Q: My husband and I’ve lived in a co-op in Westchester County for 37 years. It’s a three-story building that prohibits dogs as pets, and we’ve at all times had a terrific relationship with the opposite residents. But 9 months in the past, our upstairs neighbors acquired an emotional assist canine for his or her teenager. The canine runs forwards and backwards for half-hour at a time. At least three nights every week, it scratches a bed room rug, waking us up all through the night time. We have shared our issues with the neighbors, asking them to crate the canine at night time and walk him when he’s rambunctious. They appeared receptive, however the issue persists. How can we steadiness the rights of individuals to have emotional assist animals with our proper to stay peacefully?
A: As lengthy as this canine isn’t biting individuals, it’s in all probability not going anyplace. Support animals are protected lodging below county, state and federal fair-housing legal guidelines. Your co-op board could possibly be chargeable for discrimination whether it is discovered to be hostile to this canine proprietor, and so might you. So tread evenly.
“A neighbor can be sued in Westchester,” mentioned Andrew Lieb, a New York housing discrimination lawyer, noting that the law permits your neighbor to sue you for emotional misery and attorneys charges.
As tough because it may be to stay under this canine, attempt to think about the state of affairs from the proprietor’s perspective and what they may be coping with of their household. “If I was the neighbor and wanted to do something, I would go on a nice campaign,” Mr. Lieb mentioned.
Legally, the building can’t cost further charges to this resident or restrict the canine’s measurement or breed. Focus any complaints you’ve got on parts of the state of affairs that violate your building’s guidelines, reminiscent of unreasonable noise. You might use a decibel reader to indicate 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 could be mitigated.
You can even examine the building’s bylaws to see in case your neighbor has adequate carpeting. Some buildings require residents on higher flooring to have 80 p.c of the ground carpeted.
“Emotional support animals are protected, but they still need to obey any house rules,” mentioned Jonathan Roman, an actual property lawyer who practices in Westchester.
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