Reasonable Accommodation

Using a fair housing or reasonable accommodation right as a defense and/or counterclaim to an eviction is a powerful tool. To prove that a tenant is entitled to accommodations based on her disabilities, the tenant must show: 1) that she is disabled; 2) that the reasons alleged for her eviction relate to her disabilities; and 3) that the accommodation she requests is “reasonable.”           

If the Tenant has provided sufficient evidence to support her defense of accommodation, it is then up to the landlords, if they have refused to grant the Tenant’s request, to show that the accommodations requested by the tenant are unreasonable, which is defined under the law as imposing an undue financial and administrative burden on the landlord or fundamentally altering the nature of the landlords’ housing operation. This is called shifting of the burden of proof.  

To show that a reasonable accommodation may be necessary, there must be an identifiable relationship, or nexus, between the requested accommodation and the individual’s disability. 

Start by getting a HIPPA release and, if applicable, a Psychotherapy HIPPA release from your client.  Read the attachment “Using RA in Eviction Cases”, as well as the Bridgewaters case for a good introduction to the law.

Resources:

• Using RA in Eviction Cases

• HIPPA Release

• Psychotherapy HIPPA Release

• Sample RA: Child’s Behavior

Court Decisions:

• YMCA vs. Wilson (J. Dalton, 2022)

• Boston Housing Authority vs. Bridgewaters (J. Marshall, 2009)