“Service Dog” has been left, unattended in a no pets home

[Austin150]

Hi Everyone,

My guest is staying in our private room that we rent out in our home. Because we already have two territorial dogs on our property, we have a no pets policy, but we obviously make exceptions for service animals.

My guest arrived, and it was immediately clear that she only is calling it a service animal to use the loophole that hosts must abide by. This dog is clearly not a service not and does not behave like one.

In the agreement, that we discussed ahead of time, we let her know as long as the dog is with her at all times and not left unattended she would be permitted to have this "service dog" stay with her.

Today, we discover that she has left the dog unattended, not crated, alone in the room for hours and hours on end while she attends a wedding somewhere. I have attempted to contact her numerous times explaining that she is in breach of our contract and house rules. I have reached out to AirBnB and there is an open case, but no resource assigned at this moment.

My question here is what do I do now??

There has been no response from the guest and the poor puppy (the dog is an untrained puppy) is crying at the door. Do we have the right to terminate this guests contract and go in and let this dog out to at least relieve itself and to ensure it isn't doing damage?

Can we kick these guests out for lying and violating the house rules and AirBnB rules regarding always keeping your service animals with you?

What are our next possible steps.

Thank you in advanced.

[Sarah977]

@Diane752  I'm sorry you're having trouble finding a place that will accept you and your service dog. Of course it's unreasonable to expect a true service dog to be crated- those folks obviously don't understand the purpose of a service dog. But please try to understand that asking for an additional "pet fee", to cover extra cleaning is not unreasonable. I realize your dog would not be classified as a pet, but just because he/she is a service dog doesn't mean it doesn't leave dog hair, just like any other dog, nor that it won't lay on the sofa or bed, if that's what it's accustommed to. I do hope you find a suitable place.

[Diane752]

Sarah, asking for me to pay more money because I'm disabled and have a service animal is not unreasonable, it's illegal. That's the point, if you choose to post you place for rental on Airbnb you need to follow their rules.    

As with any damage situation, I would be responsible as the renter.  Asking me to prepay extra cleaning because I travel with her is not okay.  

[Ian-And-Anne-Marie0]

@Diane752 

Have you tried using the filters for pet friendly homes? I'm sure that would be a far easier way to find suitable accommodation when you intend taking an animal with you. This way there would be plenty of hosts with fully equipped accommodation happy to book your stay.

[Diane752]

Your suggestion is I travel with my service dog, yet I should change where I stay, and pay additional fees in order to accommodate the host preferences?   

Regardless of being disabled and having a service animal with a legal right to stay with Airbnb providers?  That is what discrimination feels like.   

[Sarah977]

@Diane752  No, that wasn't my suggestion at all. I simply said that charging extra for cleaning if you travel with a dog, whether it's a service dog or simply a pet is a reasonable thing for a host to do. But that fee should be stated at the outset, not just some arbitrary amount that the host decides to charge after the fact. 

Just as if a host has gone to considerable expense to make their accomodation wheelchair accessible, putting in ramps, widening doorways, installing grab bars, etc, their place might be more expensive than other places in the area that haven't done so. That isn't discrimination, that's simply financial reality.

[Diane752]

Ya Sarah I check that in air AirBnb's policy as well.   It's not acceptable to ask me to pay more for being disabled, having a service dog or a wheelchair.  That is the whole point.   

Host sets a price, everything is included in that including an already hefty cleaning fee, so no you would be incorrect.  Financial reality is be thankful you have a home you can rent out, make good money off strangers.  Federal govt does not care about your financial reality, you can't discriminate.   

As soon as any Airbnb host posts somewhere that they "will only accept Service Animals with an additional fee for cleaning", their business will be shut down.  This isn't about your opinion.  

[Sarah977]

@Diane752  This isn't about being asked to pay more because you are disabled, have a service dog or are in a wheelchair. It's about being understanding that there may be more extensive cleaning required when bringing a dog, any dog, to a listing which ordinarily doesn't accept animals. If a host wishes to keep their listing allergen-free, or their floors free of scratches from dog nails, or any other of the many reasons why hosts do not normally accept animals, for a disabled person to not be understanding of this, but dig in their heels insisting that it's discrimination and that you'll make sure they'll get shut down for it, isn't in the spirit of Airbnb and home-sharing. 

A place that is listed as pet-friendly will already have a pet fee listed to cover the extra cleaning time required after a dog has stayed there. If you choose to book a listing which does not normally accept animals, there's nothing discriminatory about a host asking to be fairly compensated for extra cleaning time, just as if they made an exception to their "no children" listing, they would expect to be compensated if the toddler drew all over the walls with magic marker. That's not unusual behavior for a toddler, but charging for the extra cleaning time required isn't being discriminatory towards children.

[Diane752]

Sarah, that's exactly what it is about.  I am well aware of the system, have been traveling disabled for 5 years.  And pet friendly also means more expensive and 1/10th of properties. 

You assume a service animal would do damage, and that I would allow that, and that you need to be compensated,  and that extra cleaning is required.  Your assumptions are wrong because you are uneducated about service animals.  

And holy **bleep** really?  Having children is a choice, having a disability and needing a service animal is NOT a choice! 

If you can't grasp that basic concept, I will waste no more time on you except to advise Airbnb that you are not a 'service animal' friendly host.  

[Sarah977]

@Diane752  I'm sorry if I'm not being clear. I'm not assuming that a service animal would do damage, nor that you would allow it. I'm well aware that service dogs don't do things like scratch at the doors, relieve themselves in the house, or anything else that would be considered to be bad behavior. I'm not discussing damages here, and my analogy to a child scribbling on the walls was indeed a false analogy.

Compensation for extra cleaning is quite different than compensation for damages. A dog, even a service dog, is not in control over whether it sheds, nor is its handler. Same for the dog's nails simply scratching the floor finish as it quite normally walks across it, which may require another coat of wax.

If a host's fees are based upon the fact that it is normally an animal-free listing, I just don't understand why you would balk at being asked to pay a small additional fee for the additional cleaning time that a host would have to spend vacuuming up dog hair and lint rollering everything, possibly laundering things that don't normally need to be laundered after every reservation, and airing the place out because their next guest may have allergies to pet hair. 

A host who accepts you and your service dog, who is an essential part of your life, is obviously not discriminating against you. That they would wish to be compensated for any extra cleaning time required isn't called discrimination. If a disabled person requires an human aide who travels with them, is it considered discriminatory for that aide to charge for their services? 

[Diane752]

No apologies necessary Sarah.  You are quite clear.  

You want your way, and the law is irrelevant.  That's why it's called discrimination. 

A human aide = an employed human!  Yeah for our economy!  

[Sarah977]

@Diane752  The law is in fact irrelevant to the space I list, a private room in the home where I live.

But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't accept a person with disabilities with a service dog, if, like you, they had valid proof that the animal was indeed a service dog, as you have read for yourself here how unscrupulous dog owners abuse that designation and simply claim their dog is a service dog. 

But I would also want the person wanting to book to communicate with me, rather than just try to push laws and accusations of discrimination at me. One of the reasons for that is that a guest would have no way of understanding the hazards present at my place to a person with certain disabilities, as well as hazards to the dog.

The entrance to my guest room is up a flight of metal slatted stairs. This would not only be very unsafe, if not impossible, for a person with vision or mobility issues, dogs are loathe to go up those stairs. My own dog got her paw stuck between the slats as a puppy and didn't attempt them for another 3 years and still has a hard time negotiating them, occasionally slipping, and the only thing that prevents her from falling down them was that I have ahold of her collar.

If a disabled person with a service dog told me their disability didn't include vision or mobility issues, so the stairs wouldn't be a problem for them (I don't need to know the exact nature of their disability) and that their dog was small enough to carry up and down the stairs, then I would be okay with it. I just don't want anyone or their animal to get hurt.

But if they refused to dialogue with me, saying that by law they didn't have to, then I would decline, based on the laws around renting in one's private residence, and because I would be concerned about physical injuries, not because I discriminate against those with disabilities.

[Mike-And-Helen0]

@Diane752 are you talking about a particular host with a "hefty cleaning fee"?

Otherwise you are generalising. Some hosts don't charge a cleaning fee.

[Susan151]

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@Sarah977 wrote:

@Diane752  No, that wasn't my suggestion at all. I simply said that charging extra for cleaning if you travel with a dog, whether it's a service dog or simply a pet is a reasonable thing for a host to do.

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Except you simply can't ask for a cleaning fee for a service animal. It really isn't complicated at all. It is the law and part of the AirBNB TOS.

[Sarah977]

@Susan151  Thank you for the heads up on that, I did not know. But to me, even if something is the law, it doesn't preclude someone from understanding that it may be reasonable to offer something for another's time and effort. Just as simply because it's the law that a landlord may have to go through a lengthy eviction process to oust tenants who are not paying the rent, going months without collecting rent, that doesn't mean all tenants take advantage of that law and stay without paying. 

[Mark116]

@Diane752  There are thousands and thousands of airbnbs that happily accept pets....so why not choose a place from within a group where you already know you will be welcomed with an animal?   

Also, it is not "illegal' to refuse a service dog in a private home if it is under a 4 family and the owner is on the premises, it is against airbnb TOS, but those are not the same thing.