ESAs for Fake Disabilities... click through to the deleted post for some legal smackdowns 👌
reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/eorwiy/apar...Posted Jan 15, 2020, 1:32 AM UTC
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reddit.com
Here's the original post before it got deleted:
So my girlfriend and I are unhappy with the apartment we are living in but we have a 13 month lease that we're two months into. We feel that the management is taking advantage of us. We have three ESAs and the apartment management decided that only two qualify, so now we are being forced to pay pet rent and a pet deposit. Can they legally force us to pay the pet rent and deposit? The reasoning they have for denying our third ESA is that it "provides no unique purpose that the other two ESAs do" or something to that effect. Also does this situation qualify as a reason for us to be released from our lease?
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Oh damn! Did someone call Bethany out?
And congrats on your release!
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I didn't see the original post but in the comments the do say they have depression. Sounds like a fake esa for a real illness just so that they can bend the rules
NVM I just saw that the original post was put in the comments. Yeah the landlord straight up called them on the fakeness.
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Sounds like a fake esa for a real illness
Exactly.
It sounds like their landlord might have been giving them & their fraudulent documentation the benefit-of-the-doubt -- possibly out of ignorance -- by allowing 2 ESAs (for 2 'disabled' people).
Then, you realize that it might NOT actually be about the fake ESAs / pets after you read through the OP a couple of times. Doesn't it sound like it could be more about breaking the lease and less about the pet deposit & pet rent?
So my girlfriend and I are unhappy with the apartment we are living in but we have a 13 month lease that we're two months into. We feel that the management is taking advantage of us. ... Also does this situation qualify as a reason for us to be released from our lease?
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I corrected myself after seeing that the full post was in the comments, but thanks! That's a nifty little source/site!
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It is - and it doesn't ping them when it's linked for a non-deleted post too.
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I don't think you can really have a "fake esa" if you have a disability that qualifies and you find that the animal provides you with emotional support/companionship. ESAs don't need any specific training or anything, they're just pets.
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You do need to have documentation that youre disabled, and that the animal helps alleviate said disability (most doctors write a letter encompassing both). For the sake of the FHA (housing) and ACAA (air travel), comfort is considered to alleviate a disability. Some states do require that the treating physician be a mental health provider, and not just an ordinary pcp.
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Yes, you do need documentation from a physician or mental health professional (clinical psychologist/social worker/counselor/etc) that you have a disability and the animal provides emotional support to help mitigate that disability. And it only needs to be a reasonable accommodation; they don't have to let you have your emotional support fainting goat in a 250 square foot apartment in Manhattan.
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Also, 3 ESA cats that just happened to get an online certificate when they found out the apartment only allows 2?
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The "online certificate" thing is a scam, and the law definitely does not cover more than one animal per person, and wouldn't cover more than a reasonable amount of animals per apartment.
This case is particularly scummy because we're not talking about no-pets housing, we're talking about getting out of a pet deposit and pet rent.
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That's exactly my point
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Here's the thing 1- we don't know the extent of their depression. While depression is ALWAYS a real illness, it is not always a disability 2- ESAs are still medical devices and need to be "prescribed". Just deciding this animal is your ESA or getting an online certificate doesn't do it. You need a doctor's letter 3- while they do not need to be tasty trained like a SA, companionship is not an ESA. They still need to be verifiably mitigating your mental illness.
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Eh, I'm not really arguing any of that. Just that, assuming you have a letter from a treating professional and that professional isn't lying, you can't really have a fake ESA. You can have a fake reason for requiring an ESA, but since ESAs are just pets they're not required to really do anything. Unlike service dogs where you can totally have a disability that could be mitigated by a service dog and have a fake service dog.
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The comments by lawyers are amazing.
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r/bestoflegaladvice is one of my favorite subs and I generally don't care about law stuff
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Absolutely it is, shout out to BOLA. Go sort by Best and kill an afternoon. It's good readin'.
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Someone I know has a fake ESA because she wanted to bring her chihuahua on the plane 😡
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This would have surprised me 10 years ago.
Nothing surprises me anymore.
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Idiots. I hope they get called out on all of the pets and have to pay the rent for all of them.
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Shit like this makes me grateful ESAs aren't recognised here.
If nothing else, ESAs should be held to minimum standards of behaviour and training just as assistance dogs are.
I have no issue with Bazza bringing his blue heeler to the shops if it behaves itself. I don't even give a shit if it's for a disability or if mate just really loves his dog.
There seems to be a common thread that 'not task trained' and 'not trained' are the same thing.
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My therapist straight up told me she only does one ESA letter and for one pet. I have three dogs and a cat. I concentrated on one dog(my Mexican hairless) and trained him for more specific tasks. He could easily pass the the certification as a service dog or at least pass the Caine Good Citizen test. He knows when I'm anxious but if he doesn't tune in he has a command to jump into my arms from the floor. I think a ESA should at least pass a Canine Good Citizen test. I've had an "ESA" try to bite me. My mom and have a phrase of "not a service a dog" when ever there's a dog in a store trying to eat the food or barking or whatever a service dog probably shouldn't do in a store. Loki is allowed in a couple stores here that let ESAs in and he knows not to sniff, ask before going up to a stranger and staying by my side.
Link describing a Canine Good Citzen test for you https://www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/canine-good-citizen/take-the-test/
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Party time 🎉
Welcome back!
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