![]() ![]() *IANAL, the context above is not legal advice. I'd also wish you the best of luck on these, as it's often times impossible to get a hold of the medical professional, or you'll otherwise just get connected with the website that sold the letter. If the letter appears to be from one of these websites, I would encourage you to try and find the medical professional and reach out to them for verification of the document. Side note: A lot of people are trying to get around breed restrictions and pet fees by going online and paying for service animal letters and patches. In my opinion, the law on this is too ambiguous. Maybe there is a lawyer on here that can add color. Nor do I believe anyone on this forum would know that answer. I don't know the answer to that question. Is that considered, "reasonable accommodation", as you are allowing the two service animals. Then the question would be whether or not you can simply accept the two service animals and deny the two pets. If the person has two pets and two service animals, and your max animals is two. You also have the right to ask the two following questions: 1) Is the animal required because of a disability? 2) What work or task has the animal been trained to perform.Īs a property management professional, you are required to provide, "reasonable accommodation". If the medical professional verifies the document, then I would let it go, and approve the animal. From there, you can reach out to the medical professional to verify that the documentation was completed by them. When the disability is not obvious, you can ask for documentation supporting the request for the animal. One other tip call your local housing authority and ask them what your rights are when the number of animals seems excessive. Please don't challenge people or ask about the nature or severity of the claimed disability. It will serve you well to be polite, kind and helpful. I also think that if there are more than two assist animals that you can ask for a document from a health care provider. ![]() ![]() However, it is my opinion that you may be able to require documentation simply because you see no evidence that 2 animals required. If the disabilities are not obvious, HUD allows you to request documentation from a knowledgeable 3rd party/healthcare provider. If you have doubts as to the disabilities, or if the applicant/resident has a fake looking document ordered from the internet, you do have the right to inquire. As a reminder, assist animals are NOT considered pets and cannot be counted in your limit. Also, if you allow pets, with a 2 pet limit, you could have 4 animals in an apartment. So yes, there could be a legitimate reason for more than one service/assist/companion animal. For example, both blind and deaf, or mentally impairedĪnd physically impaired, perhaps in a wheelchair. Put simply, a person can have more than one disability. I would do this even if the PWD came prepared with some type of written verification from the internet or from some other source. What can two animals (or four in this case) do that one animal cannot? The person is disabled as per the definition of disability contained in the FHA, andģ. If it were my community, I would send an accommodation request verification form (assuming the disability is not obvious - if the disability is obvious and you can see the need for the assistive animal - for example, a visually-impaired person with a seeing eye dog - you should not require a written verification) to the person's care giver/health care provider asking for confirmation of the the following:ġ. Although there is no specific maximum number of assistive animals a person with a disability (PWD)can have, the main consideration with any request for an accommodation (or modification) is "Is it reasonable?" The FHA defines reasonable as "Not fundamentally altering the way we do business and not creating an undue administrative or financial burden". ![]()
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