Training leasing staff on assistance animals

Why this is where the risk is

A prospective tenant asks about animals at the front desk and gets a confident answer from someone repeating the pet policy. That answer is a refusal, made by somebody with no authority to make it, and it is what a fair housing tester is listening for. Most of the exposure in this area is created before anyone in management hears about the request.

The five things staff need

• Assistance animals are not pets, and the pet policy does not answer the question. Never say the building does not allow animals in response to an assistance animal question.
• Escalate rather than decide. The correct answer at the desk is that the building considers accommodation requests and here is how to make one.
• Never ask about a disability, a diagnosis, or what is wrong with somebody. Two facts only, and management asks for those in writing.
• Never ask for certification, registration or training records. They do not exist.
• Log everything. Date, who asked, what was said, what was provided.

The script that avoids most of it

We do consider accommodation requests for assistance animals, and they are handled separately from our pet policy. I will put you through to the manager, or you can email the office and we will respond in writing. That sentence closes off almost every way this goes wrong.

Testers

Fair housing organisations conduct paired testing, and animal questions are a common scenario because staff answer them casually. A tester is not entrapment; they are recording the answer your staff actually give, which is the answer a real applicant would have got.