Many people don't realize just how much value support animals provide in the United States alone. In 2019, there were almost 200,000 emotional support animals throughout the country. Being a support animal is a difficult job, and only about 1/3 of dogs are able to make it through the training!
Even with 200,000 support animals in the country, not everybody understands how to integrate support animals with the rest of society. It can be difficult to bring a support animal to work. In some rental apartments, there can also be misunderstandings about support animals.
So what exactly are the rules about support animals and rentals? Read on to learn all about the most important things you should know about support animals in rentals!
Understand Support Animal Laws
In many cases, pets and rentals are not allowed. At the same time, allowing pets is not the same thing as allowing support animals. There are laws that establish support animal rules that apply to rentals.
Among other things, people with a qualifying animal may keep their support animal at a rental. That applies even if the usual rule is that there are no animals at a rental property.
However, it is important to understand the details of this law. It only applies to people who officially have support animals. That does not necessarily mean that the animal has to be a dog, although dogs are the most common support animal.
The person who wants to bring in a support animal must have some kind of impairment that limits one of the major activities of life.
On top of that, it is important that the support animal be necessary to the functioning of the person in question.
These days, it is becoming more common for people to diagnose themselves with different mental or emotional problems. However, these kinds of diagnoses may not be sufficient to qualify somebody to bring a support animal into a rental property.
How to Improve Your Chances
Even if all of these things apply, that does not necessarily mean that you can bring in a support animal anywhere that you like. Instead, it only requires that the landlord make some kind of reasonable accommodation. They have to give you an accommodation that is reasonable, not necessarily the accommodation that you want.
As a result, it is to your advantage to find a way to cooperate with a landlord. Listen to them carefully and try to understand their concerns about having support animals. If at all possible, find ways to make it so that your support animal does not make things complicated for them.
If you do it right, you might be able to alleviate the concerns that the landlord has. That can make it easier for everybody involved. Otherwise, you may have to find another rental.
Understand the Most Important Things About Support Animals in Rental Apartments
We hope that some of the ideas in this brief article on important things to know about support animals in rental apartments have been helpful for you. Support animals are extremely important for the people who rely on them. For that reason, it is definitely worth taking the time to understand how to keep those support animals around.
Some people fail to take the time to understand how to manage rental apartments in relation to support animals. When that happens, they sometimes end up having to separate from their animals. To learn more about how to integrate support animals and rental apartments or to find expert property managers, feel free to reach out and get in touch with us here at any time!
