Policies and Procedures FHA ADA
-
Emotional Support Animals – Just say “NO” to bogus ESA letters.
Apartment owners and managers are familiar with the internet industry providing junk disability letters for pet owners. You only have to go to the web to find a dozen or more places that will sell a letter from some kind of alleged therapist certifying that you are disabled and your pet cat, koala or kangaroo is a Continue reading
-
Dialing for Dollars – Fair Housing advocacy or just a business?
CityVision Services, Inc. has recently filed a number of complaints with HUD under the Fair Housing Act. Those I am familiar with all follow the same pattern. Someone from CityVision calls an apartment complex asking about pet deposit policies and then mentions a therapy animal. The manager or leasing agent makes the mistake of saying Continue reading
-
ADA Maintenance – An ounce of prevention . . . .
One of the many ADA risks that businesses face is the risk of sliding into non-compliance through maintenance failures. This seems to come up most often in the context of parking, because the markings required for accessible parking are exposed to the weather and to wear from car tires. I recently settled a case of Continue reading
-
Disparate Impact – Will it now apply to disability discrimination under the FHA?
On June 25 the Supreme Court held that FHA discrimination claims can be based on disparate impact. Texas Dep’t of Hous. & Cmty. Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., 2015 WL 2473449, at *9 (U.S. June 25, 2015). At first blush this doesn’t seem to have much to do with accessibility claims. When we talk about the Continue reading
-
ADA Policies – you’ve got to walk the walk
Curtis v. Home Depot USA, Inc., 2015 WL 351437 (E.D. Cal. 2015) is not an unusual case, but that makes it a good reminder that an ADA policy doesn’t do any good if it isn’t implemented. The fact that there are so many cases like Curtis proves that many businesses don’t understand that just because it’s written doesn’t make Continue reading
