HOAleader.com - Tip of the Week - July 10, 2009
Published: Fri, 07/10/09
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Comfort Animals and HOAs: Do You Have to Accommodate and Bend
Your Pet Rules?
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This week's tip is about comfort animals: pets that improve the
mental or physical health of a patient. In some cases, comfort
animals must be treated as any other legal accommodation for a
disability.
To get more information, we spoke with Paul Milberg, a senior
associate and head of the covenant enforcement department at
Katzman Garfinkel Rosenbaum in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
"We tell our associations that these are very difficult claims,"
Paul told us. "There's a lot of abuse. People hear about comfort
animals from their friends, and they think, 'I'll just get a
letter from my doctor.' Some doctors will write anything the
patient wants."
Paul recently resolved a case involving a woman in an association
that restricted owners to one pet that met a specific weight limit.
"She had a cat and two dogs, and the dogs were over the weight
restrictions," he told us. "We wrote her a letter about the weight
issue. She came back in the middle of mediation and said, 'I have
a mental disability and depression, and I require comfort animals.'"
The association was open to her claim of a support animal, but it
pushed back on whether three animals--and two over the weight
limit--were necessary. "We said, 'It might be understandable
that you need a support animal, but we'd like a doctor's note
stating that you need three and that two need to be over the
weight limit.'
"The way the rules are supposed to be applied is that you may
need an animal, not that you need your specific animal. A
person who's blind may need a service animal. But he doesn't need
a specific dog. If his dog were biting people, he'd need to get a
different animal. It's not about being upset that you live in a
no-pet community. It's that a service animal is necessary to cure
you or alleviate the symptoms of your disability. This woman was
operating under the theory that she would be upset if she had to
remove her pets."
You may be suprised to hear how Paul and his client association
resolved this case. Find out in our new article.
You'll also get information about requesting documentation for
comfort animals, and practical approaches to resolving these claims.
Go there now (free access):
http://www.hoaleader.com/public/306.cfm
Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President
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Recent articles posted at HOAleader.com:
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HOA Pet Rules & Required Accommodations: The Facts About Comfort
Animals
Is Fido a medical necessity, or are we being taken for chumps?
That's the question HOA board members are asking themselves as a
growing number of owners claim that their beloved pet isn't a
violation of their association's rules but a critical part of
their medical treatment.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/public/306.cfm >
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Love Thy Neighbor? Owners in HOAs Tell All
Your neighbors are a huge factor in whether your home becomes
your haven or your hell. Here, homeowners dish about the
neighbors who've done things to make their lives better and those
who've been so unneighborly that they wish they'd just move away.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/members/305.cfm >
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Homeowner Harasses HOA Manager--and Pays the Price
In March, a judge held a Southern California homeowner in
contempt for violating a restraining order obtained by his
homeowners association after the owner relentlessly harassed his
association's managers. Here's the back story, and what you
should watch out for in your condo or HOA.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/members/304.cfm >
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Does Your HOA Have Unwritten "House Rules"?
We recently talked to two experts about the problems condos and
homeowners associations run into when they rely on unwritten
"house rules". If your HOA is in this position, this week's tip
is specially for you.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/public/303.cfm >
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HOA Rules: Don't Let Your HOA Board Get Caught in the Trap of
Relying on Unwritten "House Rules"
It's common for HOA boards to try to enforce "house rules" that
are unwritten but have supposedly been followed since the
beginning of time. Two experts explain why doing so is likely to
come back to haunt you--and how to fix the situation if this has
been a common practice at your condo or homeowners association.
Click here to read full article:
< http://www.hoaleader.com/members/302.cfm >
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