Landlord won't renew lease because of my emotional support animal

[yhelothar]

I've been living at my apartment with a cat on the premise that it's an emotional support animal. See here for the statute
I was met with a bit of resistance at first with my landlord, but once I showed him the documents, there was not much he could do about it.
But now it's time for me to renew my lease and unsurprisingly, he doesn't want to do it.
Are there any statutes that may allow me to stay?

 

[OCGuy]

Did he specifically say it is because of the animal? Do you have proof that is why he does not want to renew your lease?

 

[EagleKeeper]

There is never a requirement for a lease to be renewed,

A lease can not be terminated because of a support animal.

 

[yhelothar]

Yes he did specifically say it was because of the animal. I did not record the conversation.
I doubt he'd go as far fabricating an excuse for not renewing my lease over this, or even go to court over it if I could show him something that shows that he is not in the right to not renew my lease over the support animal.

 

[SunnyD]

Um. Shens.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
There is never a requirement for a lease to be renewed,

A lease can not be terminated because of a support animal.

Well my lease specifically states that it ends at the end of this month.
In order to stay, I'd have to sign a new lease?

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Um. Shens.

 

[rsd]

Personally, if I was renting out a place and had previously said no pets (I'm making this assumption), I'd be annoyed if my tenant got a pet (I understand it's for medical reasons). Without knowing the law, I don't blame him for not renewing.

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: astroidea

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
There is never a requirement for a lease to be renewed,

A lease can not be terminated because of a support animal.

Well my lease specifically states that it ends at the end of this month.
In order to stay, I'd have to sign a new lease?

30 days notice is still required. Did he tell you at the beginning of the month to get out?

 

[a123456]

If your landlord knows what he's doing, I doubt you have much recourse. The "official" reason he can give for not renewing your lease is "no reason." They're not really required to give a reason. For many leases, not sure yours, if you don't have a lease for the time period and you still stay in the place month-to-month, the rate that you pay is some stupidly high number. For example, the lease is for 12 months ending Aug 31, 2009 for 1000/month. If you stay in the place for Sept, your lease probably says that the new rent for staying there without a lease is like 3k or something high. Plus, it typically takes a few months to evict someone. So technically, you don't *need* a lease but you're better off finding a new place if he doesn't want you around.

 

[DaveSimmons]

What does the lease agreement say about renewals?

With mine I have to ask to renew, get new documents and sign them. There is no obligation in the documents for them to offer me a new lease, only terms that take effect if no lease is signed (a higher month-to-month rate).

 

[StageLeft]

Surely you can find an apt that is ok with pets. All the ones I had in the past allowed them although a couple of them required a pet deposit. Obviously I only paid it for one of my cats since it was a surprisingly large amount, like $50 or $100 or something per cat, what a racket.

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: a123456
If your landlord knows what he's doing, I doubt you have much recourse. The "official" reason he can give for not renewing your lease is "no reason." They're not really required to give a reason. For many leases, not sure yours, if you don't have a lease for the time period and you still stay in the place month-to-month, the rate that you pay is some stupidly high number. For example, the lease is for 12 months ending Aug 31, 2009 for 1000/month. If you stay in the place for Sept, your lease probably says that the new rent for staying there without a lease is like 3k or something high. Plus, it typically takes a few months to evict someone. So technically, you don't *need* a lease but you're better off finding a new place if he doesn't want you around.

Why would a landlord do that? It is generally to the landlords benefit to have someone living in the place.

 

[imported_Mike]

Emotional support animal? WTF? Sounds lke a bullshit work-around to no pet housing. If you break it down, every animal is a tool to fill some emotional void, or a physical one. How a state deems a specific animal as emotional support is beyond me. Is this in place to reduce prozac subscriptions?

 

[BoomerD]

My understanding is that once the lease period has expired, the landlord has the right to refuse to renew. I don't think he needs to give ANY reason for not wanting to renew the lease.
HOWEVER, IANAL, and there MAY be specific laws that will help you.

Here's the Kahleeforneeya Landlord/Tenant Handbook:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publicat...ndlordbook/index.shtml

Where you will find this page of places that may be able to advise you better:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publicat...rdbook/appendix3.shtml

 

[a123456]

Originally posted by: arkcom
Why would a landlord do that? It is generally to the landlords benefit to have someone living in the place.

Depends on your outlook. For a place with high tenant rates, it may not be that hard to find a new tenant within a couple of months and they want the security of a 1-2 year lease. A month-to-month tenant sucks because among other things you don't know when you can rent it out again because the tenant might squat there for another month. Otherwise, what can you tell new prospective tenants? "Move-in date is Sept 1. Oh wait, he's still there. Try back again on Oct 1."

Then, you stop showing off the place to new clients and he suddenly moves out on you and you have a couple months with no one in there. With a yearly lease, the landlord has more control over the place since typically, the landlord will ask a couple months ahead of time if you want to renew so he can prepare to find a new tenant if you decline.

Since it takes forever to evict someone, they put the silly rate there to encourage people to renew the lease or move out when the lease ends.

 

[DrPizza]

On the other hand, is a medical condition protected? i.e. A landlord is under no obligation to renew a lease. But suppose a female had a lease and it allowed her to let her boyfriend move in with her. After signing the lease, the landlord meets the boyfriend who is black. The landlord is racist and doesn't want him in the apartment. At the end of the lease, if the landlord said "I'm not renewing the lease, because your boyfriend is black," then I think you'd have a very strong case for housing discrimination. ---That's why I ask - in California, are medical conditions protected from housing discrimination?

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: Mike
Emotional support animal? WTF? Sounds lke a bullshit work-around to no pet housing. If you break it down, every animal is a tool to fill some emotional void, or a physical one. How a state deems a specific animal as emotional support is beyond me. Is this in place to reduce prozac subscriptions?

Animals DO fill a huge emotional support role in the lives of many people.

Completely valid reason.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
On the other hand, is a medical condition protected? i.e. A landlord is under no obligation to renew a lease. But suppose a female had a lease and it allowed her to let her boyfriend move in with her. After signing the lease, the landlord meets the boyfriend who is black. The landlord is racist and doesn't want him in the apartment. At the end of the lease, if the landlord said "I'm not renewing the lease, because your boyfriend is black," then I think you'd have a very strong case for housing discrimination. ---That's why I ask - in California, are medical conditions protected from housing discrimination?

This states that discrimination against the mentally disabled is specifically prohibited.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publicat...k/discrimination.shtml

 

[DrPizza]

The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act protect the right of people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals, even when a landlord's policy explicitly prohibits pets.

I think you have a pretty good case, now that I think about it. The posters above are right - a landlord doesn't have to renew a lease. However, should he refuse to renew the lease & rent it out cheaper, or for the same amount to a new tenant, after what he told you, I think he would be putting himself in an actionable situation.

IANAL, however I'd suggest searching for one, or for free legal consultation in this case as soon as you can. That way, you'll know what to do to CYA. (i.e. send certified letter saying you wish to renew the lease, etc.)

If there have been no problems with you as a tenant - no warnings, no complaints, no damage, you maintain the apartment in a decent state of cleanliness, etc., then I really don't see how the courts would side with the landlord.

 

[arkcom]

Originally posted by: astroidea

Originally posted by: DrPizza
On the other hand, is a medical condition protected? i.e. A landlord is under no obligation to renew a lease. But suppose a female had a lease and it allowed her to let her boyfriend move in with her. After signing the lease, the landlord meets the boyfriend who is black. The landlord is racist and doesn't want him in the apartment. At the end of the lease, if the landlord said "I'm not renewing the lease, because your boyfriend is black," then I think you'd have a very strong case for housing discrimination. ---That's why I ask - in California, are medical conditions protected from housing discrimination?

This states that discrimination against the mentally disabled is specifically prohibited.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publicat...k/discrimination.shtml

Choosing not to renew a lease is not discrimination.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: Mike
Emotional support animal? WTF? Sounds lke a bullshit work-around to no pet housing. If you break it down, every animal is a tool to fill some emotional void, or a physical one. How a state deems a specific animal as emotional support is beyond me. Is this in place to reduce prozac subscriptions?

Animals DO fill a huge emotional support role in the lives of many people.

Completely valid reason.

That is exactly his point; by default a petis an emotional support animal.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: arkcom

Originally posted by: astroidea

Originally posted by: Common Courtesy
There is never a requirement for a lease to be renewed,

A lease can not be terminated because of a support animal.

Well my lease specifically states that it ends at the end of this month.
In order to stay, I'd have to sign a new lease?

30 days notice is still required. Did he tell you at the beginning of the month to get out?

Not where I live.

Where I live the onus is on the tenant to notify the landlord if he is going to renew.

It's still the landlords choice if he wants to accept or not, he doesn't need to give a reason.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: Mike
Emotional support animal? WTF? Sounds lke a bullshit work-around to no pet housing. If you break it down, every animal is a tool to fill some emotional void, or a physical one. How a state deems a specific animal as emotional support is beyond me. Is this in place to reduce prozac subscriptions?

Animals DO fill a huge emotional support role in the lives of many people.

Completely valid reason.

That is exactly his point; by default a petis an emotional support animal.

But it's only deemed an emotional support animal under the FHA if there is a mental illness present.

 

[a123456]

I think what we're saying is that you might have a slim case if you had it down in writing or had it recorded or something more than my word versus your word. But really, if the landlord hates your guts, why would you want to stay there? If you have a problem with the place, he's going to take his time getting around to fixing your problem, etc.

DrPizza: Even if it is protected, it's almost the same as the CA at-will employment. You can be racist and fire someone for being black and it's illegal but you can hide behind the at-will employment and officially say you fired the person for "no reason" (or some other non-protected reason) if you're smart about it when it goes to court. The landlord could just say, "I wanted to renovate the place so I needed him out. But then I changed my mind about the renovation later." Or some other stupid reason that isn't protected. The burden would fall on him to prove the landlord wrong somehow, which isn't going to happen if the only proof is some casual 30-second conversation that no one else overheard (guessing this is what happened).