3 ESA pets for 2 tenants

[Sasha Leans]

Hello, 

I am new to screening tenants with an ESA pet and recently I ran into this. A prospective tenant who reported having 2 occupants total and 3 ESA animals (2 dogs and a cat). Since I don't know a whole lot about the ESA thing- I wanted to reach out and see if anyone has run into this before? Has any ever had more ESA pets than occupants? That seems strange to me, but may be I am missing something? Thanks

[Greg Scott]

I've been fighting the ESA wars for a long time and by my estimation the majority of them are fake.  Why do I think that?  Because we receive an overwhelming number of ESAs requests for a pitbull and I don't believe they truly provide more emotional support than a poodle or pekingese.

Sadly, the federal government has tied one hand behind our backs as we try to fend off fraudulent claims from residents trying to avoid pet rent and breed restrictions.

Here is a copy of the HUD guidelines.  We used this to develop a simple process that screens out about half of the fake ESAs.

1) If the resident says they have an ESA, tell them they have to provide legally-compliant evidence that they are ESAs

2) If the evidence they give you is from a licensed health professional, and they are licensed in your state or the state from which the resident is moving, and the letter indicates a need for an ESA and their relationship more than a one-time telehealth interaction, you basically have to accept it.

3) We sometimes have to ask for clarification or more information but never give them enough information to figure out everything listed in #2

4) If they cannot provide such evidence, we have a simple letter noting that their evidence was insufficient.