Oregon's Landlord & Tenant Laws regarding Pets for Disabled Persons?

[oded]

As a renter for most of my life, and now living in this house as tenant for the last 12 years, I have had diabetes for over 20 years and also now loosing my eye sight, I have been looking into the possibly of getting a professionally trained dog to have as companion and also to alert me of low sugars and other related diabetic related issues.
The problem being that my landlord says I have to pay a $500 deductible before I can have any sort of pet within the house. I am looking for someone that might be knowledgeable on Oregon Landlord and Tenant laws and also the Disability act regarding this sort of situation and what I can do about it.

[napayshni65]

Federal law super cedes state law. The ADA says that service animals are not pets and thus do not require deposits or any fees accorded pets.

ADA Technical Assistance Manual:

III-4.2300 Service animals. A public accommodation must modify its policies to permit the use of a service animal by an individual with a disability, unless doing so would result in a fundamental alteration or jeopardize the safe operation of the public accommodation.

Service animals include any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. Tasks typically performed by service animals include guiding people with impaired vision, alerting individuals with impaired hearing to the presence of intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or retrieving dropped items.

The care or supervision of a service animal is the responsibility of his or her owner, not the public accommodation. A public accommodation may not require an individual with a disability to post a deposit as a condition to permitting a service animal to accompany its owner in a place of public accommodation, even if such deposits are required for pets.

ILLUSTRATION: An individual who is blind wishes to be accompanied in a restaurant by her guide dog. The restaurant must permit the guide dog to accompany its owner in all areas of the restaurant open to other patrons and may not insist that the dog be separated from her.

A number of States have programs to certify service animals. A private entity, however, may not insist on proof of State certification before permitting the entry of a service animal to a place of public accommodation.

Oregon Law:
Although the landlord is entitled to ask for supporting materials which document the need for an
emotional support animal, federal law does not require the tenant to provide proof of training or
certification of the animal. The two courts that have addressed this issue directly - the Court of Appeals

for the Seventh Circuit and the U.S. District Court of Oregon - have held that the only requirements to be classified as a service animal under federal regulations are that the animal be (1) individually trained, and (2) work for the benefit of an individual with a disability. For a more detailed discussion, see Bronk v. Ineichen, 54 F.3d 425 (7th Cir. 1995) and Green v. Housing Authority of Clackamas County, 994 F.Supp.
1253 (Or. 1998).

HUD:
The Housing & Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983 protects the right of tenants in federally assisted
housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities to have a pet, and further provides that the landlord is entitled to charge a deposit for that pet to cover any resulting damage to the property. However, if a pet is more properly characterized as a "service animal," the tenant should be exempt from the deposit.

According to HUD's internal regulations:

Service animals that assist persons with disabilities are considered to be auxiliary aids and are exempt from the pet policy and from the refundable pet deposit. Examples include guide dogs for persons with vision impairments, hearing dogs for people with hearing impairments, and emotional assistance animals for persons with chronic mental illness.

[chansomps]

the law would most likely be FHAA

and i have heard that if it really is a service dog, they can't require a deposit, but I can't confirm that

[otis]

Did some googling on the subject: The Fair Housing Act requires owners of housing facilities to make reasonable exceptions in their policies and operations to afford people with disabilities equal housing opportunities. For example, a landlord with a "no pets" policy may be required to grant an exception to this rule and allow an individual who is blind to keep a guide dog in the residence.

Legally even if your landlord had a "No Pets" policy, he/she would pretty much be breaking federal law by not allowing you to have a service animal.

Also on Pet Fees: Regardless of whether the property allows pets, the disabled tenant who uses a service animal is not required to make a pet deposit or pay a pet-related cleaning fee. However, the landlord may charge a Security Deposit for the rental the same amount that is charged for all tenants.

However you do need to be able to show documentation that you need the service animal, whether it be documentation from your doctor or other places.