Service animals are not considered pets! Other than service animals, Landlords do not have to allow pets. Apartment complexes will allow pets to entice more prospective tenants. Barking is often a problem and so is cleaning up after pets when tenants fail to do so.
Landlords typically charge a pet deposit of $500+.
See the service animal language below:
1. Service pets, therapy pets, or pet aides all fall into the same class under government law.
2. Service pets are not pets and therefore can not be classified as such. Property owners who have strict no cat guidelines may not enforce them in regards to service pets.
3. Assistance pets are going to be covered under the Fair Housing Amendments Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehab Act Section 504. Get familiar with these acts!
Under the Fair Housing Act, people with physical challenges who are accompanied by a service pet are a covered group. To be an person covered under the Fair Housing Act; that occupant must have a handicap as outlined by the act; the service pet must have a direct function related to the tenant’s handicap and the demand to maintain the service pet must be agreeable.
According to 43 U.S.C.§ 4568 (c)(4)(C), a property owner will have to make agreeable accommodations for a handicapped renter to be able to make use of and take pleasure in a rental building on an equivalent basis with renters who are not handicapped. For illustration, if a renter desires to have safety bars built in the bath-tub, a property owner may not refuse to make these kinds of accommodations.
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