When it comes to the sale or rental of a dwelling in Connecticut, it is illegal to refuse to sell, lease, negotiate, and/or deny that housing is available when it is, or discriminate against another in the terms and conditions or in the provision of services because of color, race, national origin, religion, lawful source of income, mental or physical disability.

People who have a mental or physical impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities (walking, hearing, social interaction, seeing, hearing, breathing), are protected under the Fair Housing Act. Some homeowner associations and landlords, however, try to tap dance around the request by offering excuses why they cannot grant a sale or rental.

To test whether or not a reasonable accommodation should be made for someone with a disability, remember the acronym DANCE. D is for disability–the person must have a disability; A is for accommodation–the person must request an accommodation; N is for needed–the accommodation must be needed; C is for cost–the cost must be reasonable; and, E is for effect–the effect of the accommodation must not alter the nature of the association’s business (for example, an association would not have to arrange to pick up a disabled resident’s dry cleaning, because it would be outside the scope of the association’s business).

What is reasonable accommodation?

One example of reasonable accommodation involved a hearing-impaired resident who asked for an interpreter/signer for the unit owners’ annual association meeting so she could understand the issues and cast an informed vote. The association denied her request, but suggested she sit in the front row so she could lip read.

The resident found the association’s solution unworkable, so she hired an interpreter/signer for the meeting and sent the interpreter/signer’s bill of $71.25 to the association, which returned the bill to her unpaid. The resident filed a complaint against the association for failing to provide a reasonable accommodation for her disability.

The court ruled in favor of the resident, holding that the association had a legal obligation to provide a reasonable accommodation to the resident because she had a disability, that she had requested a reasonable and necessary accommodation, that the cost to the association was reasonable (a mere $71.25), and that providing an interpreter/signer did not in any way change the nature of the association’s business.

The court ordered the association to pay $3,000 to the resident, to pay for an interpreter for each annual meeting, to install a closed-caption television in the clubhouse, and to provide communication to her, either in writing or through TTY–all because the association refused to reasonably accommodate) the resident by paying the $71.25 bill for an interpreter.

Another example was a woman who could not walk without assistance and who had great difficulty walking her dog, so she requested a dog run in which the dog would be attached to a fifty-foot wire. The association said that a dog run, installed in the yard behind her unit, would be against their rules. When an attorney reminded the association that it had an obligation to grant a reasonable accommodation, it reconsidered her request and allowed the dog run, on the condition that the dog could not create a nuisance or be left on the dog run for a long time.

The last example was a resident with a psychiatric disability who requested a reasonable accommodation for a companion dog, even though there was a “no pets” policy. A companion animal is a “service” animal, not a pet, and therefore a reasonable accommodation must be provided unless it can be shown that the accommodation would impose an undue burden or be a “fundamental alteration” in the service usually provided. The result was that the resident was allowed to have her companion dog live with her.

These examples show that fair housing is not just a snappy little catch phrase–it’s the law. Depriving a resident of his or her right to live in and enjoy a dwelling by refusing to grant a reasonable accommodation, whether it’s a request for a companion animal, a ramp into a unit, or a parking space closer to a unit, violates that person’s protected rights under the law.

Judith I. Johannsen is assistant counsel for the Connecticut Association of REALTORS. Connecticut Association of REALTORS is Connecticut’s largest professional trade association, representing more than 18,500 real estate professionals engaged in all aspects of the real estate business. Founded in 1920, the Connecticut Association of REALTORS is dedicated to enhancing the ability of its members to conduct business successfully while maintaining the preservation of private property rights. Use of the term REALTOR is exclusive to the members of the REALTOR Association and signifies their allegiance to a strict Code of Ethics.