[nagdu] guidedogs and apartment complexes

[via nagdu]

Hi,
ok.
The reason why I asked that is because: I had gone down to my apartment 
complex office and had told them that I would be getting a guide dog.
Does that need to be put in a request for reasonable accomidation?
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
John Sanders


-----Original Message----- 
From: Marion Gwizdala via nagdu
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2014 12:39 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] guidedogs and apartment complexes

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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