A No-Pet Policy Is Not Enough

There is no shortage of scams people use to get a bogus “support pet” into a no-pet building, and there are ways to keep them out. But every co-op and condo board needs to treat every “reasonable accommodation” request seriously. Failure to do so can lead to disastrous lawsuits.

"City, state, and federal laws require all providers of housing accommodations, including co-ops and condos, to receive requests for 'reasonable accommodations' in any form," attorney Ian Brandt of Wagner Berkow tells Brick Underground. "You have to entertain any request, and accommodations have to be provided if a pet is necessary to enable a disabled person to enjoy and use the premises like an able person. You can't simply say, 'We're a no-pet building, and every other resident complies with the policy.'"

To avoid the potential for lawsuits, for starters, boards have to receive the request in any form the resident chooses. From there, the board is required to respond to the resident, even if they suspect the request is not legitimate. The board will most likely want to ask for some sort of documentation that the pet is necessary. You can also ask for follow up information, as sometimes doctors write something very cursory, such as, 'They need the dog to feel better.' You could ask, 'How does the dog help?'"

Boards should keep in mind that if a resident is demonstrably disabled – for instance blind, in a wheelchair, or suffering from visibly apparent mental disabilities – the building can't ask for medical records to back that up.

"As soon as the doctor comes forward and says the person has this disability, and these symptoms are alleviated by the pet, it's a done deal," Brandt says. And while a building can reject a pet request it deems insufficient or illegitimate, there's a high risk of losing if the issue ends up in court.