Last week, I got a demand letter from counsel for a resident concerning a reasonable accommodation request. That’s fine as they come in all the time. At the end of the letter, counsel demanded that we respond within three days or the lawyer will summarily conclude we denied the accommodation request. It irritates me when I see letters like this. Yes, management must evaluate and respond to every reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification request received from a resident or applicant (as well as someone acting on behalf of a resident or applicant). And our response must be sent within a “reasonable” time. But a three day turnaround time? Really?

Which begs the question – just what is a “reasonable” time? In my experience, absolutely within a week to 10 days is fine. Two weeks is also not unreasonable. Cracking three weeks and then a month is a bit more problematic for management. Is it possible that an emergency request might require a three day response time? I guess, but that would be the exception, not the rule.

What to do? My best practice is to have your leasing office send an interim response noting we have the request and we are reviewing it. That provides us with a little additional time if necessary while ensuring no claim will exist that we are ignoring the request. Again, we certainly do not necessarily have to grant every request, but we absolutely must review and respond to every request. Or run the risk of winding up as Respondents/Defendants in a fair housing case.  Hope that makes sense.

Just A Thought.

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