HUD Charges New York Property Owners With Disability Discrimination Over an Alleged Assistance Animal

In a case filed last week, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) formally charged property owners in Syracuse, New York with violating the Fair Housing Act (FHA) asserting that the  owners failed to accommodate a disabled resident with an assistance animal at a community that otherwise has a “no pets” policy. While management is absolutely within its rights to declare a property pet free, leasing offices have to be able to review and evaluate reasonable accommodation requests from residents/applicants with disabilities seeking, for example, an assistance animal. In this case, HUD asserts that the resident submitted a letter from her physician describing how the resident has a disability and how the animal alleviates anxiety and assists in preventing panic attacks. When the leasing office was reached to further discuss the request, the resident’s representative (a local fair housing group) was allegedly told that if the resident…

Read more detail on Recent Real Estate and Property Law posts –

This entry was posted in Real Estate & Property Law and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply