A landlord’s denial of a support dog for one of its Long Island tenants resulted in fair housing laws biting back, leading to a settlement in the case.
Jamaica, Queens-based Zara Realty Holding Corp. and Heritage Place LLC, the owners of New Haven Place Luxury Apartments at 451 Fulton Ave. in Hempstead were leveled with a disability discrimination complaint for refusing to allow one of its tenants, Malcolm Evans, to have an emotional support dog.
Evans, who has a disability, made a written request to the landlord in Jan. 2022 for an accommodation that would allow him to have an emotional support animal in his apartment, but the request was denied because of the building’s no-pet policy, according to a statement from Long Island Housing Services (LIHS), which Evans later contacted for help.
The federal Fair Housing Act, New York State Human Rights Law, and Nassau County Human Rights Law all prohibit housing discrimination based on disability. “Assistance animals are not pets. Assistance animals could be a trained service animal, or they could be other animals that do work, perform tasks, assist, and/or provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities that affect major life activities,” according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Human Services (HUD), which Evans filed a complaint with in March 2022.
Evans’ HUD complaint was transferred to the New York State Division of Human Rights (NYSDHR) and he later contacted LIHS for assistance and representation. LIHS made another accommodation request on behalf of Evans, which was denied and LIHS then filed a complaint with NYSDHR on behalf of his wife Emily Evans.
After the two complaints were filed, the landlord allegedly attempted to evict Evans and his wife after he acquired the emotional support animal, according to the statement. In her complaint, Emily Evans alleged that she suffered “emotional anguish, extreme mental stress and great inconvenience” because of the landlord’s alleged retaliatory act of threatening eviction.
The complaints by the Evanses, who decided to move out of the complex, received probable cause determinations from NYSDHR which recommended a public hearing. During the hearing, the parties agreed to settle the complaints, according to the statement.
The Evanses agreed to settle the two complaints for undisclosed monetary damages and the landlord was required to display Human Rights Law regulatory posters in a conspicuous place at their business in New York State.
LIHS Executive Director Ian Wilder said the case highlights the continued importance of enforcing fair housing laws to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities and ensure accountability for landlords who violate those laws.
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs has clear guidance for landlords to follow for requests for a reasonable accommodation regarding an assistance animal which clearly points to the landlords granting the Evans’ request,” Wilder said in the statement. “Furthermore, New York State Division of Human Rights requires every housing provider to give their tenants notice of their rights to a reasonable accommodation. Since both of these seem insufficient to have landlords comply with the law, it highlights the need for an education requirement for all landlords.”