Under South Carolina's Fair Housing Act, landlords must accommodate service animals. However, some prospective tenants will try to manipulate this law to bypass a no-pet policy when applying for rental accommodation.
So, if you don't want pets in your rental units, you must know where to draw the line regarding support animals, service animals, and pets.
Read on to learn about these classifications and how service animal regulations affect you as a landlord.
Types of Support Animals
There are three types of support animals recognized in the USA, and each of them has different privileges under the ADA. You can apply these landlord guidelines for Greenville when vetting tenant applications:
Service Animals
Service animals are trained to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities. Seeing-eye dogs are the best-known of these, but service animals can also carry out tasks like:
- Reminding people to take medication
- Opening doors and retrieving objects
- Alerting people about pending seizures or panic attacks
- Guarding their owners during a seizure
Although dogs usually fulfill these roles, South Carolina also recognizes miniature horses as service animals.
Landlords cannot discriminate against tenants who have service animals. You must waive your pet deposit and no-pet policy to accommodate these animals.
Emotional Support Animals
Emotional support animals assist people with mental or emotional difficulties. They may have a degree of training, but it's not a requirement for their roles.
Most emotional support animals help their owners by:
- Alleviating loneliness
- Soothing depression and anxiety
- Helping them face phobias, e.g., air travel
Under emotional support animal laws in South Carolina, tenants are allowed to have an emotional support animal to comfort them. Landlords must allow them to occupy a rental unit without paying an additional security deposit or pet deposit.
Therapy Animals
Therapy animals usually have some training, although the main criterion for these dogs is a good temperament. These animals are usually owned by a treatment facility, so it's unlikely that you'll encounter them as a Greenville landlord.
Therapists use these animals to help treat certain psychological conditions, and they're often a part of the patient's treatment program, rather than a constant companion.
Pets and Your Property
When it comes to pet policies for landlords, you can make your own decisions regarding your rental home. Allowing pets in your rental has many benefits, but it also comes with some risks.
Pets may:
- Damage your property
- Cause a disturbance
- Create lingering unpleasant smells in the unit
Greenville landlords can charge a pet deposit to cover the costs of remedying these issues or implement a no-pet policy to protect their property.
Get Help Managing Animals in Your Rental Units
PMI Upstate SC is an established property management firm serving Greenville and the surrounding communities. We can help you navigate the complexities of managing support animals and pets on your property.
Our experienced team is dedicated to providing personalized and attentive service to all our clients and is committed to ensuring you profit from your South Carolina property investments.
Reach out for assistance with all your property management needs in Greenville, SC.
