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Q: My husband and I’ve lived in a co-op in Westchester County for 37 years. It’s a three-story constructing that prohibits canines as pets, and we’ve at all times had an excellent relationship with the opposite residents. However 9 months in the past, our upstairs neighbors acquired an emotional help canine for his or her teenager. The canine runs forwards and backwards for half-hour at a time. Not less than three nights per week, it scratches a bed room rug, waking us up all through the evening. We have now shared our issues with the neighbors, asking them to crate the canine at evening and stroll him when he’s rambunctious. They appeared receptive, however the issue persists. How can we stability the rights of individuals to have emotional help animals with our proper to reside peacefully?
A: So long as this canine isn’t biting individuals, it’s in all probability not going anyplace. Help animals are protected lodging beneath county, state and federal fair-housing legal guidelines. Your co-op board might be chargeable for discrimination whether it is discovered to be hostile to this canine proprietor, and so may you. So tread evenly.
“A neighbor may be sued in Westchester,” stated Andrew Lieb, a New York housing discrimination lawyer, noting that the regulation permits your neighbor to sue you for emotional misery and attorneys charges.
As tough because it is likely to be to reside under this canine, attempt to think about the scenario from the proprietor’s perspective and what they is likely to be coping with of their household. “If I used to be the neighbor and needed to do one thing, I’d go on a pleasant marketing campaign,” Mr. Lieb stated.
Legally, the constructing can not cost additional charges to this resident or restrict the canine’s measurement or breed. Focus any complaints you’ve got on components of the scenario that violate your constructing’s guidelines, akin to unreasonable noise. You possibly can use a decibel reader to point out how loud the noise is and the way lengthy it lasts, to ascertain that it’s unreasonable, after which make a grievance to your co-op board so the sound may be mitigated.
You can even verify the constructing’s bylaws to see in case your neighbor has enough carpeting. Some buildings require residents on higher flooring to have 80 p.c of the ground carpeted.
“Emotional help animals are protected, however they nonetheless have to obey any home guidelines,” stated Jonathan Roman, an actual property lawyer who practices in Westchester.
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