VENTNOR –Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the Division on Civil Rights announced Friday, Feb. 21 that a Ventnor housing complex agreed to pay a fine, change their policies and provide their staff with anti-discrimination training, in settlement agreement that resolve allegations it unlawfully denied a request from a resident with disabilities to keep doctor-prescribed emotional support animals.
The Newport Gardens Condo Association of Ventnor and Thompson Realty Company agreed to pay a resident with a disability a total of $4,000 to resolve allegations they violated the Law Against Discrimination by refusing the resident’s May 2018 request to keep two emotional support animals – a Chihuahua and a cat – consistent with a note from her doctor. Newport Gardens instead enforced its policy allowing unit owners to keep two pets but renters to keep only one and ordered one pet removed from the premises.
“Property owners, managers, condo associations and others involved with New Jersey’s housing industry need to comply with our anti-discrimination laws,” Grewal said in a release. “Their obligations include reasonably accommodating tenants with disabilities, which may include allowing tenants to keep support animals that do not otherwise satisfy pet policies.”
Under the law, even housing providers with no-pet policies are required to allow a tenant or homeowner with a disability to keep an emotional support animal if the person’s treating doctor or mental health professional certifies that the animal is necessary to provide the person an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling, according to Division on Civil Rights Director Rachel Wainer Apter.
“The only exception is if the housing provider can show that allowing the animal would be an undue burden on its operations. Yet we see too many cases where housing providers simply dismiss these types of requests out of hand, citing no-pet policies. That violates the law,” Apter said.
Grewal said the complainant provided her landlord with a letter from her doctor that described her two pets as integral to her health. The landlord forwarded the doctor’s letter to the Newport Gardens condo association, which rejected the request to accommodate the complainant’s disability by relaxing its one pet per renter policy.
Newport Gardens has since agreed to let the complainant keep her emotional support animals. They will further take any necessary action to protect the complainant from harassment by other residents of the complex, put her on a waiting list for a parking spot, and create a Fair Housing Policy that allows for reasonable accommodations and modifications, according to the settlement agreement. Staffers who conduct property management services are required to receive training and post signage about the law.
Without admitting liability, the association and Thompson Realty agreed to pay a $1,000 fine to the NJ Treasurer within 30 days, and provide the complainant with $4,000 for damages, according to the consent order.
Anyone who believes his or her rights under the Law Against Discrimination have been violated can file a complaint with DCR within 180 days of the incident by visiting www.njcivilrights.gov, or by calling DCR at 973-648-2700.
