Tenant’s Rights

One of the biggest reasons dogs and cats are surrendered by families is due to a change in living situations. Often times, families are moving into a new place that doesn’t allow pets. Similarly, sometimes a landlord will decide they no longer want to allow pets or they will try to charge the family a large pet deposit to discourage them from having pets. There is also situations where a pet owner is about to be evicted and has no where to go, or has to move in with family, and cannot take their pet with them. You may also be in a situation where you have a disability that makes you eligible to have an emotional support animal but your landlord doesn’t allow pets. If you are in any of these situations, it is important for you to know you rights and to understand what courses of action you can take to keep your pet with you.

On this page, we will outline some of the rights tenants have in Florida and Pasco County in relation to pets and provide you with some resources to help guide you.

Eviction Process

If you are being evicted, it is important to understand the eviction process so you can understand how much time you have and what courses of action you have to defend yourself.

The first step in the eviction process is the landlord serving a tenant a Notice to Cure/Pay/Quit. This notice will outline (if possible) the ways to avoid eviction, such as paying or removing a pet. Sometimes the landlord will not give an option to prevent eviction so it is important to read the entire notice and understand your options. This notice will also inform you how many days you have to either remedy or vacate the premises. It is important to note that a sheriff will not show up at the end of this notice period to remove you from the property. The landlord still has to go through the Court system and legal process to obtain an order to remove you from the property. If you have received a notice, you certainly have more time to find alternative living arrangements than given on this notice.

The next step in the eviction process is where the landlord files a Complaint (lawsuit) with the Court and serves you with a summons. Typically, the tenant will have 20 days to respond to this lawsuit. It is VERY important that you respond to this Complaint by filing an answer at the Court House. If you do not file an answer, the Court will grant the landlord a default judgment against you and provide an order for the sheriff to remove you from the property. At this point, the tenant has 2 options: Hire an attorney to help them provide the documents, or prepare and file the documents on their own. This is a personal decision that you have to make based on your individual  and financial situation. If you decide to file your own documents, you can find an example answer here. It is important to provide the reasons you believe you should not be evicted especially if the landlord has previously allowed you to have a pet (or knew you had a pet and did not act) and has now changed their mind.

At this point, if the tenant has filed an answer, a trial will likely be held. If possible, the tenant should demand a jury trial. It is important to read you lease agreement to determine if you have waived the right for a jury trial or not. In Florida, there is a Summary Procedure for eviction that expedites the process for the landlord, which reduces the amount of time allowed for motions and discovery. It is important to determine if Summary Procedure applies to your situation and if not, inform the Court why you believe your case should be excluded from the Summary Procedure.

After the Complaint and Answer, a hearing will be set for the trial. It is important to file any motions or discovery requests and/or schedule and complete all depositions prior to this hearing. If more time is needed, it is very important to file a motion for an extension of time prior to this hearing as well. You must communicate with the landlord’s attorney (if they have one) and be aware of any deadlines so you do not miss them. When the time comes for the hearing, be respectful of the Court and explain your positions while doing your best to not getting emotional or angry. Judges typically do not appreciate drama or heightened emotions in their Court rooms, they are there to investigate the facts and determine who is right according to the law.

If you feel that you have a legitimate counterclaim, it is important that you file it at this time. For example, if the landlord tried a self-help eviction by changing your locks, turning off your utilities, or harassing you in any way, you may have a counterclaim against them for damages. Also, if you made any authorized improvements to the property, you may also have a counterclaim against them for the value of those improvements. It is important to consult an attorney if these cases apply to you.

At this point, the Court will have determined if the eviction process can continue or if it is dismissed. If the eviction is dismissed, the tenant will be allowed to continue living on the Property until the lease expires unless the landlord files another eviction for a different reason. If the Court determines the eviction can continue, they will issue an Order of Judgment in favor of the landlord. It is important to tell the judge how much time you need to move. The order will typically give you a certain number of days to vacate the property. It is important to note that if the judge has not provided a Writ of Possession along with the Order of Judgment, the sheriff still cannot come out and remove you from the property at the end of time provided in the Order of Judgment.

If the tenant has not vacated the property by the time allowed in the Order of Judgment, the landlord would have to file a Motion for a Writ of Possession to receive a Writ of Possession for the sheriff to remove you from the property.

If you feel the judge made the wrong decision, you may likely have a right to file a Motion for Rehearing or an appeal to a higher Court. If this is the case, it is important to determine how much time you have to file and to file within the deadline. Otherwise, you may waive your rights. If you decide to file for a rehearing or an appeal, it is crucial that you immediately file an Emergency Motion to Stay the Writ of Possession which includes a Notice of Appeal. If you do not file this prior to the Writ of Possession being issued, you will likely be removed from the property by a sheriff.

Once the Write of Possession has been issued, it will be posted on the property by a sheriff. The Writ of Possession will tell you how long you have to vacate the property, likely 24-72 hours. After this time has expired a sheriff will be authorized to physically remove you from the property and anything left behind will become the property of the landlord.

Tennant Protections/Defenses

It is important to understand some of the protections you have as a tenant. Some of these protections can often be used as Affirmative Defenses in the eviction process.

One of the most basic protections is a legal term called a waiver, also known as “no take backs.” If the landlord accepts rent while knowing of a lease violation (such as a pet), the landlord has waived the right to evict for that breach. They have effectively given the green light.

This is an affirmative defense to unlawful detainers. It normally comes into play when all of a sudden a landlord that allowed pets before doesn’t want to allow pets, or wants to start charging for the pet.

To determine if this protection applies, we need to know the who and how: “Who knows and for how long?” How long as the tenant been living there with their companion animal with the owner’s knowledge? Knowledge of the breach can be the maintenance person coming in to make repairs and seeing the dog and not saying anything. The knowledge of an agent of the landlord – in this scenario, the maintenance person – is imputed on the landlord.

Landlords cannot retaliate against tenants for exercising their rights, such as requesting repairs or pest remediation. Many times the landlord does very well know the tenant has a pet, and it is only when the tenant begins to exercise their rights as a tenant that the landlord all of sudden has a problem with the tenant’s companion animal. This is called retaliation. Landlords use pets as a vehicle to evict tenants, and while retaliation does become a game of “I said/They said,” it is a viable defense to an eviction.

Landlords cannot change the terms of the tenancy without proper notice. For example, if the rental agreement allows for pets, the landlord cannot decide tomorrow that pets are no longer allowed. The landlord may not be able to change the terms at all.

Federal Housing Protections

The Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are two federal laws that provide tenants with protection. Both laws protect tenants’ assistance animals. Assistance animals are not pets; they are animals that assist their owners.

The difference is that the FHAA protects emotional support animals while the ADA only protects trained service animals.

The ADA focuses on discrimination against people with disabilities and also regulates public accommodations such as grocery stores and restaurants.

The FHAA focuses on housing and also regulates discrimination based on a disability along with other forms of discrimination: race, national origin, color, religion and familial status. The FHAA applies to all housing providers except owner-occupied buildings with no more than four units..

Here are a few important points to understand:

There are hundreds of websites claiming to be registries for emotional support and/or service animals. They may be “registering” your information somewhere and taking your money, but there is no requirement of registration in the law.

Confused tenants who register with these sites are wasting their money.

Examples of services provided by service animals are alerting of a panic attack or a rise in blood pressure, guiding the sight impaired, opening doors and retrieving things.

There are organizations that assist with training an animal to become a service animal; however, using a certain type of training to get a “registration” is not required.

Remember, emotional support animals are assistance animals under federal fair housing law.

The distinction is that emotional support animals are protected in housing contexts, whereas service animals are also protected in public places such as grocery stores and sporting events.

Reasonable Accommodation Request

If a landlord has told the tenant they can’t have pets because of a “no pet policy” or is merely using their pet as a vehicle to kick them out of their home, a tenant with a disability can request what’s called a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws. Reasonable accommodation is a change or exception to a rule that is necessary and reasonable.

The tenant can ask for a reasonable accommodation when they have a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities and the assistance animal performs a task or provides emotional support that alleviates one or more of the existing symptoms or effects of the tenant’s disability.

In a situation like the one described above, the reasonable accommodation request is to make an exception to the “no pet policy,” including not paying any additional fees or deposit and allowing the emotional support animal, because an assistance animal is NOT a pet.

There is no official way to make a reasonable accommodation request. A reasonable accommodation request doesn’t need to be in writing, but tenants are strongly encouraged to make a request in writing and always keep a copy of any documents provided to the landlord/management. A template for a reasonable accommodation request for an assistance animal can be found here.

Emotional Support Animal Letter

What can the landlord ask for when a tenant makes a reasonable accommodation request? If the disability or disability-related need for that assistance animal is not apparent, the owner can request reliable disability-related information. The letter does NOT need to give any private medical information nor is the owner or management entitled to any private medical information. You can find a template you can use as a guide for writing an ESA letter here.

Who is a “reliable person”?

As stated above, the reliable person does NOT need to be a doctor. The reliable person could be, for example, a psychologist, therapist, social worker, occupational therapist, or another person in a position to have knowledge of the person’s disability. This is important because many health care providers are now refusing to provide ESA letters (which is an entirely different issue involving training for health care providers).

A determination of reliability may take into account information that:

  1. Establishes how the third party (the letter writer) is familiar with the individual’s disability or the disability-related need for the accommodation
  2. Specifies the functional limitations that underlie the request for an accommodation (This information need not include specific medical information or terminology.)
  3. Provides a means to contact the third party to verify that the person identified did in fact provide the documentation and to answer any questions permitted by law

The Joint Statement of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development on Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act(opens in a new tab) help show the different types of reliability that can exist, including peer support groups, counselors and even self-verification. Self-verification means a person receives disability benefits from the government and therefore is already determined to be a person with a disability because they receive benefits.

Emotional Support Animal Steps

  1. Obtain an ESA letter. The letter should be from a reliable person who has knowledge of the disability and recommends an emotional support animal to alleviate symptoms.
  2. Request “reasonable accommodation.” Send the request in writing to the landlord along with a copy of the ESA letter.
  3. Seek legal assistance. If the request for reasonable accommodation is ignored, the tenant should contact legal services. A complaint should be filed with the state fair housing department (in California, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) or the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

Remember, a “no pet policy” is NOT legal with regard to assistance animals, and there are no breed or size restrictions for assistance animals. A landlord cannot charge extra for a pet security deposit, pet rent or insurance for an assistance animal.

Kitty Rescue Club