Mental or Emotional Impairments

If you had, have, or appear to have mental or emotional impairments, you must be evaluated by the landlord on the basis of your financial stability and history as a tenant, not on the basis of your mental health. A landlord may reject you only if he can point to specific instances of past behavior that would make you dangerous to others (such as information from a previous landlord that you repeatedly threatened or assaulted other residents). If you cannot meet the good-tenant criteria that the landlord applies to all applicants (such as a minimum rent-to-income ratio), you may be rejected on that basis.

Disabled Tenants' Right to Accommodations by the Landlord

Landlords must accommodate the needs of disabled tenants, within reason, at the landlord's own expense (42 U.S.C. section 3604(f)(3)(B)). As a disabled tenant, you may expect your landlord to reasonably adjust rules, procedures, or services in order to give you an equal opportunity to use and enjoy your dwelling unit or a common space. Accommodations can include such things as parking: If the landlord provides parking in the first place, providing a close-in, spacious parking space would be an accommodation for a tenant who uses a wheelchair.

Does your landlord's duty to accommodate disabled tenants mean that you can expect every rule and procedure to be changed at your request? No. Although landlords are expected to accommodate "reasonable" requests, they need not undertake changes that would seriously impair their ability to run their business. For example, if an applicant who uses crutches prefers the third-story apartment in a walk-up building constructed in 1926 to the one on the ground floor, the landlord does not have to rip the building apart to install an elevator. That expense would be unreasonable.

Disabled Tenants' Right to Make Modifications

Landlords must allow disabled tenants to make reasonable modifications to their living unit or common areas at their expense, if needed for the person to comfortably and safely live in the unit. (42 U.S.C. section 3604(f)(3)(A).) You have the right to modify your living space to the extent necessary to make the space safe and comfortable, as long as the modifications will not make the unit unacceptable to the next tenant, or if you agree to undo the modification when you leave.