The Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of residential housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability. Although the non-discrimination concept embodied within the FHA is relatively straight forward, application of the law to real world situations is not always as clear cut. This article discusses the interplay between the FHA and service animals by examining a few of the more commonly raised questions when a potential tenant with a disability seeks housing along with his/her furry (or not so furry) companion.
When verifying service animal status, housing providers are not given blanket authority to ask for and receive any amount of information they desire from the potential tenant. Housing providers can request reliable documentation establishing that a potential tenant has a disability (if the tenant’s disability is not readily apparent) and/or the service animal assists the potential tenant with management of his/her disability (if the need for the service animal is not readily apparent).
Housing providers should never ask a potential tenant to provide access to all of his/her medical records to analyze the veracity of a potential tenant’s contention that he/she has a disability and needs a service animal in a rental unit.
There is more useful information in the article......