Legal Q&A: Found evidence of hoarding

April 16, 2015

By Lynn Dover, Esq.; Shawn Bankson, Esq.; Susie Lein, Esq.

Question: I entered my resident’s unit yesterday to check the smoke detectors and found that she is hoarding. I couldn’t even walk into a few of the rooms because there was so much personal property inside. Can I serve her a three-day notice to quit?

Answer: No. Hoarding is recognized as a mental disability. Before you can evict, you generally must give the resident an opportunity to bring her unit into a safe and sanitary condition. If the resident refuses to take steps to remedy the condition of the unit after you have given her a reasonable amount of time to do so, then you should be able to terminate the tenancy.

Question: I had an applicant who applied for an apartment today. She said she has two assistive dogs. Can I limit the number of assistive dogs to one?

Answer: No, you can’t limit the number of animals to one. However, you can require verification that because of the resident’s disability (or disability of other household members), two assistive animals are necessary.

Question: My resident has an unauthorized dog in her unit. When I sent her a lease violation notice, she told me that her dog was an assistive animal. A few days later she brought in a Service Animal Certificate which she obtained from a website. Do I have to accept that as valid verification?

Answer: No. The websites that issue those types of certificates generally do not require proof of disability or disability-related need for the animal. Anyone can register their dog as a service animal by simply paying a fee to the website. Landlords are entitled to written verification that the resident has a disability and a disability-related need for the dog.

Kimball, Tirey & St. John LLP is a full service real estate law firm representing residential and commercial property owners and managers. This article is for general information purposes only. Laws may have changed since this article was published. Before acting, be sure to receive legal advice from our office. If you have questions, please contact your local KTS office. For contact information, please visit our website: www.kts-law.com. For past Legal Alerts, Questions & Answers, and Legal Articles, please consult the resource library section of our website.

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