Do you have a tenant who has asked you if they can have an emotional support animal live in their rental property?
There’s no doubt that more people have emotional support animals than ever before. This can be verified by doing a simple search on the internet since it’s not hard to find stories about people taking emotional support animals like ponies, or llamas, with them on airplanes.
The big question is how do you know when an emotional support animal is legitimate or if it can be classified as a pet?
How To Know If It’s An Emotional Support Animal
If your tenant currently has what they claim is an emotional support animal, the key to success with verifying the legitimacy of that animal is to ask them to provide you with an emotional support letter from a qualified medical professional.
The emotional support letter from a doctor or psychiatric professional will provide you with the answer that you need regarding the legitimacy of the animal.
In some cases, the tenant may not be able to provide an ESL letter, if that’s the case, then the animal can be classified as a pet and can ultimately be subject to your pet policy.
What To Do If It’s A Legitimate Emotional Support Animal
Let’s say that your tenant is able to provide you with an ESL letter from their doctor, or psychiatric professional, which proves that their emotional support animal is indeed legitimate. In this case, you must accept that emotional support animal and allow it to live in your rental property.
Once the animals living in your rental property, you should also do your due diligence to accommodate that animal, even creating an area outside of their rental so that they can let that animal exercise or potty.
Doing this will show your tenant that you’re making an effort to accommodate them while also eliminating the potential of a misunderstanding.
Contact 36 North Property Management
For more information on emotional support animals, or to speak with us about our Property Management Services, contact us today by calling (831) 484-4604 or click here to connect with us online.