Real Estate Broker · St Petersburg · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
I manage real estate for investors, and wanted to hear from the insurance brokers as to what your feel is for the growing number of "service Animals" in rental properties. The biggest concern that I have is that we can't ask anything from applicants with a dog or miniature horse as their service animal, even if the dog is one of the vicious breeds not covered under insurance.
What happens if the dog bites the neighbors kid, etc.... would the owner be covered?
@Kim Meredith Hampton there is lots of mis-information being provided in this thread. I am sure people have good intentions, but it can be confusing.
First of all is the confusion between Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals. The DOJ has clearly defined that under the ADA Service Animals to only include any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. They also specifically state that Emotional Support Animals do not qualify as Service Animals under the ADA. The good thing about he ADA Service Animals is that they have been professionally trained and behave better than most of your tenants. You can only ask two questions of a Service Animal. For a service animal you can only ask two questions. Is it an animal that is required for a disability and what specific work has the animal been trained to perform. Be careful because perspective tenants will call their animal a Service Animal when in fact it is an Emotional Support Animal.
Emotional Support Animals also known as Assistance Animals are covered under FHA (not ADA). They require no training and although they are typically dogs, they theoretically could be a cat, pig, horse, snake, etc. They generally treat some type of mental disorder, but realistically most anyone can say they are depressed and qualify. I recommend a doctors form instead of note. By using a doctors form, you control the content and can ensure it is only completed by a trained mental health professional. In other words, no buying letters off the internet. You send the form to the mental health professional and they send it back to you - never entering the tenants hands. You do have to accept these animals without extra deposit or extra pet rent. People claim that you need to accept dangerous breeds, but there is precedence that says you don't have to. If the animal poses a direct threat to the safety of others, you do not need to accept it. There is also legal precedence through court cases that if your insurance doesn't accept the breed, it would be an unreasonable burden to have you accept the animal. Obviously if your insurance will drop you, how can you accept the animal?
@Cody Barrett you can legally ask only two questions for Service Animals covered under the ADA per the DOJ per policy from 2013. The court case you referenced predates this DOJ ruling. The other thing I would point out is that the animal in that case doesn't appear to have been trained, so it wasn't a Service Animal, but as actually an Emotional Support Animal. I am not a legal expert but I think some of the questions you are proposing could be illegal to ask:
You are allowed to ask for a medical professional's prescription for the animal. Wether it is a companion animal or a service animal. You are also allowed to call the doctor directly and ask if they have that person as a patient just to verify the online "certificate". Animals in either case do not have to be professionally trained.
@Ben Tate I have had a couple phone calls were I had to tell people the breed was restricted. In another case they had too many adult occupants. Best to deny for non-animal reasons if possible. I am a fairly small operator with only SFH. This is a bigger challenge for large apartment complex.
I manage real estate for investors, and wanted to hear from the insurance brokers as to what your feel is for the growing number of "service Animals" in rental properties. The biggest concern that I have is that we can't ask anything from applicants with a dog or miniature horse as their service animal, even if the dog is one of the vicious breeds not covered under insurance.
What happens if the dog bites the neighbors kid, etc.... would the owner be covered?
The answer is... only invest in good properties in solid locations so you can attract responsible tenants who will take good care of your property. If you screen carefully, and prospects show they're responsible in other ways, allowing a pet with extra deposit and pet rent is something you should seriously consider. They will feel at home and stay longer (lower turnover). This is because the people who are financially responsible, have a good track record of taking care of housing, and have positive references, typically can be trusted to take good care of pets and your property.
I always allow pets and have never had a problem at all.
I wish you the best.
Personally, I wouldn't allow "fluffy". I would likely find other reasons to deny the tenant if they don't demonstrate they will responsibly take care of the home.
Instead of fighting these laws my approach is to keep the screening requirements high and hold them accountable for their animals if they make a mess or bother other tenants.
If I don't loose money and they aren't bothering anyone I don't care if they have a service animal.
we allow pets regardless of being service animals, we require they have renters insurance, and the breed is allowable on that insurance, we set our units up with no carpet, as to not be as big a problem with pet mess.
Im not an attorney, but i was advised that if a tenant has a pet, and they do not have insurance, and the pet causes damage or harm to another, it can fall back to the landlords insurance. be careful out there.
I've contacted HUD on this issue and researched the law. That being said, the Fair Housing Act applies to homeowners insurance. It's even mentioned on the HUD website. So, legally, no, an issuance company cannot refuse coverage on breed. Namely, because HUD guidelines (not to mention Department of Justice guidelines) specifically state that breed restrictions are on service dogs are illegal.
And while emotional support animals aren't service dogs, the Fair Housing Act doesn't distinguish between the two.
