Webinar Fri March 27: Emotional Support Animals
Emotional support animals and service animals are a needed and valuable help for those of us living with a disability. But some unscrupulous individuals seem ready to abuse this protection, parading what seems like an ordinary pet through our rental application and right into our "no pets" apartment. What are landlords supposed to do to protect their property and also a renter's rights when someone says they have a support animal? What's the correct terminology to use? And what would land us in hot water for discrimination if we're not careful? We'll be covering this and more. HUD Guidance was recently issued, we'll be looking at whether it changes anything or is more of the same.
Friday, March 27th
- 12:00pm Webinar Begins
- 1:00pm Webinar Ends
Registration
Open to the public. Membership is not required!- Public: $6
- Members: $3
Watch Live (on March 27th, 2020 12:00PM EST):
Hi there,
You are invited to a Zoom webinar. When: Mar 27, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Emotional Support Animals Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://zoom.us/j/705097719 Password: Will we emailed upon registration Or iPhone one-tap : US: +16468769923,,705097719# or +13126266799,,705097719# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 646 876 9923 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 408 638 0968 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782 Webinar ID: 705 097 719 Password: Will we emailed upon registration International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/aezzlVDnurWatch Recording (after April 1st, 2020):
Recording Link: https://masslandlords.net/laws/emotional-support-animals/ Webinar recordings are only available to confirmed registrants. To successfully access, make sure to Log In to your MassLandlords account.Click here to register for this webinar
The webinar counts for continuing education credit for Certified Massachusetts Landlord Level Three.v4
I am a landlord and attorney. I have had personal experience with this issue. When I had a client contact me when a tenant sought an accommodation for an emotional support dog I reached out to other attorneys for their experiences and hit wall after wall (of those I spoke with nobody had encountered the issue). I reached out to the Mass Commission Against Discrimination and received very little guidance from them other than if a tenant filed a complaint with them the landlord could face a fine of $25,000. This law is important to protect those that need the accommodation but I saw it first hand being abused. A tenant produced a letter from a social worker which she obtained from an on-line service. The social worker and tenant both acknowledged that they never met in person and the letter was issued only after one 10 minute phone consultation. So frustrating. I would love to hear your take on such pay to play letters.
By the way, in the end after much back and forth with the tenant (and obtaining all sorts of documentation) my client decided to grant the accommodation than risk a fine by MCAD. She did however hire a professional photographer to photograph and video the unit. Hopefully the dog does not do any damage to the unit which the landlord had spent a lot of money to renovate prior to this tenant moving in and which she would not have done had she known a dog would be scratching up the new floors. Another side note, the tenant stated she would be crating the dog for 9 hours during the day while she went to work (no dog walker, no need to take the dog with her to work).
Thank you,
Andrea Youman