[quote=spdrun]Doesn’t a service animal need a doctor’s certification? Sure, they can easily find a doctor to sign off or forge a letter, but it’s one more level of tsuris that might encourage them to seek a friendlier situation.[/quote]
Yes and no.
The certification of a service dog is less than standardized. And under FHA and ADA laws – you can ask a tenant if the dog is a service dog, you can ask if they have a disability. You can’t ask what the disability is. There’s so much grey area – the prospective tenant could lie and you’d be pretty much obligated to allow the pet.
Being a landlord has opened my eyes to all sorts of laws and rules. For example – did you know a landlord is required to provide a landline connection if asked? We never had one for our casita because my inlaws, and niece used cell phones. But a prospective tenant informed me (and I later verified she was correct) – we must provide a landline if requested. (And once I read the law, I had no issues.) That law seems pretty antiquated today… but it’s there… so I’ll oblige. I don’t remember if VOIP qualified… it may have even specified telco landline.
