Under Fair Housing Regulations, if a tenant requests a reasonable accommodation for a disability or covered condition, the landlord must consider and allow a reasonable accommodation. The most frequent request landlords receive is for an animal, either an emotional support animal or a service animal. If an animal qualifies as either an emotional support animal or service animal you may not charge the tenant pet rent, a pet deposit or disallow the animal in the unit. The animal is not considered a pet and the pet provisions and requirements you may have in place for a pet do not apply. ...
Accepting Payments after Court and Proceeding with a Writ of Restitution
Once a judgment has been entered, the landlord may accept payments on the judgment and still proceed with their request for the writ of restitution. HOWEVER, it is not uncommon for a tenant to waive a receipt at a constable when he or she comes to execute the writ of restitution and claim the writ cannot be served because the tenant paid. We, therefore, recommend the following procedures or steps when accepting money from a tenant after court and before the writ of restitution: Have the tenant sign a note saying the tenant understands that the payment made is payment...
Service and Emotional Support Animals at the Pool?
With the weather heating up, what about service or emotional support animals in or near the pool? In the pool, the answer is no. That is not a reasonable accommodation as it violates health and safety protocol and procedures. Near the pool, however, it depends. An emotional support animal is less likely to be considered a reasonable accommodation around a pool unless there is some connection to pools and water for which it is needed. For a service animal, the answer is more likely to be yes, but again it depends on the service the animal provides. A...
City of Tucson may attempt to require all Landlords to accept Section 8 Tenants and prohibit Landlords from conducting Criminal Background Checks on Prospective Tenants
The City of Tucson, according to a Draft Housing Affordability for Tucson (HAST) proposal, appears to be considering requiring all Landlords to accept Section 8 tenants. From the limited research I have been able to do it appears that property owners and managers were not included in some of the initial meetings regarding this plan. Having represented Landlords for over 20 years, both large and small property management companies and individual owners, a requirement that owners accept Section 8 raises many concerns for me on behalf of my clients. I am not disparaging the Section 8 housing program or suggesting...
Alabama Association of Realtors challenging most recent extension of the CDC Eviction Moratorium
The Plaintiff in Alabama Association of Realtors v. United States Department of Health and Human Services filed an emergency motion yesterday to enforce the Supreme Court’s ruling and to vacate the stay pending appeal. We have a copy of the Motion available through the below link. As we understand it, we expect an answer from the CDC today. We will keep you posted. Emergency Motion
CDC Extended Eviction Moratorium through October 3, 2021
August 3, 2021 Dear Clients: We just received the extension of the eviction moratorium from the CDC based upon the statement made by President Biden earlier this afternoon. We have attached a copy of the CDC statement here. According to the information reported to date regarding why President Biden has taken this action, it is our understanding the President was informed by the “bulk” of Constitutional scholars that the eviction moratorium was not constitutional as issued by the CDC. However, President Biden felt it was worth the risk and stated, “at a minimum, by the time it...
CDC Eviction Moratorium–Will they extend it….again?
As many of you may have heard, President Biden has asked Congress to extend the CDC Eviction Moratorium set to expire July 31, 2021 through September of this year. The Supreme Court, in a ruling this past month, indicated the CDC Moratorium was not Constitutional and took the position of simply allowing it to expire at the end of this month rather than striking it down and ending it mid-month. It is possible there may be a vote on the President’s request as early as late today. We will of course keep you updated. As of right now we are...
ANOTHER POTENTIAL SOURCE OF INCOME FOR SOME TENANTS
Starting July 15th, just two days from now, the US Treasury will start sending what it refers to as “advance Child Tax Credit payments” to eligible families on the 15th of every month. The maximum amount for each child under age 6 is $300 per month and for each child 6 to 18 is $250 per month. Families are also still eligible a tax credit of $1800 for children under age 6 and $1500 for children 6 to 18 on their 2021 tax return. To receive the full credit the taxpayer must have adjusted gross income on their most recent...
Frequently Asked Questions
Updates from the Tucson Pima County Eviction Prevention Program
REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION FROM LANDLORDS: PROGRAM DASHBOARD UPDATE: One of the many goals of this program is to be transparent about the process, requests for assistance, and reporting. We want to manage expectations and keep the public informed on funding distribution. On average, requests per week have diminished significantly and are now between 100-200 requests. This is down from 400-600 per week just three weeks ago. If you are interested in staying up to date on program numbers the Program Dashboard located on the homepage of TucsonPimaEP.com is currently updated 2-3 times per week. Numbers as of May 26, 2021, were as follows: Total Funds Paid and...