Landlord Failed to Provide Reasonable Accommodation for Emotional Support Parrots

A proprietary lessee in a co-op building filed a housing discrimination complaint with HUD. The tenant kept a series of parrots in her apartment and in 2015 acquired a new parrot that neighbors complained was particularly noisy. Landlord co-op corporation sent tenant a number of letters warning her about the noise as a violation of her proprietary lease and house rules prohibiting excessive noise. After sending a notice to cure, tenant gave landlord a letter from a psychiatrist stating that tenant's parrots were emotional support animals that assisted tenant in living with a disability. The co-op started an eviction proceeding against tenant, and tenant's family requested that landlord provide a reasonable accommodation to tenant that might have involved soundproofing the unit or even waiving the noise rules for the parrots. The tenant moved out and filed her housing discrimination complaint.

HUD referred the complaint to the U.S. Attorney's Office, who then filed a Fair Housing Act complaint against landlord co-op corporation and its board president, claiming discrimination for refusing to provide tenant with a reasonable accommodation for her assistance animals and for retaliating against tenant for having exercised rights protected by the FHA. The landlord eventually entered into a consent order by which it agreed to pay the tenant $165,000 and to offer to buy her co-op shares for $585,000, which was about $85,000 greater than market value. The consent order also required landlord to dismiss its pending eviction case against tenant with prejudice, adopt a new reasonable accommodations policy, and obtain fair housing training. 

United States v. Rutherford Tenants Corp.: Index No. 21 cv 10383 (SDNY; 8/15/24; ____, J)