Assistance and Service Animals

One of the most widely debated topics in multifamily is assistance animals and how to handle them. Much of our industry has very clear-cut rules to follow — and yet assistance animals continue to cause major confusion.

When simple mistakes can lead to costly lawsuits and fines, it’s important to get your training and policies right.

Don’t Let Confusion Lead to Costly Mistakes

Are you willing to pay over $1 million in discrimination claims for emotional support animals?

Lawsuit settlements in just the past few years have reached unprecedented heights. With as many as 61.9% of all reported housing discrimination complaints involving people with disabilities, it’s imperative to leave training to the experts!

Grace Hill provides comprehensive training and policies for assistance animals, Fair Housing, and other compliance topics to ensure your team knows exactly how to handle these situations and prevent costly mistakes.

Train the Standard

Comprehensive Training Courses, Designed To Be Engaging

Communicate the Standard

Precise Policies & Procedures, Designed To Inform Your Team

Stay Up-to-Date

Continuous Monitoring of Industry and Legal Regulations

Assistance, Service, Emotional Support

What’s the Deal With All These Animals?

If you’ve heard any of these terms and still don’t know what’s what — you’re not alone. It’s confusing even for industry veterans, let alone for anyone new to multifamily!

Simply put, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination based on disability. It also requires housing providers to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, such as exceptions to no-pet policies or breed restrictions. The FHA uses the term “assistance animals,” but this term also covers “service animals,” “companion animals,” and “emotional support animals.”

The challenge for compliance comes in the form of requests for reasonable accommodations and community policies. Without proper training or standardized policies, many rental housing operators are vulnerable to mistakes that could cost them big.

Train Compliance & How To Respond

Don’t leave compliance to chance! Give your team comprehensive training to protect your company.
Engaging and informative training means your team retains more knowledge and your company performs better.
Stay up-to-date! We update our training regularly to keep current with changing regulations and industry laws.

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A disabled senior man in wheelchair indoors playing with a pet dog at home. Copy space.

Communicate Your Expectations

Start with templates to ensure your policies and procedures are standardized and consistent.
Match compliance to your culture of customer service! Customize policies to the unique structure of your organization.
Stay up-to-date without lifting a finger. We monitor changes in the industry to ensure you have the most accurate compliance information for your team.

Prevent simple mistakes on assistance animals that’ll put you in the doghouse. 🐾 With expert training and pre-built policy templates, you’ll have the best defense to avoid costly lawsuits and fines.

Get a demo today to learn more about our training and policy solutions!