Can I convince a landlord to allow a subletter's support rabbits?
April 27, 2017 9:59 AM   Subscribe

So, I've been planning on moving out of the country for several months now, and have been making plans to sublet my apartment for 2 months now. (I move out in a bit over a month.) My prospective subletter has rabbits for emotional support, with a letter from her psychiatrist supporting this. I just learned that my landlord won't allow the subletter I had lined up because her rabbits are "exotic pets". What do I say? Should I get my hopes up?
posted by LSK to Pets & Animals (19 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Will landlord allow other pets?
posted by tristeza at 10:02 AM on April 27, 2017


Response by poster: The landlord allows cats and dogs under 35 lb regularly, yeah.
posted by LSK at 10:04 AM on April 27, 2017


House rabbits can be very destructive to houses and apartment. They chew constantly. This has nothing to do with them being exotic and everything to do with their obsessive chewing. I suggest you find a new tenant to sublet.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 10:06 AM on April 27, 2017 [14 favorites]


Are you comfortable telling us which state you live in, if you're in the US? Landlord requirements for accommodating emotional support animals vary by state.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 10:20 AM on April 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


You could try though whether or not a support animal (other than a dog) gets special status will depend on your jurisdiction and your landlord can just say, "So what?" and then you'd have a legal fight on your hand which probably isn't feasible. Does your subletter have any other references such as one from their current landlord that might indicate she is a responsible tenant and her animal has not been a problem or caused damages? If she could offer this documentation and some additional deposit or direct payment to the landlord maybe that would sway them. While you work that angle, you should probably be looking for another sub-letter option.
posted by amanda at 10:28 AM on April 27, 2017


Zoning bylaws may also be impacting your landlord's decision. In addition, "emotional support animals" are different to "service animals" in many jurisdictions so when reading case law be sure to keep that distinction in mind.
posted by saucysault at 10:29 AM on April 27, 2017 [3 favorites]


> Should I get my hopes up?

Sorry, probably not!

I'm a landlord and my kids have had house rabbits .. there's no way I'd let a tenant have one because they chew and they poop, and their urine sinks into the flooring and stinks.
posted by anadem at 10:30 AM on April 27, 2017 [8 favorites]


Are you returning to this apartment/this landlord when you return from overseas? If so, it might be best to maintain harmonious relations by *not* pressing the issue on rabbits and finding a new subletter without potentially destructive animals.
posted by mccxxiii at 10:31 AM on April 27, 2017 [2 favorites]


This is my previous story of our destructive but beloved bunny. Summing it up if you don't want to click - rabbit pee is the best paint remover I've ever encountered. As much as I'm pro bunny, I wouldn't feel good about one in a home that I didn't personally own.
posted by librarianamy at 11:00 AM on April 27, 2017 [1 favorite]


Emotional support pets aren't widely protected. Mostly because they can be any animal and don't have to be trained or certified at all. Most of them are "Registered" with a company and not a government agency. There's no difference between emotional support rabbits and normal pet rabbits, when it comes down to it.

I would ignore the "support animal" thing and listen to the advice about having rabbits in a rental situation. Rabbits are indeed very destructive, even more so than other exotics. My juvenile ferrets were less trouble than the old rabbit I had as a kid.
posted by InkDrinker at 11:04 AM on April 27, 2017 [7 favorites]


Just agreeing that emotional support animals don't have the legal protection of service animals because they aren't certified by the government, so the landlord won't be legally obligated to allow them. We just went through this with a relative who has an emotional support animal.
posted by joan_holloway at 11:23 AM on April 27, 2017


Best answer: Emotional support animals are broadly protected under the Fair Housing Act. The limited definition of service animal under the ADA (must be a dog, must be trained) does not apply to the Fair Housing Act. That being said, having rights and enforcing your rights are two separate things. I would suggest seeing if the landlord will accept references that the animals aren't destructive. If they say no, I doubt you want to litigate this (and even if you did, it would take longer than 2 months). I would start looking for another subtenant.

(BTW, service animals do not have to be certified by the government or any other entity under the ADA, just trained to perform specific tasks.)
posted by Mavri at 12:15 PM on April 27, 2017 [3 favorites]


Best answer: IANAL but I wanted to highlight this line from Mavri's link: "an assistance animal is not a pet."

Emotional support animals are explicitly defined as assistance animals. They are not pets. If your landlord is refusing based on the fact that it is an "exotic pet," you have a very good case that an emotional support animal is not a pet and the "no exotic pets" policy does not apply. Legally, your tenant should be allowed to have their emotional support animal under the Fair Housing Act regardless of the pet policy because they have a doctor's note explicitly saying the rabbits are emotional support animals.

That said, just because you are legally in the right doesn't mean that you should necessarily litigate. But I would definitely take the time to discuss this with the landlord, bringing a copy of the Fair Housing Act and explaining to them that they would be violating it if they do not allow emotional support animals with appropriate documentation. If they still refuse, then you may just want to drop it, but letting them know the legal situation may be enough to change their mind.

Mostly because they can be any animal and don't have to be trained or certified at all. Most of them are "Registered" with a company and not a government agency. There's no difference between emotional support rabbits and normal pet rabbits, when it comes down to it.

While there's no difference between the actual rabbits, to be protected under the Fair Housing Act, a doctor or psychiatrist's note is required--"registration" anywhere won't cut it (in fact, a legitimate emotional support animal won't be registered anywhere). Which the subletter does have.
posted by brook horse at 12:35 PM on April 27, 2017 [6 favorites]


^^ brook horse has it

Link from The Humane Society of the United States

Your subletter has a right to bring an emotional support animal so long as they have a letter from a medical provider or mental health provider stating that the animal supports the patient with a known and qualifying disability (such as depression or anxiety).

If denied access to housing by your landlord, your subletter would have a right to file a discrimination complaint with the Office of Housing and Urban Development.
posted by mochapickle at 12:42 PM on April 27, 2017 [2 favorites]


mochapickle and brook horse have given you some very excellent advice. However, unfortunately the housing law also allows for landlords to request the removal of emotional support animals and service animals that are disruptive or destructive, which bunnies often are. Is she planning to have them running around the house, or in a cage? Because given that you are leaving for several months, the worst-case scenario is: you push the issue, your landlord grudgingly accepts the sublet, then a month later does an inspection and finds that the bunnies have chewed carpet, and tells the subletter to get rid of the animals or leave. You are then out a subletter and responsible for the whole rent.
posted by corb at 1:10 PM on April 27, 2017 [14 favorites]


...and the damages as well, quite likely.
posted by Jubey at 3:11 PM on April 27, 2017 [5 favorites]


As with most legal questions on AskMe, there's still not enough here to fully answer the question, e.g.: certain rental situations are exempt from the FHA, and the ESA has to be for a disability not just general emotional support (you don't say what her letter says). Also, if the animal damages the home, you / the renter are liable, so proceed with caution given what people have said about rabbits.
posted by salvia at 5:01 PM on April 27, 2017 [3 favorites]


Also, don't forget that a landlord isn't required to let ANYone sublet an apartment, unless your lease is particularly unusual. So the FHA almost certainly would not come into play. Threatening your landlord with a lawsuit isn't going to make any friends of him/her. Threatening a lawsuit you can't win is worse.
posted by Capri at 10:46 PM on April 27, 2017


+1 to Capri -- it is hard to answer your question without knowing what your lease says about subletting the apartment. It is very common for leases to disallow subletting. Landlords may then still allow it on a case-by-case basis, but it gives them a lot of discretion in the matter.

Does your lease specifically allow subletting, or specifically disallow it? Or is it not mentioned at all?
posted by Winnie the Proust at 7:59 AM on April 28, 2017


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