ESA - 30 years of rental properties 1st time encounter - any advise welcome!
As the subject suggests, I've been an investor for 30 years, mostly in SFR, and have encountered a variety of ups/downs, but have never dealt with an ESA. My properties have always been under a PM, and more recently I am looking to self-manage, at least investigating it and not ready to leap. This gives me pause because I feel ill-equipped to deal with this if I self-manage.
Please chime in, those who are PMs and those self-managing, to help me understand how to protect myself from any liability that may arise from the ESA on my property. I carry an umbrella policy in addition to property insurance. My insurance already said I am not covered for ANY incident involving the ESA dog.
Before coming here, I pulled up the Fair Housing Act and looked for federal and state (FL) content on this subject. I also read through what I could find about ESAs here in BP, but it was limited. I was surprised that there is no language requiring the owner of the ESA to carry K9 insurance. This baffles me as well, since this would protect everyone involved with the property: the tenant, anyone who may be injured by the ESA dog, and me as the owner.
Like the posts I found here on BP where the owner was surprised that the tenant who they signed "showed" up with a dog and said it was an ESA, that wasn't exactly what happened to me. My case was the PM never telling me that the incoming tenant had 2 ESAs. My policy has always been "no pets", and I DO understand they are not classified as "pets", but I felt the PM should have still notified me of this.
The reason: We were doing repairs that started more than a month before the tenant was "scheduled" to move into the unit, and the PM was fully aware. The tenant was allowed to move in before the lease term, for which they paid for those few days. Also, news to me, the PM realized they dropped the ball because the repair work was already in progress. This is not to bash the PM, nor is it about how they operate. This was a one-time thing that will not be a slippery slope.
Anyway, the real issue was the contractor, and I went to the property only to find the tenant had begun moving in and was not at the property, with the ESA dog inside, who was tearing at the window trying to get out and barking like someone was breaking in - was not friendly AT ALL. And maybe friendly is too loose a term and not applicable - I felt it should not have been in the "over" excited state that we witnessed.
We stood outside while I got on the phone with the PM and told them what was going on. They called the tenant, who eventually came to remove the dog. My first thought was, why is this dog in such a heightened state if it's an ESA? All we did was pull up in the driveway and had not gotten to the porch. The contractor also made the same concerning comment. Both of us were perplexed by this behavior. In hindsight, maybe I should have recorded this behavior.
1) Aren't ESAs supposed to be like service dogs, trained and not aggressive?
2) As a result of this behavior, what can I do to protect myself from liability that may arise if this ESA dog bites or injures someone on my property?
I tell this story because I have no experience with ESAs. I don't know what their behavior is supposed to be or not be. The PM did assure me they vetted them with a 3rd-party company that received a valid ESA letter written and signed by a licensed healthcare or mental health professional.
Because of my risk concerns, the PM is contacting their attorney to investigate whether an appropriate insurance requirement can be implemented consistent with applicable ESA and FHA requirements. Just because I have a PM, it's my property, and I am the one ultimately responsible, and I don't want to leave anything to chance.
My concern is liability. How do I protect myself and my property?
I will end this here, though I do feel I need to add more. :-)
Thank you