I have spent a lot of time, money and energy on this topic. But the rules in California are different than Ohio.

Here a potential tenant has to have a ripe 30 day old letter from "their" doctor, not an internet $100 special fraudulent letter.

Next, if the dog is dangerous, unfriendly, not trained and barks that disturbs other residents of the building, then I notify my tenant they have to "Fix or Replace" the animal, and state my grievances.

And then I issue the tenant a 3 Day notice to Perform or Quit".

Next the tenant files a complaint and gets free legal aid involved. So with my other tenants notarized statements, pictures of the dog off leash, and no dog license attached to the dogs collar, I can prevail and evict.

If I do not have proof and witnesses, my goose is cooked!

You are in Ohio, so let them stay for the winter and give them notice to move out in the spring. That separates the ESA from the termination. You probably don't have to give a reason, but if asked say you have decided to "put it on the market". Don't say which market.

They got the letter. Do they already have the dog? You can try giving them requirements for the dog if they haven't already bought one. No pitbulls, no puppies. Of course, you can't actually limit what they get, but you can politely give them a list of requirements and perhaps they will comply.

You asked specifically, "am I still able to terminate their month to month lease with a 30 day notice at any time?"

ANSWER: Unless there is some special state or local municipal ordinance, the answer is "No." You are in a M2M rental agreement, so just issue notice of non-renewal. Don't give a reason unless you are required to. If you are required to give a reason, "renovations" or "list for sale" are always two legit options that have nothing to do with ESAs.

You also said: "Of course I'm aware that if a notice at this time it will be considered retalliation [sic]."

RESPONSE: Are you certain? Never assume. Find out the answer and know the facts.

Hee, typo in ANSWER: "YES, you can non-renew/terminate at any time." That's the whole point of a M2M lease. Without that ability, might as well lock yourself into an annual lease.

Lots of good advice above except for the recommendation of petscreening.com. Please do research before using them. They were pushed here for a long time, but, in my opinion, are NOT a good idea for most of us. Do a search to read the reasons why.

If you can't find it, let me know and I'll go find it.

Long story short, petscreening.com is simply NOT a good fit for most of us landlords.

Stacy,

The law says LL cannot add any animal fees, animal deposits, or vet requirements if this is truly an ESA. You CAN require good behavior and cleanliness.

We are getting almost ZERO ESA requests because my app says CAUTION: Falsely representing a service animal is fraud and can trigger a fine up to $5000 and possible jail time.

26+ states have such a law.

We provide my local Fair Housing director with any info provided and let HER decide if this is a legit request. She wants a LMN Letter of a Medical Necessity from a LOCAL professional who has a HISTORY of treating that person.

She will not accept INTERNET letters or certificates.

Is there a reason you want to get rid of this resident?

Even if she slips thru I would not worry about missing a few bucks for an animal that you were not getting before.

Animal or not, Always be raising the rent, easily done with MTM.

Def not adding fees but ANY service or esa (dog) is required to have a license from the county. Additionally rabies vaccine is also required - there is no negating around that law.

What gripes me? The falseness of getting an internet letter - another trying to get over on a LL. With the demand for housing in my area I just won’t play games anymore.

Although I’ve spoken to Fair Housing; I hadn’t taken the angle of presenting the info for their opinion - very good point and will do that this next week.

I am located in the lake snow belt. I like getting a place empty at the end of January or in February so we can put the place into phase maintenance after it being used hard for five or more years straight.

I have yet to get an ESA paper. I know it is coming and actually have one tenant who is pushing it for her clients, including the internet options. I explained to her the problems associated with the fake claims.

For me though I believe I would find out if the animal was in the apartment before they submitted the paperwork. If so, I would boot them on the spot.

Otherwise I would look into the website and find a way to prove it is bogus, if in fact it is. Then I would boot them.

this issue has gotten a tad more landlord friendly in recent times. those with legit needs are leading the charge against those who are just nutty losers. no one would deny a blind person their labrador, nor a PTSD veteran his/her stabilizing friend, but a tattoo sleeved 28 year old chick or some nutty middle aged triple divorcee can expect to be VERY poorly treated during my screening. there's no such thing in my world as an ESA pitbull. i agree completely that you should be silent on the hound and simply terminate in the spring. MTM is the way we maintain our control. and regular rent raises are now mandated