Blatantly denied because an ESA.
Hello!
Location: Oregon
This is happening in real time, just looking for others opinions.
I am a disabled veteran and I recently applied for a house in north bend Oregon. I currently live in Corvallis Oregon. I called the rental company, which was just finding a renter for the owner. Me and my partner applied and marked that we have no pets. I scheduled a time to come down, which is a near 3 hour drive one way, and once getting into their office I said I am here to deliver my check for first months rent and deposit, sign any paperwork and I’d like to submit our paperwork for our ESA’s. The tension instantly was felt. The agent handed me her business card to show me the email to send it to and I did so. The agent then continued to have us sign all paperwork while telling us that she knew the owner wasn’t going to be happy about us having ESA’s and then taking us to show us the house that we hadn’t seen yet so we could start mapping out our new house. She also felt the need to tell me how she was uncomfortable about the fact that I made her lie to the owners because I didn’t disclose my ESA’s and so she told them I didn’t have any pets. Next day I’m going about my business starting to pack up my house and I’m not expecting any problems but come around 3-4 I check my email and I get an email explicitly stating that the owner is retroactively denying me because of my dishonesty. I keep it cool and I reply that I know that I am within my rights and if needed I can contact the appropriate authorities tomorrow (today) if needed. This morning I received another email from a second agent at their agency stating they are not denying me because I have an ESA but rather because I did not disclose it on my application. There are many other small nuances to this story to make it even more wild as well… Obviously this agency is filled with people who don’t know their laws or expect their customers to not protect themselves and are just so confident they are right.
I have already spoken with FHCO and they were baffled that they would actually put that reason for denying me in writing. I have expressed to them that I do not want to live in that residence anymore and that I want to get money for fixed costs of moving into whatever other residence I can find, potential emergency moving costs and/or needing to store my belongings and live in a hotel until we can find one as well as non-economic damages (emotional damages). I am a 100% disabled combat veteran who completely within my rights requested to have my ESA’s and instead of trying to find a legal wrap around to try and tell me no they instantly went to calling me dishonest and even backed it up in a second email from a second agent.
This has now caused me to scramble to find another home because they denied me for not disclosing my ESA until being there in person. Knowing I’m a disabled veteran, knowing that I had to get out of my place by the 20th, knowing that the housing market in the area is small and us finding a house that we actually approve of and want to live in is hard…
What can I do here??