[nagdu] guidedogs and apartment complexes

Sat May 10 16:39:42 UTC 2014

John,
	One of the confusing issues concerning guide and other service animals are the different laws and rules that apply to specific circumstances. Housing acommodations are governed by the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and under the joint jurisdiction of the Departments of Housing and Urban Development ()HUD) and Justice (DOJ). The Fair Housing Act allows housing accommodations to require an individual with a disability to request for reasonable accommodations and those accommodations must be granted unless the housing accommodation can demonstrate that the requested accommodation poses a direct threat, creates an undue burden, or fundamentally alters the services provided. Under the Act, housing accommodations are required to grant reasonable accommodations by modifying their "No Pets" policies to allow an individual with a disability the right to keep an assistance animal in their housing accommodation and they cannot charge a fee for the animal, even if their policy is to charge a fee for a pet.  

	I have attached guidance from the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ you may wish to share with your landlord. This document may be obtained from 

http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/caselist.php#disabil

click on " Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice - Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act". Here is what is said in Question 11, Example 2 concerning deposits for assistance animals:

Because of his disability, an applicant with a hearing impairment needs to keep an assistance animal in his unit as a reasonable accommodation. The housing provider may not require the applicant to pay a fee or a security deposit as a condition of allowing the applicant to keep the assistance animal. However, if a tenant's assistance animal causes damage to the applicant's unit or the common areas of the dwelling, the housing provider may charge the tenant for
the cost of repairing the damage (or deduct it from the standard security deposit imposed on all tenants), if it is the provider's practice to assess tenants for any damage they cause to the premises.

If you need any assistance or your landlord needs more information, you may call the NAGDU Information & Advocacy Hotline at 888-NAGDU411 (888-624-3841). I hope this information is helpful.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of via nagdu
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2014 11:15 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] guidedogs and apartment complexes

Hi,
I have a question: the policy at my apartment complex is that if the tennet wants to have a pet, they have to pay a $200.00 deposit.
I’ve tried to tell the apartment management that I’m going to be getting a guide dog.
They said that I would still have to pay the pet deposit.
I understand that they can’t do make me pay for having the guide dog in the building.
They told me that they need to have something in writing.
How should I go about finding out what section the apartment complex needs to read?
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
John Sanders
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