Montreal entrepreneur Damiano Raveenthiran thought he had hit the housing market jackpot. He had found a brand new two-storey apartment in LaSalle and it was big enough for his growing family, cat and therapy dog Cash.
“I do live a pretty stressful life and so having a dog really helps me regulate my day, he helps me go to sleep at the same time, wake up at the same time and I have to walk him,” Raveenthiran said.
“It just really helps, mental health-wise.”
He says the apartment listing advertised that it was animal friendly, so he never thought Cash, the seven month Doberman would be a problem. After passing background and credit checks for the home, it came time to sign the lease.
“It was once we got the lease that we saw that there was a checkmark that basically said that we weren’t allowed to have any pets,” said Raveenthiran.
He told to the realtor that wouldn’t work, explaining that the Doberman is his registered therapy animal and that he even has the paperwork to prove it.
“The realtor kind of went quiet on us for about a day and then the next day he called us and told us we were refused because of the size of our dog,” he said.
The apartment complex is still under construction, expected to wrap up in September. By the fall, Cash would be 70 pounds. The prospective tenant claims the realtor said it would be OK if the dog was 50 pounds lighter.
Tenants’ rights advocate Arnold Bennett said landlords don’t have the right to turn someone with a therapy or service animal away.
“That type of clause would be a violation of the Quebec Human Rights Charter because a service dog it a means of mitigating a handicap and you’re not allowed to discriminate on those grounds,” Bennett explained.
Upset by the outcome, Raveenthiran tried to reason with the realtor but says he received pushback, so he filed a complaint against the developer to the Human Rights Commission of Quebec.
“It made me feel discriminated honestly because its not just about the dog, he is a therapy animal, so I feel like this is something that is targeting people with mental and emotional disabilities,” Raveenthiran said.
The realtor and developer did not respond to calls from Global News by deadline.
After his experience, Raveenthiran hopes that Quebec will change their animal laws and follow other province’s that allow all tenants to have pets. He’s even started to reach out to local goverment officials to see what can be done.
“I’m trying to change that law so people don’t have to choose between their housing and their pet,” he said.