The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) covers rental housing. As a landlord, it's important that you accommodate tenants with disabilities. These disabilities can be a physical disability, mental illness, hearing problem, and more. Rejecting these tenants is a violation of the law. 

On this topic, several questions arise:

1. Should you allow a tenant with a disability to make reasonable modifications and alterations in your rental unit?

2. What are other examples of modifications that can be made by a disabled tenant? 

3. What should you do to protect yourself from possible accusations by tenants with disabilities in the future? 

Let's talk about the first of these 3 questions. Should you allow a tenant with a disability to make reasonable modifications and alterations in your rental unit?

Disabled tenants who want to live in your rental property or current tenants at a later time may express their desire to modify areas of your property for their safety and comfort. For example, a tenant wishes to have the round doorknobs changed into the lever type. 

The law is that landlords are to allow disabled tenants to modify the unit provided that the modifications are to made at their expense. At the end of a tenant's lease term, the tenant must restore the unit to its original condition. Landlords are not obligated to pay for the alterations unless the cost is reasonably small. 

For the rest of this lesson, existing Landlord Prep students should log-in to the module entitled Between Tenants - Finding New Tenants & Advertising - ADA Tenant Disability Rights.

Not a member yet? Join the Landlord Prep: Video E-Course and How-To Tutorials so you can access this section and get the complete DIY landlording course. This will help you stay knowledgeable and confident as a landlord.