Ok, Here We Go Again -- Service Animal and Condo Board

 

Back in 2014 we faced a huge battle getting Skruffy approved as a Service Dog with the Condo Association.  Well, unfortunately, the Association, run by a different person this time, is still 'Barking' at the idea.  (pun intended)

First, back in 2018, with a new president at the helm, we were asked to have Marcia re-certified as having a disability and a need for an emotional needs dog.  I sent off a scathing letter which said, in part, that we did not have a emotional needs dog, we have a service dog...and that the Condo Association already had a letter from a Neurologist which clearly stated that she has MS, that she needs the services of a dog, and frankly we were offended by the idea that Marcia would have to re-certify...MS is for life, it does not go away.  I threatened with another HUD complaint if they pursued the matter any more, and never heard back from them.

 

So today we got a Registered Letter, which the post office tried to drop off yesterday but we were at Marcia's Doctor's appointment (which went very well, by-the-way), so at 10:30 I go over to the post office and as I expected, it was a letter from the Condo Association.  They wanted us to fill out a full page application pertaining to Bubba, and then, on top of that, take a two page application to the doctor for him to fill out pertaining to Marcia.  So I get back home, and talk to Marcia, and then head off to the Association President's place to see if I could talk sense into her.  We had submitted the same form for Bubba which was agreed on back in July of 2014...and she accuses me of using the Association's Letterhead (which was part of the form) without their permission!  Well, if you know me, that set me off.  I tried to tell her that this form is the form agreed to back in 2014, and she said "no, it was not", even though she was not on the board back then.  I told her I would abide by the 2014 agreement, and I would put that in writing and she could send that off to their lawyers.   

 

So I go through all my paperwork from before, write a two page letter explaining how they are not following HUD rules, not following ADA procedures, and that we were not notified of the new form, nor was anyone else living at the condos notified, and that we will NEVER have Marcia re-certified, and "IF" they have a new form pertaining to a dog, that we would consider using that form "IF" it followed HUD and ADA rules and procedures.  I included this line:

"Association Presidents and Board Members come and go, MS does not go away. HUD is very clear that once the Association Board knows that she is disabled, and needs a service dog, that they MUST provide a waiver to the “no pet” rule."

The real bad thing about it is that this has brought undo stress upon Marcia, again.  Stress and MS do not mix well at all.  Attached to my two page letter was six different items, most multiple pages, where I highlighted HUD Rules which were being violated, including one which included the idea that all of this might be in retaliation to our HUD complaint, which is a major violation of the law.  Now the ball is in their court...let's see how they want to play it.


 

Skruffy One – Condo Zero

At the end of March I blogged that we had to file a HUD complaint against the Condo due to conditions the Condo Association was trying to force on us as a condition to them allowing a service dog to live with us.  Of course the very next day I blogged about the fire which wiped out our motorhome….and Skruffy seemed to be on the back burner.  However, she was not.  We filed our complaint around March 24th.  By mid April our lawyer, who is really a real estate lawyer, asked if he could back out of the Service Dog issue, and we agreed…..if we needed a lawyer for this, we would hire one which deals with Service Dog issues, and I had one picked out if we needed to go that far….but we did not wish for this to go that far. 

April 29th I finally was asked by HUD to provide more information….copy of letter from the Doctor, dates, issues, etc.  I sent my response that day, and receipt was acknowledged.  There was also a small blurb about “back log” and “don’t know how long it will be before we get to it”.

Well, June 19th we received a “official” HUD complaint form which we needed to sign, but some of the information on the form was not accurate.  By the 20th everything had been fixed, we signed, and awaited once again.

On June 27th in steps “Bob” from the Florida Commission on Human Relations.  What a SUPER NICE guy Bob is.  After an initial request for some more information, we schedule a “phone interview’' for Monday, June 30th.  In that phone call he reveals that he had already talked with the Condo Lawyers, and they “sounded as though” they might want to resolve this before it goes any further.  (My first thoughts….why did they not contact me a few months ago before it got this far?)  He said that it sounded like the only issue was the “waiver” that they insisted that we sign which included a whole bunch of rules and ignored our rights before they would agree to us having a service dog.  Bob, who had to remain neutral did point out to the lawyer that one item they were asking us to sign was for Skruffy to keep quiet, yet the Doctor said in his letter that one of the things the dog would be used for is to alert Marcia that someone is at the door by barking.  Bob asked that I write up what in their agreement was unacceptable, and if I wanted, to write up an acceptable waiver.  

So I took their waiver, did a “red line” through all of the items we did not agree with, and in “Green Print” the reason we did not agree with what they issued.  I also rewrote their waiver so that it did not look like a set of rules, but instead did the following:

• Acknowledged the needs of the individual who requested the use of a Service Dog
• Acknowledged that the dog could fulfill those needs, and that the dog could go anywhere the person who needed the dog could go
• Finally, an agreement that the person requesting the service dog would keep it under control, clean up after it, and be responsible for any damage done directly by the dog.

Well, today we heard that the Condo Association would agree to our re-written waiver, and that the issue is essentially resolved.  I sent a signed copy to the Association’s lawyer, sent a signed withdrawal of complaint to Bob, and emailed signed copies to Bob of both.  

It sure put that smile back on their faces…. ours too.