Happy Fall!
Recently there has been a lot of questions about Emotional Support Animals and how they are handled in accordance with the lease agreement and the law. Emotional Support Animals can be tricky and an easy way for a tenant to get around having a restricted breed or having pets in general.
To qualify for an assistance animal, a person must have an official letter from a registered healthcare provider. The letter confirms that the person requires a support animal or service dog. The reason could be for conditions such as depression, panic attacks, phobias, autism, ADHD, or physical disabilities. In addition, the letter gives tenants certain rights that other pet owners don’t have—the right to keep an animal even if the landlord has a “no pets” policy.
However, it’s increasingly challenging to spot ESA scams. A 2018 report stated that there are a “plethora of shady companies who partner with unethical mental healthcare providers to sell ESA letters to literally any applicant.” In addition, the report said ESA letter mills are a booming industry. The challenge facing landlords is spotting a fake from a legitimate document. For example, an ESA letter must come from a licensed medical professional, like a therapist or doctor. However, some people can’t afford to visit their primary care physician or may not have one. In that case, they can get a legitimate ESA letter online. But, of course, there are plenty of online ESA scams, and some disabled people are victims of the scam. Therefore, it makes sense to carry out thorough pet screening if a prospective tenant wants to keep an emotional support animal.
Luckily, we at GTR Management have found a wonderful screening service to help us weed out the fake letters and make sure your tenants are being truthful about their animals. They verifies all letters by calling directly to the registered healthcare provider that has prescribed the Emotional Support Animal letter. By using this service we have been able to stop fake or even bought letters.
We've had a few questions since moving our distributions completely to the Buildium system. In the past our bank included any tenant security deposits as one batch into your distribution, You'd receive an email from us breaking down your distribution amounts. With our new system, you may receive multiple deposits during the month if you've had a new tenant move in. Buildium auto generates an email any time a distribution is initiated on our end-and security deposit transfers are separate deposits. If you have questions you can always get an explanation of any deposit amounts by going to your portal, and running a General Ledger report. The Rental Owner Statement is also helpful, but it does not reflect any security deposit payments.
As a reminder, your owner portal can be accessed at any time at https://www.gtrmanagement.com/gtrmgmt-owners.
Have a happy October and we'll talk next month!
Your friends at GTR Management
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