How to ask your landlord
Answers
Short, written, specific, and containing nothing about your diagnosis.
Put it in writing
Email is fine. The point is a date and a record. A verbal conversation that goes well is worth confirming in writing the same day, because a granted accommodation nobody wrote down has a way of evaporating when the building changes hands.
What to include
- That you are requesting a reasonable accommodation to the pet policy. Magic words are not required, but they remove any doubt about what this is.
- That you have a disability and that the animal helps with it. Nothing more about the condition.
- The animal: species, name, size, and that you are responsible for its care and any damage.
- The documentation, attached.
- A polite request for a decision in writing.
What to leave out
Your diagnosis. Your medication. Your treatment history. Your clinical notes. A housing provider is not entitled to any of it, and once it is in their inbox you cannot take it back. The most common mistake people make here is over-explaining, usually out of a reasonable instinct to be helpful.
Tone
Matter of fact works better than either apologetic or combative. This is a routine request that most providers grant. Leading with a legal threat invites a legal response, and a request that reads like a normal piece of correspondence gets a normal answer more often than one that reads like a complaint.
Common questions
- Should I mention the Fair Housing Act?
- Naming it is fine and makes the nature of the request unambiguous. Threatening litigation in the first email usually is not.
- Do I send the letter with the first email?
- Yes. It saves a round trip, and a request with documentation attached is harder to leave unanswered.