Due to all the bogus ESA requests, I've finally taken my process a step further. Now if a prospect submits an application with any mention of an emotional support animal on it, my system will automatically send them an email letting them know that they must fill out my "request for accommodation" form (with a link). It also lets them know that their application will be marked as incomplete until that form has been submitted.

I've added verbiage from HUD's FHEO-2020-01, letting them know essentially if they're trying to use some bogus internet certification they won't get very far with me. I've also included a section they must acknowledge that lets them know we actively participate with HUD to prosecute all fraudulent animal claims and that, by itself, is a misdemeanor with up to a $750 fine. Which it is. . . In Wyoming. . . ( I didn't specify WHERE it was a misdemeanor :) ).

My form asks all the questions that HUD says that I can but makes them jump through extra hoops that lazy applicants just won't want to bother with. Win win.

" Documentation from the Internet

Some websites sell certificates, registrations, and licensing documents for assistance animals to

anyone who answers certain questions or participates in a short interview and pays a fee. Under

the Fair Housing Act, a housing provider may request reliable documentation when an individual

requesting a reasonable accommodation has a disability and disability-related need for an

accommodation that are not obvious or otherwise known.35

In HUD’s experience, such

documentation from the internet is not, by itself, sufficient to reliably establish that an individual

has a non-observable disability or disability-related need for an assistance animal.

By contrast, many legitimate, licensed health care professionals deliver services remotely,

including over the internet. One reliable form of documentation is a note from a person’s health

care professional that confirms a person’s disability and/or need for an animal when the provider

Jason, up to a $10,000 fine in Indiana.

MMmmmmmm

I do like your thought process and your method, but not specifically the message

I wouldn't site Wyoming statue unless the place you have is in that state. Being Fair Housing Compliant in one state doesn't mean you are elsewhere and co-mingling state laws could easily get picked apart by even a rookie attorney if you stumble across a tester.

I like the way you are aggressively defending this.

My only suggestion would be to soften it a bit by stating that you are happy to have fully certified service animals...otherwise you might look like an animal hater lol.

I still do the phone call thing, but when someone tells me they have an ESA, I say, "I might not remember who I have spoken to, so be sure to remind me that you need to fill out the "Request For the Reasonable Accommodation of a Service Animal/ Emotional Support Animal" when you are filling out the rental application for yourself.

That stops almost all of them.

My request for a reasonable accommodation states that I will assist the district attorney to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law for any attempt to pass off a pet as a service animal emotional support animal.

Sounds like a decent idea to me. Just a couple quick things to be safe:

1. I'm curious about the verbiage that you are adding about internet certifications. Are you just including the two paragraphs from HUD that you quoted above? Or are you adding something to that about internet certificates? Note that HUD does say that they are often valid even if you have not met the healthcare professional in person. So, for example, Zooom meetings with a doctor who then provides the documentation about the need for an ESA ARE allowed by HUD -- even if they have never met face to face (in person).

2. As others said, I would NOT quote law that applies to other states, but not yours to imply that it is illegal there. I think that is a risky situation that isn't worth it.

3. I think I might also change the wording -- depending on what it actually reads in your document -- that you "actively participate with HUD to prosecute all fraudulent animal claims". From what I gather, HUD doesn't prosecute anyone for such things -- so saying that you participate with them in prosecuting seems incorrect/odd to me.

4. Finally, and this is minor, but just something that I'd have second thoughts about... I'm not sure you can require a disabled person to use YOUR Request for Accommodation form like you state. If they submit their own proper Request for Accommodation that meets the legal requirements, then I think you'd have difficulty arguing that you denied them for not using YOUR specific form.

Just my 2c. I like the concept, but it is the details where it can get legally complex.