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Federal authorities have accused some Utah apartment landlords and their property managers of housing discrimination for allegedly refusing to accommodate a mentally disabled child's request to keep a dog as an assistance animal.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has charged the owners of a Cottonwood Heights apartment complex and three rental properties in Salt Lake City with violating the Fair Housing Act in connection with the family's 2015 complaint.
HUD alleges that owners at Pinnacle Highland Apartments, Cobble Creek Luxury Apartments, Sky Harbor Apartments and Thornhill Park Apartments enforced burdensome tenant rules on pets used as assistance animals, including requiring a physician's prescription form that held the doctor's insurer liable for any animal-related damage.
Gustavo Velasquez, HUD assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, called enforcement of such policies "unacceptable and against the law."
"When property owners refuse to allow a family to have a necessary assistance animal, they are denying the family's right to fully enjoy their home," Velasquez said in a statement.
Phone messages left Thursday by The Salt Lake Tribune seeking comment from owners of the four Utah properties and the management company were not immediately returned.
The single mother and her disabled son, who are not named in court documents, reportedly moved into a three-bedroom apartment in the 522-unit Pinnacle Highland complex on Highland Drive in late 2013 after being assured that property managers could accommodate an assistance animal.
The family soon got a pit bull terrier mix for the child before getting the landlord's approval. The mother obtained the required forms but was unable to persuade a doctor to sign and accept liability for the dog.
She asked that the pet policy be waived as a reasonable accommodation of her child's disability, HUD asserts. But officials with the California-based property management company NALS Apartment Homes refused her request, according to court documents.
Facing a $600 fine, the family sent the pet to stay with a friend and moved out in April 2014. The mother filed an official complaint through the Salt Lake City-based Disability Law Center.
Officials trained by the center then posed as would-be tenants and confirmed that similar policies were in place at the Cobble Creek, Sky Harbor and Thornhill Park properties, court documents said.
Unless settled or withdrawn, HUD's case will be heard either by an administrative law judge or in U.S. District Court. If a judge determines discrimination occurred, he or she may award damages, injunctive relief or levy civil penalties.
A HUD representative said that disabilities were the basis for nearly 55 percent of the 8,269 housing complaints filed with the agency and its partners in the latest fiscal year.
Twitter: @TonySemerad