlord. The only way I could completely protect myself against unlawful discrimination would be to apply to houses and say there’s no pets then request accommodation before signing the lease. That would be legal by the way. But that’s dishonest and grimy and I don’t want to make a landlord feel like the rug is pulled out from under them or hate me before the lease even begins. But it’s also unlawful and grimy in the first place that landlords discriminate. Then there’s the houses that do allow pets. I don’t want to disclose that my pet is an ESA until after my application has been accepted because otherwise all they’ll see is that they can’t legally squeeze that extra 50$ a month or whatever out of me and then they won’t accept me. So far I’ve been disclosing it’s an ESA on applications to non pet friendly houses and not disclosing it’s an ESA on applications to the pet friendly houses. But then none of the no pet houses would ever give me a call back and as far as the other ones go, I read a post on here where this vile woman was saying her accepted tenant who disclosed their pet didn’t say it was an ESA until they were accepted. The vile woman was crying a river that she wouldn’t be able to charge a pet fee and wanted to know how she could legally drop the tenant. (She can’t.) but I’m curious would all landlords think of this as dishonest or have a bad opinion of the tenant after that? Keep in mind tenants with ESAs are not legally obligated to disclose it. Any input or advice would help thanks! 

[John Underwood]

You can't know for sure that there is discrimination going on even though you are accusing everyone of this.

The Landlord has every right to pick the most qualified candidate. Do you have an 800 credit score? If not do you think it could be possible that someone comes in with a higher credit score than you? Or they have a more stable job or make more money than you? Instead you want to paint everyone that does not accept you with a discrimination brush.

I do applaud you for not trying to hide the fact that you have an ES animal. I personally require people with an ES animal to go to a screening site where they confirm the legitimacy of any letter or documentation. Once done and if your the most qualified tenant then I would rent to you.

Maybe you voluntarily offer to pay additional rent or animal fee to show you are not trying to game the system or at least offer to pay a higher security deposit which you would get back if you take care of the property.

You are not being fair by assuming everyone is discriminating against you with no proof.