Defending Housing Providers in Assistance Animal Disputes: Accommodation Requests, Enforcement, and Litigation

When HUD withdrew FHEO Notices 2020-01 and 2013-01 in September 2025, defense counsel lost the federal checklist they had relied on for years — yet the underlying obligations under 24 C.F.R. §§ 100.202(d) and 100.204 remain fully in force, and DOJ enforcement has continued through settlements like Estrada, Gregory Estates, and Menendez. In this 40-minute session, we will focus on three things defense attorneys representing housing providers need to operationalize now: what guidance still binds and what no longer applies; how to deploy the multi-factor reasonableness test from Henderson v. Five Properties LLC to defeat automatic fee-waiver demands; and how to build defensible response timelines and denial letters under § 100.204 — anchored in observed behavioral incidents rather than breed, weight, or size. Attendees will leave with a litigation-ready Henderson five-factor analysis framework, a denial-letter outline built to withstand summary judgment, and the counseling points to advise clients before the next accommodation dispute escalates.

I will focus on the legal standard governing reasonable accommodation requests. I will cover the elements a requestor must establish, and how courts and HUD evaluate whether a requested accommodation is “necessary” to afford an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling and the impact of Henderson. I will also address the interactive process that housing providers should engage in upon receiving a reasonable accommodation request, including best practices for intake and documentation of requests, the permissible scope of inquiry into the nature of an individual’s disability and the nexus between the disability and the requested accommodation. I will then address recent state and local fair housing statutes and regulations that have addressed ESA requests.

Once an assistance animal dispute progresses beyond the accommodation request, defense counsel must protect the housing provider through investigations, administrative proceedings, and litigation while minimizing future exposure. This session examines practical defense strategies for representing landlords, cooperatives, condominium associations, and property managers after a complaint has been filed. Attendees will learn how to respond to HUD and state agency investigations, preserve privileged communications, evaluate evidentiary risks, prepare decision-makers for testimony, and strengthen internal policies to reduce repeat claims. The program emphasizes proactive counseling that positions housing providers for successful resolution while maintaining compliance with the Fair Housing Act.