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In Ohio, Most No-Pet Policies Can't Apply to Tenants with Animal Assistants

Service animals can include highly trained animals like this Shetland pony. But they need not have special training.
WIKIMEDIA
Service animals can include highly trained animals like this Shetland pony. But they need not have special training.

The difference between an animal assistant and a pet is an increasing concern for landlords in Ohio and the rest of the country. It was a big part of the discussion of fair-housing law at a conference of hundreds of landlords in Akron this past weekend.

Animal assistants, pets and landlord-tenant rights

All service dogs – such as seeing-eye dogs -- are animal assistants. But under fair-housing law, not all animal assistants are service dogs. They can include everything from hamsters to Shetland ponies, and serve a number of needs, including emotional support.

David Oppenheimer of the Ohio attorney general’s office, told the landlords they can ask for some validation of why a tenant needs an animal, but not much more.

“They have to be aware that they can’t require insurance, higher rent as the one gentleman said to get around things. You have to be aware that you can’t have deposits.”

Oppenheimer says landlords cannot evict someone who already lives in a no-pets property and then gets a support animal. He says the justification for the animal can come from a variety of professionals, including a doctor, counselor or social worker.

Click herefor more on Ohio  landlord-tenant rules.

Copyright 2018 WKSU

M.L. Schultze came to WKSU as news director in July 2007 after 25 years at The Repository in Canton, where she was managing editor for nearly a decade. She’s now the digital editor and an award-winning reporter and analyst who has appeared on NPR, Here and Now and the TakeAway, as well as being a regular panelist on Ideas, the WVIZ public television's reporter roundtable.