Emotional support animals play an important role in their owner’s life. 作为房东, you may come across a prospective tenant with an emotional support animal when you have a strict pet policy or 甚至还有禁止养宠物的政策.
然而人们经常混淆不同的术语, a service animal and an emotional support animal are two separate things. 它们都有非常不同的功能和法律要求. 像这样, you may wonder whether you must accept an emotional support animal.
幸运的是, 北县地产集团 has put together a guide on everything you need to know about emotional support animals if you’re a 圣地亚哥 landlord!
什么是服务性动物，它能做什么?
To begin, it’s vital to note the difference between a service animal and an emotional support animal. 服务性动物，最典型的是狗 美国残疾人法案, is a specially trained animal (dog) that performs specific tasks to help those with disabilities. A disabled person is someone with any of the following types of disabilities:
身体残疾
感官残疾
精神残疾
智力障碍
其他精神残疾
As you can see, disabilities encompass a wide range of physical and mental functions. 为了展示服务犬的重要性, the following are some examples of things a service dog 可以帮助 a disabled person with:
帮助盲人导航
Alerting someone who is hard-of-hearing to sounds, like when there is a knock on the door
识别主人的癫痫发作. 然后他们会站岗或寻求帮助
Alerting their owner to distinguish important sensory signals, such as a smoke alarm
Helping their owner who uses a wheelchair by carrying items or opening doors or cabinets for them
帮助发现和减轻精神病发作的影响
Under no circumstance can you deny a tenant for having a service animal. 联邦公平住房法 provides protection to certain classes of people against housing-related discrimination. 其中一类是残疾人, 包括需要服务性动物的残疾人. It’s also illegal for you to refuse to make “reasonable” changes to your unit to accommodate a disabled tenant.
什么是情感支持动物，它们做什么?
情感支持动物是一种 提供救济 通过陪伴来帮助有心理健康问题的人. 它们也不是特定于动物的, meaning an emotional support animal could be anything from a cat to even a goldfish.
The Americans with Disabilities (ADA) doesn’t recognize emotional support animals as 服务的动物. That’s because emotional support animals don’t have any specialized training in a specific task, this being the main difference between a service animal and an emotional support animal. 也就是说, this doesn’t minimize the help these animals provide for people with psychological disorders.
对于一个被认为是情感支持动物的动物, 必须有心理健康专家签字, confirming that their patient is suffering from an emotional or psychological disorder. Examples of such disorders include major depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, and panic disorders.
圣地亚哥有关于情感支持动物的法律吗?
是的，圣地亚哥有关于情感支持动物的法律. 以下是房东必须遵守的一些事项:
允许有残疾的房客拥有一只情感支持动物. 不管你是否允许宠物进入你的房子
不向残疾租客收取宠物费, 存款, 或者因为情感支持动物而提高房租.
Comply with making “reasonable” changes to the unit to accommodate a disabled tenant
除了, California law states that an emotional support animal must meet the following requirements:
它必须减轻承租人的残疾
A correlation between the tenant’s disability and the help offered by the animal must exist
The animal doesn’t pose a threat to neighbors or to the property itself
It doesn’t impose undue financial or administrative burdens on the landlord
The animal does not fundamentally change the types of services a landlord or a homeowners’ association provides
如何确认情感支持动物的状态?
虽然这并不常见, you may come across cases where prospective tenants claim that their pet is an emotional support animal to avoid the limitations of a no-pet policy.
作为房东, suspicions aren’t enough to refuse a tenant who claims to have an emotional support animal from renting your property. 你必须只依赖事实证据. 像这样, you have a right to ask the tenant for proof that their emotional support animal is recognized by a medical professional.
除了, you may also want to get in touch with a tenant’s previous landlords to inquire about the animal.
适应情感支持动物有限制吗?
你能做的改变是有限的. To elaborate, reasonable accommodations shouldn’t put a financial hardship on you.
例如, you’d be within your legal rights to reject breaking up all the concrete in the backyard and replacing it with grass so that the animal could have a place to play. This would be financially straining for you and unreasonable on the part of your tenant.
你能拒绝一个有情感支持动物的房客吗?
简而言之，是的. There are certain situations when you may be exempt from renting to a tenant with an emotional support animal. 这些情况如下:
Buildings having four units or fewer, and where the owner occupies one of the units
Single-family homes that were rented without the use of realtor services. However, there is a limit to how many single-family homes the owner of the home can own. 上限是最多3个家庭
如果动物不能适应家庭. 虽然这当然是一个极端, a small home with a fenced-in yard would not have to accept an emotional support animal that’s a horse, 例如
If the changes required to accommodate the animal place undue hardship for the landlord, 如前所述
如果动物引起 过度的破坏 或者成为邻居的威胁
如果租户未能通过房东的筛选程序. 例如, if the tenant fails to meet the income requirements required by the landlord, 因为这并不是动物情感支持的反映
底线
So, back to the question – does a 圣地亚哥 landlord have to accept an emotional support animal? In most cases, yes, but many factors need to be weighed, as mentioned above. 如果你还有问题， 北县地产集团 可以帮助!
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