Topic: Does anyone have valid tips on how to combat ESA fraud?

Does anyone have valid tips on how to combat ESA fraud? I request doctor's letters instead of some certificate randomly purchased online, but I KNOW a lot of them (not all) equally as fake and just paid for. I also hate losing valuable market time when I ask for ESA forms and have to wait 2-3 days because they are scrambling to find someplace to get these docs. Any help would be appreciated! TIA!

If you have a letter you can verify it that way. Pet Screening is a great company to use. They do all of the verifying for you

Use Petscreening.com!

This is a slippery slope! Be very careful as this relates to disability and you are technically not able ask to verify a disability or need. I would probably ask your local counsel as it relates to your state/county

Petscreening.com is awesome, and free!!!

Chris Peterson who pays for the screening?

Eric Rivera for ESA or service animals it free to the applicant. For pets (which I use also) it’s $25 to the pet owner. Property manager/owner accounts are free.

Eric Rivera the applicant from what I heard of the demos.

Chris Peterson if it's free why are companies charging residents a $25 fee?

Kristina Janis normally because the person did not click/register correctly and entered the animal as a “pet” or did not provide the supporting documentation needed to approve the animal as support/service. PS charges $25 for pet registration but does not charge for approved service/support animals.

Chris Peterson Yaas!

I feel there are bigger things to tackle.

You need to be careful and have a good understanding of the FHA. Basically the way that section of law is written anyone with knowledge of the person and their disability is qualified to affirm their treatment is necessary. So their friend can say they need it, or their mom. Yes the bar is that low....

Pet Screening!!

What certificate are you requiring? For the animal? You can only ask if the applicant is disabled as defined by law and if the animal is needed for that disability..as stated above, that can be stated by anyone with an intimate knowledge of their condition. Also...if the disability is apparent, you can't ask for any additional documentation (for example..blind person with a Service Animal). In my opinion, some people WILL lie and have others lie for them, to get a ESA...but I approve them anyway, as long as the need is documented, since I would rather not face a lawsuit. As PM's, we have bigger issues that need addressed than spending our time investigating if the claim is legit.

Valerie Edmonds Wow not very often when this topic comes up that someone posts a response accurate on every facet! It is refreshing.

Valerie Edmonds investigation certainly isn’t good. You are on so on point. For support animals though, the industry can require documentation, and the documentation should cover four items—five if the disability is not visible or on record (think disability benefits). And we can authenticate that documentation with the provider of the letter to establish the reliability of said documentation. Thank you for such a great answer!

Outsource it, this way you and your company will be protected from a discrimination lawsuit should the resident beleive that they may have been denied regarding this accomidation we use petscreening.com.

A company called Pet Screening does it for you at resident cost.

We have a form that WE send to their Dr and their Dr has to send it back to us directly.

Pick and choose your battles carefully this isn’t one of those battles worth fighting.

We use the “ Reasonable Accommodation Form “.

Pet Screening. They gave their own legal team

We have in our documents when the applicant applies (applicant signs off during the online application process), that we need ALL documents within 48 hours of them applying or they forfeit their Hold money. That helps cut down on fraud, as it is a true animal that provides a service they would have everything they need already.

The Resident pays for the screening. If they are registering a support or service animal its free to the resident.

Valerie Edmonds Thank you for your honesty. That's exactly what we should do.
Personally, it makes me so angry when people claim they need an Emotional Support Animal just to have a pet. It gives those with real needs a bad reputation because a good portion of those people who lie about it have animals who aren't well-behaved.
Professionally, though, I keep those opinions to myself and approve them for the same reasons you stated.

What you point out is important here. There is a lot of confusion about the difference between ESA's (Emotional Support Animals) and Service animals. The latter falls under FHA and ADA laws, and landlords must be extremely careful about how they handle these requests. My partner and I run a blog about issues independent landlords and property managers face, and we've written a couple articles about this:
landlordgurus.com/emotional-support-animal-housing-laws/
landlordgurus.com/should-i-accept-pets-in-my-rental/

An important consideration is whether to accept pets, both because doing so strategically can increase rental income and because it can head off tenants' temptation to manipulate ESA laws in order to get pet into a rental that doesn't otherwise allow them. I fully concur that petscreening.com is a valuable resource!

A few disclosures - we may make a commission on some of the products we talk about on our site, and we are NOT lawyers! This latter point is important because our content, like any others like it, cannot be substituted for careful consideration of ESA and Service animal laws. Rental laws are constantly changing, there are local differences, and it is NOT worth risking a costly lawsuit. We recommend consulting a lawyer when there is any doubt about landlord-tenant laws.

Thanks! Eli

we also have a form that the resident or prospective resident fills out. We send it to the dr or 3rd party verifier. If we do not receive it back from the verifier we sent it to, then we call to verify that it was filled out by the office.

Absolutely not correct. Needs to come from licensed health provider

I agree with everyone here who has recommended PetScreening.com to handle these requests for you - they have the expertise and there is no cost to either the operator or the resident/prospective resident as long as we are talking about a service or ESA accommodation request.

There is a bigger picture, however, which is that breed and weight restrictions (as well as rapidly growing pet fees) play a big role in driving fraudulent requests. I wrote a blog posted here on MFI on this very topic that is worth a read:
www.multifamilyinsiders.com/multifamily-...-fraudulent-requests

You may want to think about whether your current pet restrictions are relevant for today's renter; you'll find a great deal of info on this topic by visiting www.petsandhousing.org/