Saturday, December 15, 2012

Another Assistance Pooch Sinks Fangs Into Landlord's Wallet; Property Owners To Cough Up $15K To Tenant, Bay State To Settle Fair Housing Charges Surrounding Renter's Care-Canine

From the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General:
  • A property owner from Newton has agreed to pay $15,000 and make extensive policy changes at his businesses, settling allegations that a manager at one of his apartment complexes discriminated against a disabled tenant with an assistance dog, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced [].

    According to the assurance of discontinuance, filed Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court, Kevin Regan, the property manager at the Lord Baron Apartments in Burlington, allegedly refused to rent to a prospective tenant because she requested permission to reside with an assistance dog. Regan later agreed to rent to the tenant after being contacted by the AG’s Office and informed that his refusal to rent violated fair housing laws. Subsequent to the AG Coakley’s involvement, Regan allegedly threatened the victim with eviction if he received any complaints about her assistance dog.
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  • The other defendants named in the assurance are the L.B. Nominee Trust, doing business as the Lord Baron Apartments, and its trustees, Kosow Construction Corporation and owner Marvin P. Kosow, both located in Newton. Regan is a resident of Westwood.

    The assurance requires the defendants to pay a total of $15,000 in restitution and penalties to the tenant and the Commonwealth.(1)
For the Massachusetts AG press release, see Property Owner Settles Claims of Housing Discrimination Against Tenant with Assistance Dog (Owner to Pay $15,000 and Implement New Policies to Avoid Violation of Fair Housing Laws).

(1) The inability or refusal to make the distinction between a household pet and either a service animal or an emotional support/assistance animal can give rise to a very costly legal problem for landlords, homeowner associations, municipalities purporting to enforce code restrictions, etc. Both the Housing Feds, the Civil Rights Feds, and others have shown a high degree of interest when these situations arise. See, for example:
See, generally, A Comparative Study: Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals under the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act & An Overview of Assistance Animal Laws of Select States.