Service Animals - the two questions

So, today, I had a person text about a 2 bedroom apartment I had for (longterm) rent.

She asked what the monthly pet fee I charged was.

I asked her what kind of animal (11 year old shnorkie??) - we discuss it a bit

Then she said it was a registered service animal and asked if she still had to pay the pet fee. The hair went up on the back of my neck

I said "why didn't you mention this at first" - sensing a possible lawsuit.

She said a lot of people discriminate against it which is illegal

So I did the two questions "is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? "

She said "Yes - for a mental disability"

Then I asked "what work or task has the dog been trained to perform?"

She then said it was an emotional support animal.

I said that is not a service animal. And that in some jurisdictions, falsely claiming it is a service animal is a misdemeanor.

Then she left the conversation. I am guessing someone trying to get out of a pet fee and it might not even be a support animal!

Good for you! There's way too much of that bullshit going around these days.

All they have to do is a $5,000 fine and misdemeanor for misrepresenting a service animal and the problem goes away.

The ones they really hurt are the disabled.

Hi, I am a happy OR user from SC, managing 14 properties at Isle of Palms and a couple elsewhere in the state.

I'm just taking a tour through these messages and spotted this.

We have pet friendly properties and used to get requests ALL. THE. TIME. for pet fee to be waived for a service animal. We finally put the note below at the bottom of our pet policy. We also have a policy for Service Animals that we provide to "remind" guests that their animal should never ever be left alone in the property, as well as the other typical things they forget. Haven't had a request to waive the fee since.

A NOTE REGARDING SERVICE ANIMALS AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT OR THERAPY ANIMALS:

We welcome all Service Animals in all properties.   
While we recognize the value of emotional support animals and therapy dogs, according to the ADA laws, emotional support animals and therapy dogs are not considered SERVICE ANIMALS and therefore are not afforded the same rights as animals that are working dogs, trained to do a specific task to assist an individual with a disability.  If you have questions about SERVICE ANIMALS please see the Americans with Disabilities Act website:    https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html.

It is also useful to learn how to identify fake service dogs. I watched a couple Youtubes on how to identify a fake service animal. Every VR owner should do that once. There is a huge difference between service animals and others. The 2 questions are one thing. Picking out fakes is another. My lease agreement also states that people with fake service animals can lose their booking without refund.