All Forum Posts by: Anthony Lee

@Herman Herrera Welcome to BP! I'm sure you'll find the community a great resource! 

@Alyssa Vordenbaum Welcome to the community! I'm sure you'll find BP to be a great resource!

@Rohan Attravanam Welcome to BP! I'm sure you'll find the community a great resource! 

Congrats on your new Role!

@David Dang Welcome to the community! I'm sure you'll find BP to be a great resource!

@Natalie Kolodij A landlord can require that a tenant have renters insurance. However, renters insurance, is simply an abridged form of Homeowners insurance and will also, generally have a dog breed restrictions as well as an animal liability exclusion. 

For situations like this, in my opinion from an insurance standpoint, not a legal standpoint as I am not an attorney, the following situation would be beneficial if listed in the lease.

• Require that all tenants have renters insurance with the landlord listed as an "additional interest"
• Choose either to disallow pets or allow pets with restrictions on "vicious" breeds. 
  • If pets are allowed, require that the tenants renters insurance provide coverage for animal liability. or require that the tenant carry a separate animal liability policy with the landlord listed as an "Additional Interest"

It is also good to have coverage, either as an endorsement to your landlord dwelling policy, if available, or as a stand alone policy, for Tenant Discrimination.

@Rick S. @Brandon Turner 

Like most landlord dwelling policies and homeowners policies have particular breeds of animals which are considered to be contrary to company guidelines...

Many policies will have an Animal Liability Exclusion which will exclude coverage for liability claims caused by animals. Often this will be a general exclusion and extend to all animals not just animals deemed to be unacceptable per company guidelines. 

@Andrew S. More often than your agent is the best liaison with the company. 

@Account Closed applied for the insurance policy and it will likely be listed within the policy text itself. It is more likely that the particular breeds were listed on the application than in the policy. However, the exclusion, whether relating to animals generally, or particular breeds, can be found within the text of the policy itself if such exclusion would be applicable (Which it sounds like it is) 

@Brandon Turner 

I cannot speak as to the legalities of the situation. However, I can speak on the insurance side of things. 

It is common, as you assumed, for Pitbulls to generally be among the list of restricted and unacceptable dog breeds. It is also common for the insurance companies to have an animal liability exclusion in their policy. 

I am not familiar with Washington Laws, if the property is in Washington, regarding tenant discrimination or if they have a law in place which is more stringent than the ADA (And various other act)

However, my first question would be can the prospective tenant provide adequate documentation stating that the animal actually service animal and has been trained accordingly?

I have worked with clients in similar situations, each insurance company is different regarding their guidelines, where if documentation is provided that the animal is a service animal they will allow the presence of the animal. In these situations, the animal liability exclusion will generally still apply. 

Since the animal liability exclusion will generally still apply, it is possible, for the tenant, to take out a stand alone Animal Liability Policy, as the animal belongs to them, with you listed as an additional interest. 

As a side note, it is always recommended that residential landlords require that their tenants have a renters insurance policy in place with the landlord listed as an "Additional Interest." There seems to be a lot of confusion on the forums with regard to what renters insurance is or isn't and how the landlord should be listed as "Additional Insured." Generally speaking, "Additional Insured" may pose a conflict of interest for the landlord in the event of a liability claim.

My second question, or concern, would be whether you have a stand alone Tenant Discrimination Insurance Policy in place. When dealing with policies of this sort, it is important to ensure that the policy provides coverage for punitive damages as well as the more standard coverages. 

@Michael Richardson Welcome to BP! I'm sure you'll find the community a great resource! 

@Chris D. I just sent you a PM. Give me a call I'd be more than happy to go over everything with you. Unfortunately I cannot respond in full here at the moment but will do so later. 

@Tom Brooks Per the NFIP Guidelines Dry Flood Proofing (Flood Panels) Will only provide a credit for commercial properties (non-residential) and thats only after extensive modeling has been done and provided to FIMA and thats only if FEMA Engineers Approve the models. This process of getting such approval can take several months to more than a year.