No pets policy vs emotional support animal laws
I have a strict no pets policy on my 3BR fully furnished mid term rental because it is nicely furnished and decorated with soft furnishings, linens, etc, has a carpeted, finished basement, and a tiny but fully landscaped backyard. Though I'm am animal lover, dogs and cats just have the capacity to do too much damage in a short time to this type of rental. I'd have to double the security deposit, raise the rent by 20%, and double the cleaning fee to even make it worth considering-- which I would if people were willing to pay but the market doesn't support those prices.
HOWEVER I currently have a single man who filled out his application and negotiated 10% lower rent with me. He mentioned his girlfriend would be staying with him occasionally before submitting the application, but she would not be in the lease. After submitting the application and credit check, he also informed me that his girlfriend would be bringing her "emotional support dog" with her during her stays?
Is there a way to say a hard no to that without running afoul of disability laws? Since she is not on the lease, I'm hopeful I can do so.
How do you all handle emotional support animals? I was surprised that i couldn't even charge people who bring these sorts of pets an additional deep cleaning fee to remove allergens for future guests thinking they had access to a pet fee home.
@Megan Fitzgerald does your lease say no visiting animals? I have turned away visiting dogs but I have not faced a service animal staying overnight. I did say ok to someone whose Girlfriend had a service animal she brought on site to pick him up when they went out. He asked if the animal could come onsite to pick him up and I said yes but not stay if GF stayed overnight and he respected that but he wasn't fighting me for it. However, how the law would see it I am not sure. This guy bargained the rent with you so you better be on firm ground on whatever you tell him about the animal.
#4 Medium-Term Rentals Contributor
- Lender
Hi @Megan Fitzgerald I would be sure to do your research online and it may be worth checking with a local real estate attorney as well or another local attorney who may be familiar with the your areas laws/regulations.
I wound up coming up with standardized language to put into the lease (which originally just said that service animals would be permitted according to law). I now require any animals brought onto the property for any length of time, even service and emotional support animals, to be registered with petscreening.com or otherwise verified through a third party, and if tenants or their guests are not happy with that, they can send the documentation directly to me (vaccination records for the animal and a doctor's note with medical license and clinician contact information be sent to me). Upon verification, I will then give them written permission to have that specific animal on the property. Petscreening.com seems a bit predatory, but it's sadly necessary to do this because people are trying to pass pets off as service animals. I also made it clear that he is responsible for any damages caused by the dog, and its status as a service/support animal does not exempt him from paying for property damage or cleaning fees for messes that are above the normal wear-and-tear.
I also clarified my guest policy to the applicant, which is that guests may stay a total of 10 nights, and not more than 5 consecutive nights, if they are not on the lease (the lease is for 3.5 months).
I emailed the applicant to give him a heads up about the language in the lease, in case he wanted to find a more dog-friendly property, but he wants to go ahead. I don't have a reason to turn him down, other than the dog, but if it is a real emotional support animal that would be discrimination, so we're proceeding.
I've had such bad experiences in the past with dogs in a different fully furnished short term rental where we originally allowed dogs-- swimming in a decorative pond and disconnecting the filter, killing the koi, chewing up a couch and other soft furnishings, scratching a newly installed hardwood door and ruining the finish, digging giant holes in the yard and landscaping.... thousands of dollars of damage, really, in a very short time, which is why I have a strict no pets policy, and am particularly nervous about dogs on the property.