Utah lawmakers are close to passing legislation penalizing renters for lying about owning an emotional support animal, according to reports. The lawmakers say the legislation is for the benefit of both landlords and people with legitimate disabilities, but disability groups say the legislation could be intimidating to people who legitimately need an emotional-support animal in their residence. The Utah House has passed the bill to make it a misdemeanor to falsely claim to a landlord that a tenant has an emotional-support animal; it has received favorable recommendation in the Utah Senate. The bill, HB43, was proposed by Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville, and makes a clear distinction between service animals and emotional-support animals. According to Dunnigan, there is no penalty under the current law for a tenant falsely claiming to a landlord that he or she has an emotional-support animal, and this bill changes that. “It’s becoming a problem, I’ve heard a lot from service-animal owners that the people with emotional-support animals are kind of damaging their brand, because more and more people are saying, ‘I qualify for an emotional-support animal, you need to rent housing to me,’ when they do not,” Dunnigan told KSL.com. The bill’s primary function would be to impose criminal penalties on people who seek housing and lie about having a medical need for an emotional-support animal. Under current state law, people who lie about having a “service animal” can be charged with a class B misdemeanor, but no such penalty exists for “emotional-support animals.” #commercialrealestate #1031exchanges #1031exchanges #apartment #multifamilyrealestate #apartments #propertymanagement #bellproperties http://BPropMgmt.com https://www.instagram.com/p/BuWt-BPDVYA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=145g9rnzxr8ty
