I have been watching a curious trend. As written in this space (and elsewhere), many apartment residents and applicants submit requests for reasonable accommodations (changes in rules or a polies) or reasonable modifications (physical or structural changes to an apartment home). Which is fine and absolutely appropriate. I train my leasing office staff members to review, evaluate, and respond to each request. A best practice, of course, is to respond in writing so we can document the interaction.

However, a prerequisite to being granted a reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification is that the resident be disabled. Federal law defines a person with a disability as “[a]ny person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment.” As a general rule, a physical or mental impairment includes hearing, mobility impairments, visual impairments, chronic mental illness, AIDS, AIDS Related Complex, and mental retardation that substantially limits one or more “major life activities”.  Major life activities typically include walking, talking, hearing, seeing, breathing, learning, performing manual tasks, and caring for oneself.

I am seeing more requests from residents seeking accommodations or modifications but who do not assert (and/or do not have their health care provider appropriately verify) that the resident is disabled. When those requests cross my desk, I advise that an interim response be sent back to the resident explaining that while management cannot grant the request based on the materials submitted at this time, we will absolutely review any supplemental materials the resident wishes to provide. Many times this will end the matter if the resident is seeking something he or she is not really entitled to. On the other hand, if the request is legitimate, then we will receive a revised medical verification and many times my team can indeed approve the request. And in the event of a disagreement and subsequent discrimination complaint, we will have appropriately documented the file as to why the request could not be approved as originally submitted.

Just A Thought.

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