Catering to Tenants With Disabilities

By Kaitlin Hurtado on September 20, 2020

As a property manager, it is your duty to provide the best service to all tenants, regardless of any special circumstances. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are as many as 61 million adults in the US that live with some form of disability. This estimate covers both visible and invisible conditions, including mobility issues, vision or hearing impairments, cognitive disabilities, and more. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), individuals with disabilities are considered a Protected Class under the Fair Housing Act. As a property manager, you should understand what is expected of you in order to ensure that you are following the law when serving tenants with disabilities.

tenants with disabilities

Photo: Unsplash

Who is considered disabled? Covering the basics 

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, “prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.” The law also covers housing policies and prohibits property managers from inquiring about the exact nature of a person’s disability, even if their disability is highly visible (example: a tenant is using a wheelchair).

Property managers can not deny a rental application based on an actual or perceived disability. Property managers also cannot charge additional fees for disabilities or discriminate based on the source of income for tenants with disabilities.

Who is exactly covered by the ADA? The Americans with Disabilities Act states that “a person must have a physical or mental disability that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” For example, the ADA protects individuals with the following disabilities:

    • Mobility impairments
    • Hearing impairments
    • Visual impairments
    • Chronic alcoholism, if it is being addressed through a recovery program
    • Mental illness
    • HIV, AIDS, and AIDS-related Complex
    • Mental retardation
Tenants with disabilities have the right to be free from discrimination. Tenants with disabilities also have the right to request reasonable accommodations, request an accessible unit (however, receiving one depends on your availability), and file a complaint with the Department of Housing. Tenants with disabilities may also make reasonable modifications to their rental unit to make it more accessible.

As previously mentioned, landlords cannot inquire about the nature of or ask for proof of disability during the rental application process. However, should the tenant make a request for accommodation after signing a lease agreement, the landlord may ask for proof that that the request will make the unit more functional for the tenant. There is more information on what constitutes a reasonable accommodation and how you should go about them as a property manager.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) also lays out provisions that “protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities.” The FHA prohibits discrimination in housing because of disability.

Understanding “reasonable accommodations” and “reasonable modifications” 

The ADA requires that landlords make “reasonable accommodations” for tenants with disabilities. A reasonable accommodation is defined as a change in rules, policies, or services that enable a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy their home and any common spaces. To put it simply, reasonable accommodations remove whatever barrier is keeping tenants with disabilities from having full access and enjoyment to the property.

Common reasonable accommodations include installing access ramps around the property, providing a reserved parking spot for closer access to the building, or allowing a service animal in a unit where pets are usually not allowed.

Similar to reasonable accommodations, a reasonable modification is a structural modification to a unit or public space that is made to allow tenants with disabilities to have full enjoyment of housing and property facilities. Modifications require approval from landlords and must be constructed by a licensed contractor. Common reasonable modifications include widening doorways on the property, installing a support bar in a bathroom, or installing ramps to help those with mobility issues. For property managers, it is legal to ask that any modifications be removed to restore the unit to its original condition after the tenant leaves.

As a landlord or property manager, you are responsible for paying for these accommodations, not the tenants with disabilities. For some accommodations, like providing a reserved parking spot, it should not result in any extra costs. Other reasonable accommodation requests may cost you more financially. For example, installing more accessible ramps, however, will be your financial responsibility. For reasonable modifications, the tenants are typically responsible unless the housing is listed as a federally-assisted housing structure.

tenants with disabilities

Infographic by Kaitlin Hurtado via Canva

However, if the requested modification is one that should have been in place at the property to make it comply with the ADA, you are responsible for financing the modification. If you are a property manager for a multifamily building, for example, and your building has no wheelchair access, you are financially responsible for installing a wheelchair access ramp into public parts. Adding an elevator to the building is not considered a reasonable request.

Tenants with disabilities are legally entitled to make requests for reasonable accommodations and modifications. This allows tenants with disabilities to rent and live in units with the same level of safety and comfort that tenants without disabilities have. Requests for reasonable accommodations should not be seen as requests for special treatment.

The Fair Housing Act holds you responsible, as a property manager, to grand accommodation requests if they grant tenants with disabilities an equal opportunity to the property they are renting. For example, under the Fair Housing Act, you cannot refuse to rent to a tenant with a disability that requires wheelchair access just because your property is currently not wheelchair accessible.

You are not legally allowed to deny requests that are reasonable in this request. There is more information on scenarios in which you may be able to deny requests for reasonable accommodations or reasonable modifications below.

Everything you need to know about service animals (Hint: Your no-pet policy isn’t effective) 

As mentioned previously, trained service animals are on the list of common reasonable accommodations. Trained service animals are protected under the Fair Housing Act. Even if you normally prohibit animals on your property, you must make reasonable accommodations to your rent policies for service animals to comply with the Fair Housing Act. Service animals are not considered pets, so they should not be considered prohibited as mentioned in your typical no-pet policies.

You may also charge an extra deposit or monthly fee to tenants who have pets. However, you will not be able to charge any of these fees — deposits, monthly charges — to cover a service animal for tenants with disabilities. Service animals should be treated as medical aid and their use is protected under the law.

These service animals, usually dogs, are trained to work with and perform tasks for individuals with disabilities. Some examples of tasks they may have been trained to do are:

  • Assist a visually-impaired individual (EX: Seeing eye dog)
  • Detect ailments in individuals such as high/low blood sugar, seizures, and panic attacks
  • Remind an individual to take medication

Service animals do differ from emotional support animals. Emotional support animals are often referred to as support, therapy, comfort, or companion animals. These animals typically have not received the same level of training as service animals. They provide assistance to an individual by simply being present rather than performing specific tasks as described above. These animals are usually not protected by federal law like service animals are, but you will want to check local laws before denying a tenant an emotional support animal.

To confirm that an animal is a service animal, you may ask if the animal is required due to a disability and what work or task the service animal has been trained to perform. You may not, however, ask them to have the service animal perform their trained task for “proof” of your tenant’s disability or if the service animal is actually a service animal. You may not deny an applicant based on the breed of their service animal and can only deny them if they have a proven record of aggressive or dangerous behavior to deny them. The ADA also doesn’t require documentation or identifying marker (such as a vest) for service animals, so you should not rely on these identification methods as proof.

If service animals do result in damages to the rental unit, the renter is responsible for paying for this damage to the property.

Typical reasonable accommodations you may come across as a property manager 

As for adjustments to actual rental units, reasonable accommodations may include installing special door handles, lowering countertops, or widening doorways to allow room for wheelchair access. Apartment List listed out 28 ways to make an apartment unit handicap accessible, offering general suggestions such as smooth flooring (not carpet) to ease scooter/wheelchair movement, wider entryways and doorways, and handicapped-accessible parking spaces.

They reported that a full remodel for kitchens or bathrooms to make an apartment unit handicap accessible could costs thousands of dollars, providing an estimate of $20,000 for a full remodel. However, smaller changes that are likely to be requested as reasonable accommodations will likely cost less. Installing support bars near a toilet or in a shower can cost $100 to $300. Depending on what kind of ramp you are installing, it can cost anywhere from $100 to $3000. Widening doorways can cost between $500 and $1,000.

Tenants with mobility issues may also ask for ground floor access to their rental home so that entry is accessible. As long as this accommodation can be granted without kicking another tenant out of their unit, they should be considered reasonable and treated as such.

When can you ask for more information about a disability? Can you deny an accommodation request? Understanding your rights

When a tenant with disabilities asks for a reasonable accommodation or modification, a property manager is allowed to obtain information to evaluate the request. This is due to the landlord’s legal right to verify the relationship between the request and the disability and make sure that the requested reasonable request will aid the tenant with disabilities. Landlords may only ask for further information, however, if the disability is “non-obvious or non-apparent, and was previously unknown to them.

Typically, tenants with disabilities will provide further information or proof in a couple of ways, according to Landlord Station. Tenants with disabilities will provide proof of supplemental security income or social security disability insurance. They may also provide information or a statement by a doctor, medical professional, peer support group, or a reliable third party.

Photo: Unsplash

You may only ask for more information that directly relates to your evaluation of the need for specific accommodations or modifications based on the disability. Apartment List provides scenarios you may find yourself in where you can deny a request for a reasonable accommodation. In the following instances, you can deny a request for reasonable accommodation:

    • The request for reasonable accommodation was not made by the tenant with a disability
    • The request for reasonable accommodation was not made by a person on behalf of the tenant with the disability
    • The requested reasonable accommodation does not relate to the disability
While your no-pet policy may not be applicable for service animals, nor are you able to charge your typical fees associated with animals (deposits or monthly fees), you can still get coverage for service animals. In the case that a service animal causes damages to the rental unit, you have the right to receive payment from the tenant for those damages to your property.

As a property manager, it is your responsibility to make sure that each and every tenant is enjoying the property they are renting. Even as you navigate territory you are unfamiliar with, it is important to understand everyone’s rights in the situation. With this information in mind, you can equip yourself to better serve tenants with disabilities. Remember: Be sure that you are checking with local laws to protect yourself and your tenants.

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