Reducing The Stress Surrounding Emotional Support Animal Requests

There is no disputing that apartment operators have experienced a significant increase in emotional support animal accommodation requests in recent years. These can be a source of stress for onsite teams, but they don’t have to be.
What’s often misunderstood is that policing these requests isn’t the best solution. 
Many ESA requests involve large dogs and what some apartment operators categorize as dangerous breeds. For residents with legitimate ESA documentation, the restrictions don’t apply. But residents who don’t have ESA documentation for their pets in the restricted categories are prevented from living with their pet at many apartment communities. 
In an effort to keep their pets, some of these residents understandably feel compelled to take action. After all, 92% of residents believe pets are an important part of the family and 93% of property managers also agree, according to the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative, a research and resource development initiative that promotes access to the joy of pets.
While it has been assumed that some will attempt to get the pet verified as a service animal, others might try to sneak it into the community, while another small percentage will attempt to utilize fraudulent documentation. According to the Assistance Animals in Housing Report by PetScreening, less than 1% of animal accommodation requests meet the definition of fraud, although 36% are returned as insufficient.
This is where it gets difficult for onsite teams, which must sort through the various ESA requests and determine which of them are fully compliant. 
But there are ways to resolv……