In response to a question, here is a short Fair Housing Act (FHA) primer on the timeline for responding to reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification requests. Under our FHA, “discrimination” includes “a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.” Now, to determine if a requested accommodation is “reasonable,” a court will generally consider whether the requested accommodation is (1) reasonable and (2) necessary to (3) afford disabled individuals an equal opportunity to use and enjoy housing. Nothing controversial so far.

But what if a leasing office does not respond to a request? Or what if a community manager does not know that a request has been made?

In a circumstances like these, courts have held that a failure to respond can operate as a rejection of the request. Similarly, an “undue” delay can amount to a rejection. What is “undue” – of course – is in the eye of the beholder. Every case will be judged on its own facts? What if management responds in one week? I think that is fine. Two weeks? Still likely reasonable. A month? At this point, it starts to feel unduly delayed.

That being written, the law also provides that management must have been given the “opportunity to accommodate” the resident/applicant. To phrase it another way, the leasing office must have been given the chance to respond prior to incurring liability for refusing or failing to respond to an accommodation request.

This issue typically arises when a disability is not obvious – as takes place with most emotional support animal (ESA) requests. Until we receive a request, in the vast majority of circumstances, our leasing office team has no way to know that a resident requires an ESA. The other extreme example is that management will not typically seek further information or verification for a designated parking spot for a resident with a mobility disability who uses a wheelchair.

The takeaway?  Promptly respond to all reasonable accommodation requests.  A best practice is to send an interim response to acknowledge the request and note that management is reviewing it.  And then formally respond within a reasonable time.  One week is great.  Two weeks is likely fine.  Three weeks?  Questionable.  After that, you may need to speak with a lawyer like me.  Make sense?

Just A Thought.

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