Handling an accommodation request

Recognise the request

There are no magic words. A tenant does not have to say reasonable accommodation, cite the Act, or use a form. An email saying their therapist thinks a dog would help and asking whether the no-pets rule can be waived is a request, and the clock starts there. Most failures in this area begin with a request nobody recognised.

The sequence

• Acknowledge in writing, with the date.
• Where the disability is not obvious, ask for documentation of the two facts you are entitled to, and say what would satisfy you.
• Verify the licence when it arrives. That is the substantive check.
• Decide promptly, in writing, with reasons.
• If refusing, state the specific ground, say what would cure it if anything would, and offer to discuss alternatives.
• Record the accommodation on the tenancy file so it is not re-litigated by the next manager.

The interactive process

Where a request is difficult, the expectation is a conversation rather than a verdict. Propose an alternative that meets the same need, ask what would work, and record what was discussed. A provider who engaged and could not find a way is in a very different position from one who simply refused.

The file you would want

If this is ever examined, the file that helps you contains the request with its date, your written acknowledgement, exactly what you asked for and why, the documentation received, the licence check, the decision with reasons, and any alternatives discussed. That file takes about twenty minutes to build across the life of a request, and it is the difference between a defensible decision and an expensive one.