• radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Enter emotional support animal paperwork. A hundred bucks and an autism diagnosis saves me $40 a month in pet rent and a several hundred dollar pet deposit. Landlords hate this!

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      5 months ago

      Oh wow…

      I already have the diagnosis too. I’m paying pet rent. You might’ve just saved me a big chunk of money. I’ll have to check the lease.

      • radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Oh baby…welcome to the good life! There are a lot of legit online organizations you can find that offer emotional support animal letters. Just have to prove to them your identity, answer their questionnaire, provide proof of disability (in the form of your autism diagnosis in this case), and fork over $100 - $150ish, and they’ll send you a letter that is good for one year. It may take them a week or so to get you the letter, so be sure to request it at least a few weeks before you sign/resign a lease agreement.

        • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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          5 months ago

          People in my area have caught on that the emotional support animal credential is complete bullshit. I used to do it as well years ago to be able to bring my small dog with me to my kids baseball tournaments and the corresponding hotels.

          I’ve noticed that a lot of places will have notices up about it and only allow actual service animals.

          • radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            Yeah well landlords in the US don’t get to just decide that they’re not going to accept it. Unless a request is completely unreasonable and until the law is changed, they must allow for emotional support animals.

            And it is most definitely not bullshit for those of us who actually need it. If you don’t actually have a disability and somehow acquired an ESA letter in order to skirt policies just to have your little buddy near you, then it is people like you we have to blame for hotels, restaurants, and other such companies no longer allowing emotional support animals on their premises.

            • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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              5 months ago

              You just happily advertised what to do to get the landlord unable to reject a pet application and you’re calling me the problem lol.

              The emotional support animal for is a quick 2 minute form. There’s no validation or verification that it is an actual support animal. It’s a complete farce.

              A service dog can cover the areas you talk about but actually require training “Qualifying Conditions: Mobility problems, paralysis, diabetes, asthma, autism, depression, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), speech problems, social anxiety, epilepsy, blindness, deafness.”

    • Armok: God of Blood@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 months ago

      I’m pretty sure that only works in New York and California. I don’t think other states have laws protecting ESAs on the books, unless it’s a service animal.

      • radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        It is a protected right by law under the Fair Housing Act and backed up by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

        As long as a person who is diagnosed with a disability (which includes autism under the ADA) provides evidence of their non-apparent disability in the form of an emotional support letter by a qualified and reputable party which can vouch for the presence of that person’s disability, then a US landlord cannot deny that person their assistance animal, nor may they charge them a pet deposit or pet rent. They may only deny the request under certain conditions, outlined below.

        "An assistance animal is an animal that works, provides assistance, or performs tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability, or that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified effects of a person’s disability. An assistance animal is not a pet

        "Individuals with a disability may request to keep an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation to a housing provider’s pet restrictions.

        "The Fair Housing Act requires a housing provider to allow a reasonable accommodation involving an assistance animal in situations that meet all the following conditions:

        • A request was made to the housing provider by or for a person with a disability
        • The request was supported by reliable disability-related information, if the disability and the disability-related need for the animal were not apparent and the housing provider requested such information, and
        • The housing provider has not demonstrated that:
          • Granting the request would impose an undue financial and administrative burden on the housing provider
          • The request would fundamentally alter the essential nature of the housing provider’s operations
          • The specific assistance animal in question would pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the threat
          • The request would result in significant physical damage to the property of others despite any other reasonable accommodations that could eliminate or reduce the physical damage.

        "A reasonable accommodation request for an assistance animal may include, for example:

        • A request to live with an assistance animal at a property where a housing provider has a no-pets policy or
        • A request to waive a pet deposit, fee, or other rule as to an assistance animal.
    • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      Landlords hate it because you force them to incur extra expenses in wear/tear and cleaning. I’m saying this as a person that’s on the spectrum, has owned cats all my life, and has had a cat that destroyed subflooring in an apartment by peeing outside of the litterbox. It was literally $1000 in damage to replace the carpet–this was 20 years ago–and the damaged subflooring, and that was above and beyond the deposit that we’d paid.

      • radicalautonomy@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        And yet landlords corporations today have no problem charging “market value” for an individual apartment which fluctuates on a daily basis based on nothing more than what they think they can pump you for. I have no problem with them using some of their own ill-gotten gains for repairs.