click here to read more about the right to have Emotional Support Animals (ESAs)

click here for the 3 steps to follow for your best chance to get your ESA approved

What If You Are Asked to Remove Your Companion Animal(s)?

If the rules have changed after you already have a companion animal in your home, you should be protected by a grandfather clause,
according to the State of Florida Condo Ombudsman.

Unfortunately the only other thing you can do at this point in time, if you qualify, is to get
a "doctor's letter" asking to have an emotional support animal as a reasonable accomodation.
Be sure to call your animal an emotional support animal and NOT a pet.
FHEO Notice: FHE0-2013-01: "An assistance animal is not a pet."
The Americans with Disabilities Act defines both physical and emotional disabilities.  A disability is defined
as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.
Both emotional support and service animals can be prescribed by your doctor or therapist.
A dog can be both. See definitions of types of assistive or support animals HERE.
If you get a written response from your association board denying your right to have your ESA in spite of
the doctors letter, there are agencies that will help you fight for your rights. See free legal.

WHAT TO DO, STEP BY STEP
from Barbara Feeney, on our advisory board
Contact Barbara for assistance.

1) get a doctor's letter

Here is a sample doctor's letter (from the BazelonCenter for Mental Health Law). The important things that need to
be included in the letter are 1) a statement that you have a disabling condition, 2) a statement that having a support
animal "ameliorates and helps" you with a major life function and 3) something to indicate the qualifications of the
letter writer - degree and state license number. '...according to Joan Esnayra, founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog
Society, the outcome of those lawsuits depends largely on the words people use to describe their animals. “If you
say ‘comfort,’‘need’ or ‘emotional support,’ you’re out the door,” she says. “If you talk about what your animal does in
terms of ‘tasks’ and ‘work,’ then you stand a chance.”' (reference "Creature Comforts," NY Times Magazine, 1/4/2009).

"From my experience, the key to a successful request for a 'prescription pet' is for the health care provider to
specify in writing that he/she is 'prescribing' the assistive/emotional support animal as a 'necessary component
of ongoing treatment'”.  -- Barbara Feeney, MPA.

Here is an example from Barbara Feeney of an actual doctor's letter (names removed): doctor's letter.

2) Once you have your doctor's letter create a cover letter with a question:

Whenever you contact your association and/or the management company, do so in writing. Send a note
in the form of a question (with a question mark/"?" at the end (eg. "Based on the attached documentation from
my doctor, may I please keep my emotional support animal?") and send your correspondence via
certified mail (an option you can choose at the post office.) When you send a question via certified mail,
the association and its representatives are required by Florida law to respond. Other states may differ.
(per Cyber Citizens for Justice)

Here is an example from Barbara Feeney of an actual cover letter (names removed): cover letter.

3) Now mail everything appropriately and keep copies:

- The doctor's letter does not need to be notarized if the letter is on the doctor’s stationary.

- The doctor does not need to state the person’s disability.  Only that the person is disabled and what life functions are limited by the disability. 
The doctor must explain why the accommodation is necessary.

- If you believe you are being treated differently or unfairly based on one of the protected classes under the Fair Housing Act (race, color, sex, national origin,
religion, disability or familial status) you may file a complaint with this agency.

- Once a person has been allowed a support/service animal, the Association may within a reasonable time request the person to provide a letter from
his/her doctor.  The only exception to this is if in the original letter the doctor stated that the disability is permanent.  For instance, a guide dog
for the blind does not need to be re-certified.  Usually, the only persons to be re-certified are persons with support animals. The re-certification cannot
take place every year.  However, every 5 years is not unreasonable. 

Here are a few other things that MIGHT help your case:

Ask your neighbors to write to the association board to say they are not bothered by your pet(s).

Create a pet resume to help make the board feel more comfortable about your pets. Florida Pets Network tells you how to create one.
See Resumes for Fido and Fluffy?

With difficult association boards you may need to get your dog certified as a service animal. Contact us for a referral for help
getting your animal certified. (Remember that emotional disorders count as disabilities per the Americans with Disabilities Act.)
This extra step may make it easier to get approved, but certifying a dog as an emotional support animal as a service animal (see definitions of types of assistive animals here) is NOT required by law, since fair housing law
does NOT require proof of training.

Recent ADA modifications only allow dogs as service animals, but other kinds of animals can be emotional support animals (see below).

If other people in your building/association have pets, you can claim the affirmative defense of selective enforcement of the rules. 
Gary Poliakoff, head of the Becker and Poliakoff law firm that services thousands of housing associations in Florida, lists
various defenses can fight a belated 'no pets' restriction.  He includes selective enforcement, and/or"latches" and "estoppel."
T he latter two relate to timeliness of enforcement or waiver by action.  He also mentions trained service animals being allowed for
the handicapped (but fails to mention emotional support animals.  See our success stories for cases where emotional support animals
have been allowed.)

Attorney Herb M. Milgrim says, "The defense of laches is applicable when the association’s inequitable conduct, lack of diligence,
delay, and inattention to pursuing enforcement of the pet restriction occurs.  What this means is that if you walk your dog past
a board member every day for a year and then all of the sudden you get a letter seeking to enforce the pet restriction you may
be entitled to raise the defense of laches to overcome enforcement of the pet restriction". - http://floridacondoattorneys.com

3. There is no need for formal CERTIFICATION of the disability.


Our legal advisor, Marcy LaHart, Esq, summarizes, "As a matter of law a disabled person is not required to provide proof of
training or certification of an emotional support animal. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently
amended the Code of Federal Regulations to clarify that the federal Fair Housing Act applies to both emotional support
animals and individually trained service animals. Emotional support animals may be prescribed by a psychiatrist, but also
by a physician, social worker or other mental health professional."

Attorney LaHart continues "An affidavit is not necessary, a letter stating that the person has a disability, the disability
affects the patients major life activities, and that in the doctor’s professional opinion an ESA is needed to ameliorate the
symptoms of that disability or help the patient cope with the disability is sufficient. In fact under the FHA the letter need
not be from a doctor - a social worker or other “mental health professional” may prescribe an ESA."

Further, there is no requirement that a doctor state that an ESA is “absolutely necessary” nor does the doctor have to
state that he or she is willing to go to court."

“Just because you have asked to have an emotional support animal, does not mean your condo board is entitled to your
medical or psychiatric records. The board is entitled to enough information to verify that you have a disability and your
animal helps you cope with your disability, nothing more,” Ms. LaHart said. “The condo is not doing you a favor by allowing
you to keep an emotional support animal, the condo is complying with the law.”

Also, as we have said above, the Florida Commission on Human Relations has told us that the "doctors letter" does
NOT need to be notarized if the letter is on the doctor’s stationary.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Gary Poliakoff, of Becker & Poliakoff, recently commented (read here) that the doctor writing the letter "must provide
details as to his or her experience in the field of the alleged handicap," which seems a much stronger requirement than
HUD guidelines."Family doctors ARE qualified to write prescriptions for anxiety, depression and other emotional ailments -
and frequently do prescribe this type of medication. Cardiologists often prescribe some of these same drugs when heart
patients undergo unusually stressing events in order to prevent a cardiac event. We see no reason that a professional
who can prescribe these strong pharmaceuticals should have to show any specialized expertise. In many mental health
practices, it is the social workers doing the counseling therapy who actually work with the patients (and only consult the
MD psychiatrists for adjustments to medication.) This is why we need stronger laws to clarify the right to have ESAs."
Maida Genser, President, Citizens for Pets in Condos.

Poliakoff further elaborates on the increasing trend to allow Emotional Support Animals in "Prescription Pets," Common
Ground, January/February 2008, including a reference to a 2004 California appeals court case that found in favor of a
dog owner because"the innate qualities of a dog, in particular, a dog's friendliness and ability to interact with humans,
made it therapeutic." The article states that, "Recent court decisions have loosened the standard for pets to be considered
'trained' to meet the needs of a disabled person and, thus, protected by law.

In yet another article Poliakoff states that "...pet restrictions, other than in the case of emotional support animals, are
enforceable." Condo Consultant, July 30, 2008.

See also, Pets Just May be the Right Medicine on Becker and Poliakoff’s “Florida Condo and HOA Law Blog, including
comments from Barbara Feeney on the advisory board of Citizens for Pets in Condos.

In "Breed-profiling OK, but board can't ban service dogs," Poliakoff makes it clear that the association must a dog of any
breed if it is a service animal required for a handicapped unit owner. (So, if your emotional support animal is a breed
that is being discriminated against, Citizens for Pets in Condos suggests you look into getting your animal certified as a
service animal).
= = = = = = =

Mr. Poliakoff has recently retracted his previous statements. In Evading no-pet restriction tougher, Palm Beach Post,
04/07/2009, he claims that it is actuallyh getting more difficult for associations to ban animals (AFTER the
new HUD regulations in 2008). The north Florida case that he cites in this 4/7/09 column is being challenged in the
courts favor of the dog owner.

According to our legal advisors, the case in north Florida was NOT a sign of the pendulum swinging back to tougher
handling of pets in condos cases, but rather an indication that emotional support animals are not pets according to the law.  

Facts of the case that was referenced are that:

1) Booster's owner had first lobbied the Association to keep the Animal as a "Pet" ,

2) All medical evidence of need of the "pet" as a service animal was gathered after filing litigation, not before the
request was presented to the Board, or even before acquiring or owning the pet in the first place.

3) Therefore, the Court seemed to believe that he was using this only to keep a pet, not a service animal.

= = = = = = =

"The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act protect the right of people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals, even when a landlord's policy explicitly prohibits pets. Because emotional support and service animals are not "pets," but rather are considered to be more like assistive aids such as wheelchairs, the law will generally require the landlord to make an exception to its "no pet" policy so that a tenant with a disability can fully use and enjoy his or her dwelling. In most housing complexes, so long as the tenant has a letter or prescription from an appropriate professional, such as a therapist or physician, and meets the definition of a person with a disability, he or she is entitled to a reasonable accommodation that would allow an emotional support animal in the apartment... ...Although the [board] is entitled to ask for supporting materials which document the need for an emotional support animal, federal law does not require the tenant to provide proof of training or certification of the animal. The two courts that have addressed this issue directly - the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the U.S. District Court of Oregon - have held that the only requirements to be classified as a service animal under federal regulations are that the animal be (1) individually* trained, and (2) work for the benefit of an individual with a disability. For a more detailed discussion, see Bronk v. Ineichen, 54 F.3d 425 (7th Cir. 1995) and Green v. Housing Authority of Clackamas County, 994 F.Supp. 1253 (Or. 1998)." --Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law *people can train their animals themselves

A handout from the Center for Independent Living of Broward statement on Companion and Emotional Support Animals
(see link: http://www.petsincondos.org/CILBroward.html) makes it clear, among other things, that no special training
is required for companion and emotional support animals.

"Emotional support animals don’t need to have “task specific” training that supports the disabled person and are therefore
d ifferent from service animals. It's the animal's presence that contributes to the person's welfare. They don't have the
same rights to public access as service animals. In most states, tenants have the right to an emotional support animals
when there is a clear link between a medical condition and the animal's presence, even in housing with "no pet" policies.
Medical documentation that shows a link between the animal’s presence and the health of the individual is usually required."
(reference http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~ebarney/esa.htm)

Support and service animals are considered assistive aids.  The relevant federal laws that are applicable are:

• The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988
• Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
• The Americans with Disabilities Act, Title II

The relevant Florida laws are Section 413.08(6) to allow support animals and Sections 413.081(1), 775.082 and775.083
to define penalties for not allowing support animals.  Furthermore, Florida Statute 760.23 says it is unlawful to discriminate
against persons with handicaps.  Discrimination includes "A refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies,
practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and
enjoy a dwelling."  (These laws cover emotional/mental as well as physical disabilities.) 760.23 was applied in this case.

Federal disability law says that helper animals must be allowed if you obtain a letter from a medical doctor saying you need
an animal to "ameliorate and help with life functions." 

Click here for definitions of different types of assistive animals, including emotional support animals.

Furthermore, an assistive animal does NOT need specialized training to ameliorate a specific emotional illness.  Just interacting
with a pet can help alleviate stress, anxiety and depression.  See more on the health benefits of companion animals.

According to Dr. Virgil Rizzo, former state of Florida Condo Ombudsman, "A condo board
cannot make rules that are in conflict with the law.  A note from any qualified doctor, a psychologist (PhD)
or a medical doctor will suffice."

Harry Lamb, Director of the Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity says that "About nine out of 12 cases are
resolved in favor of the person keeping the pet -- a support or service animal -- based upon the findings of a physician or
mental health professional treating the condition." 

Under the Federal Fair Housing Act, disabled individuals have a legal right to an "assistance animal"
in their home, despite any "no pet" policy. The law extends to homeowners and renters in all 50 states,
and protects people with both physical and mental disabilities (including depression). For information on how to
file a free housing discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
call 800-669-9777 or visit http://www.hud.gov.  You can also go to any local Fair Housing Assistance Partner, usually
one per county. In south Florida, for example, you can go to the Broward County Civil Rights Division, the
Miami-Dade County Equal Opportunity Board (MDCEOB) or the Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity.

New Jersey:

In 2006, ASPCA advocates supported a bill in New Jersey to make more animal-friendly housing available.