Pet addendums and assistance animals
Answers
The most common way a granted accommodation gets undone, and it happens with the tenant signature on it.
Why this matters
An accommodation works because the animal is not a pet. A pet addendum is a document saying it is. Signing one, with its pet rent, pet deposit and pet rules, hands a provider a written agreement that contradicts the basis of your own accommodation, and it is the most common way a properly granted request quietly stops protecting anybody.
What usually happens
Not malice, generally. A leasing office has one workflow for animals, the software requires an addendum before the animal goes on the file, and nobody in the building has thought about it. That is worth knowing, because it means the fix is usually administrative rather than adversarial.
What to ask for instead
- An assistance animal addendum, or a simple letter confirming the accommodation was granted, naming the animal.
- If they insist on their form, ask them to strike the fee provisions and write on it that the animal is an assistance animal accommodated under the Fair Housing Act, then both sign that version.
- Keep a copy yourself, in a personal account rather than only in a tenant portal you lose access to at the end of the tenancy.
Do not simply refuse to sign anything and leave it there. A provider with nothing on file is a provider whose next manager finds an undocumented animal in a no-pets building. Ask for the right document rather than no document.
Common questions
- I already signed one. Have I lost the accommodation?
- Not necessarily. You cannot waive a fair housing right by signing a form, and a court would look at the substance. It is still worth writing to ask that it be replaced with an assistance animal addendum, and to ask for any fees charged under it back.