What's the law?
Disabled person pays for modification
Question:
I have another question regarding home modifications to accommodate people with disabilities: What types of accommodations must a condominium association make for a person with a disability? Who must pay for these accommodations?
Answer: From Legal Aid's Fair Housing Unit: Generally the modification, not accommodation, is paid for by the individual.
But your question is fairly broad.
The accommodation would depend on the disability, coupled with the condominium policy that inhibits the individual with the disability. For example, if the condominium policy was "no pets," but an individual with a disability required a comfort animal, the accommodation would be allowing the disabled individual to have a "pet."
Usually, the accommodation request would be accompanied by a letter from the individual's doctor.
Q: I was just wondering, because we live in a state-owned property and there are "house rules," one of which is that we have to visibly position our parking permit in the lower side of the passenger window. It doesn't state anything about permanently sticking the parking permit to the window. The office is telling us that we have to permanently stick it to our window and not just tape the parking permit and that it states it in our handbook.
Apparently, they had problems in the past with people removing the sticker and giving it to someone who's not authorized to park in the parking structure.
We don't want to permanently stick the parking permit to our window because it will discolor our window after being in the sun. We do place the parking permit in a visible position (on the dashboard) in the lower side of the passenger window. Can they legally do something like take away our parking space for not complying to what they say and not state in the house rules?
A: From the supervising attorney of Legal Aid's Housing Unit: You can file a grievance. Call Legal Aid and we will send you our brochure "The Public Housing Grievance Process."
You should also check your handbook.
If it says that the sticker needs to be affixed permanently, it is unlikely that you will win, and only you can decide if it is worth your while to fight.
Legal Aid Society of Hawaii operates statewide. Practice areas include housing, public benefits, consumer and family law but not criminal law. For information, call 536-4302. Submit questions by e-mail to
dawalla@lashaw.org or by U.S. mail to Legal Aid Q&A, 924 Bethel St., Honolulu, HI 96813.