AITA for not renting an apartment to my sister disabled friend?

One woman recently shared her story on the AmItheA**hole subreddit about a tense situation involving her sister and a potential tenant who was blind.

She owns a small building where pets aren’t allowed, but a blind man with a service dog applied for an apartment. Despite his legal right to have the dog, she didn’t choose him as a tenant due to existing tenants with dog allergies, which upset both him and her sister, who had promised the apartment without her consent.

Now, her sister is giving her the cold shoulder, leaving her questioning if she was wrong for sticking to her decision.

 

‘AITA for not renting an apartment to my sister disabled friend?’

English is not my first language.

I(32F) own a small building I brought very cheap and fixed myself. I am not a shitty landlord, my price is fair and I keep the building in good shape, and fix any problems that appear. It’s relevant that I don’t accept animals in the building.

I had an empty apartment, so I put a online ad and got a few candidates. I as talking to my sister(40F) and commented that was searching for a new tenant.

I did my usual, showed the apartment, asked the candidates to fill a form. One of the candidates that came was blind, and he came with a friend. During the visit he commented that he have a service dog, I did commented that as per the ad, I don’t accept animals. He informed that since he is a service dog it legally doesn’t apply his dog, I said ok, moved the visitation for its end.

For me he automatically went to last in the list. Besides not accepting any dogs, I know I have at least three tenants who are allergic to dogs, and I won’t inconvenience my already existing tenants.

I made my choice, and called the candidates to informed them of my choice. Later in the day my sister called me very upset. Turns out the blind guy is my sister’s friend. She told me that her friend called I said he wasn’t chosen and was p*ssed. In turn she was mad at me, that he as great, the perfect tenant and went on and on.

I told her I just took a decision based on my impression and background check. And had a candidate I liked more.

She told me she promised the apartment to her friend and I told her it’s not her property for make promises or decisions and to call her friend and apologize, I am not changing my choice.

This happened three weeks ago, and she wouldn’t respond to my texts or calls. And this weekend we had a family party and she gave me the cold shoulder all the time.

Here’s what people had to say to External_Lemon_6600 (OP):

SuccessDifficult5981 says:

NTA. Just as you said, it is not her property to make that kind of a promise. Even if you allowed animals, it would still not be her promise to make. She is upset you made her look bad to a friend.

I would wonder how much she really appreciates you as a person and a sister, because what she did was quite disrespectful, and e*titled, and she continues to act like that.

robot428 says:

This is clearly an ESH situation.

Yes, OPs sister is an a*shole for making promises she has no right to make. And the friend is an a*shole for making a fuss, although it’s unclear what OP’s sister actually told them, so they may be less of an a*shole if the sister lied and said she was actually able to promise the apartment.

OP is also an a*shole because she’s discriminating against people with disabilities and breaking the law. (And I know OP isn’t in America but the law is basically the same for service animals in a lot of countries, and it sounds like OP lives in one of them). Unless OP truly runs the shittiest slum apartment complex ever, a dog in one apartment should have no effect on someone living in a different apartment. Yes they might pass in the hallway but the same is true of literally walking down the street.

Also – the law is the law, and in this case it exists because disabled people have enough trouble getting approved for housing without facing extra discrimination because of their service animal.

openmikenightt says:

Yes— and in most places, the law explicitly states that it is illegal to disfavour a candidate for their disability or service animal (NOT the same as emotional support animal), and that allergies are not a valid excuse to refuse service.

The sister still sucks and set him up to fail tho

ChickenCasagrande says:

Uffff the first apartment my husband and I ever got had very strong paint fumes when we looked at it, or we would have realized that the (very sweet) lady who lived below us smoked cigarettes inside 24/7 and not have signed that lease!

We lived there a year, I got very very very into houseplants, air filters, and diffusers.

ChillFratBro says:

depends on the severity of the allergy. severely allergic person

Try reading the comment. I know most pet allergies are not anaphylactic, but some are. The fact that you think accomodations for a blind person are cuter than accomodations for an anaphylactic doesn’t mean they aren’t equally protected.

In the real world, sometimes there’s no perfect solution and appropriately accommodating person A disadvantages person B. In those cases, the doctrine of “who got there first” is appropriate – a tenant with a service dog also shouldn’t be kicked out for a a prospective one with a severe allergy.

Peachesareyummie says:

Are allergies never an excuse to refuse service? (Actual question) That seems so weird to me. Some people have very serious allergies, to a degree that I would say it is actually a kind of disability as well, as they are not able to be surrounded or in contact with the thing they are badly allergic to.

So is it really 1 person with special needs trumps 3 people with special needs? I myself would allow animals in my building as I absolutely love them and would warn people with allergies when applyig.

But in this case since it a no animals allowed building, can’t that have factored in in the decision for these people to live there because it is no animals allowed, and since they were first, they can be accomodated for? If the reason was just that someone doesn’t like dogs it would be different, but actual allergies? To me that is medical reason vs medical reason.

It does of course depend on how allergic they are, what their reactions are, but in severe enough cases, having an animal in the same building who passes through the same halls can definitely influence someones day to day. Cause yes indoors and in hallways is very different from passing someone outside.

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments!