My pet policy limits the number, type, breed, size, and weight of pets allowed. One tenant has requested an accommodation for a pit bull as her emotional support animal. A pit bull is a breed prohibited by my rental policies. Will I have to allow her request?
A landlord’s pet policies and pet restrictions cannot be used to deny or limit housing opportunities to persons with disabilities who require the use of an assistance animal because of their disability. The details of the specific circumstances of the tenant’s request will be the determining factor whether to accept or deny a reasonable accommodation request.
Without information to the contrary, yes, you will need to allow her request for accommodation of a pit bull as her emotional support animal.
However, if you have direct knowledge of a health and safety concern that the specific assistance animal in question poses, such as a direct threat to others, that cannot be reduced or eliminated through the use of another reasonable accommodation or if the specific assistance animal would cause significant physical damage to the property of others that cannot be reduced or eliminated by another reasonable accommodation, it is possible you could deny the request. Before making a final decision, an individualized assessment of the likelihood of an assistance animal’s direct threat to others or possible physical damage to property should be conducted and must be based on objective evidence of the specific animal’s actual behaviors, not on stereotypes, or generalizations.