Articles

Mr. Coleman has lived at his current apartment for eight years. His original lease, which has been renewed every year, does not allow him to have any pets. About two years ago, Mr. Coleman began having panic attacks on a daily basis. At the urging of his family, he began seeing a Licensed Clinical Psychologist on a regular basis. Shortly after he began seeing his psychologist, he bought a small dachshund, which he brought to live with him in his apartment. Thereafter, his panic attacks began to decrease to the point where they rarely occurred. He reported this information to...

In my last post, our property manager, Noah, from Stoops Pavilion had given written notice to his resident, Jennifer, that she would be allowed to have a support animal as a reasonable accommodation for her disability. Noah granted Jennifer’s request for the animal based on the letter from her therapist stating that her disability created a need for the dog in order to allow her to use and enjoy her apartment. Noah’s notice to Jennifer had asked her to come to the management office to show him the dog and to sign a lease addendum outlining the rights and obligations...

The theme of Lessons From Eviction Court is typically the same: pay attention to details. Landlords really don’t have to prove very much in order to win evictions involving non-payment of rent. In most cases, you only have to prove that: The tenant is in possession of the rental unit The tenant has failed to pay rent that was due The tenant was given proper notice that he or she would be evicted if rent was not paid in full within a certain time frame; and The tenant failed to tender the full payment within the proper time frame However,...

                   Earlier this week, we looked at a situation involving a property manager (Holly from The Calipari Resort) who was approached by a prospective resident who requested that her support animal be exempt from the community’s no-pet policy as an accommodation for her disability. The main thing that we learned was that a tenant with a disability is entitled to such accommodations as long as the accommodation does not (1) create an undue financial or administrative burden or (2) fundamentally alter the nature of the landlord’s business.          ...

          The lesson from my last post was to make sure to name every adult occupying the rental unit in your eviction complaint. Today, I have a short follow up: make sure you take the names of the occupants directly from the lease agreement, and use the same spelling as is used in the lease agreement. Close may count in horseshoes (should this reference be updated to “cornhole”?) and hand grenades, but not usually in legal matters.              As noted in the last post, winning evictions is about attention to detail....