Household Pet Profile

Residents with household pets complete an online application, or Pet Profile, with the details of their pet (photos, breed info, vaccination, and behavioral history) and attest that the information is accurate. PetScreening instantly calculates the housing-related risk for each household pet and pet owner. The results are provided to the housing provider in the form of our FIDO Score. This score helps housing providers make more informed pet acceptance decisions and adjust their pet-related fees to cover risk.

About the FIDO Score:

  • 1 to 5 paw score is dynamic and can change as residents update information on their pet’s profiles
  • A zero (0) paw score is available if a property manager wants to incorporate any of their pet policy restrictions such as breed, age and weight
  • Some management companies establish variable pet rent, pet deposit, pet fee pricing based on the FIDO Score
  • The FIDO Score and corresponding housing-related risk factors are shared with property managers only. Pet owners are not made aware of the FIDO Score because it’s a housing-related risk score intended for the property manager’s use during the leasing process
  • It is best practice when the property managers review the risk factors with each pet owner when explaining the results, if needed


📎Additional Resources
Making and Viewing Pet Profiles (VIDEO)
Removing Breed Restrictions (User Spotlight)

Assistance Animal Profile

Residents with assistance animals may submit reasonable accommodation requests through PetScreening. PetScreening utilizes Amazon Web Services (AWS) servers which aligns to AWS’ HIPAA risk management program with FedRAMP and NIST 800-53, which are higher security standards that map to the HIPAA Security Rule. The requests go through a comprehensive legal review process that adheres to HUD and FHAct guidelines and PetScreening's assistance animal review team provides housing providers their determination when the review is complete.
  • No cost and no form of payment is collected for reasonable accommodation requests
  • "Assistance Animals" is all-encompassing (service animals/ESAs/companion animals/etc.) In PetScreening, when an animal owner (Requester) is submitting a reasonable accommodation request, he/she selects their animal type: Service Animal or Support Animal consistent with the HUD/FHAct guidelines
  • Assistance Animal Review Team is led by our Chief Legal Counsel with decades of experience in business, tenant/landlord and fair housing law
  • Assistance Animal Review Team contacts the support animal owner’s (Requester) third-party health care provider to validate the document’s authenticity
  • Assistance Animal Review Team never inquires about the specific nature of a disability


📎Additional Resources

Summary of HUDs Assistance Animal Notice (FHEO-2020-01)
Service Animals, Household Pets, Support Animals (Comparison Chart)

Non-Responsive Assistance Animal Profile Status

The “non-responsive animal owner” status will be triggered when an assistance animal profile has been returned to its owner and the owner doesn’t update their profile within 10 days. 

  • When the profile is given this status, the animal owner and the property will be sent an email informing them of this. 
  • For profiles created before this release that meet the criteria of a “non-responsive animal owner”, the profile owner nor property will not be sent an email but the status will appear in the property’s Profiles tab.

No-Pet/Animal Profile

Residents without pets/animals complete a brief online questionnaire to formally acknowledge that unauthorized pets are not allowed on the premises.
  • No cost
  • Acknowledge policies related to not having a pet today, tomorrow, or in the future, as well as, no pet sitting, pet visiting, pet fostering, etc.

Profile Processing Time

Household Pet Profile: The FIDO Score results and risk factors are instantaneously calculated and shared with the property manager at the top of each pet’s Profile.

Assistance Animals: The reasonable accommodation review process involves the animal owner (Requester), the property manager, the third-party health care provider (therapist, doctor, counselor, etc.) and PetScreening’s Assistance Animal Review Team. Our Assistance Animal Review Team reviews each accommodation request within 1-2 business days but our initial review, alone, doesn’t mean the review is complete. The final step of our team’s review process is contacting the third-party health care provider for verification of authenticity and affirmation of personal knowledge about their patient. There are many instances when the accommodation request still needs additional information from the animal owner (Requester) or the third-party health care provider has not responded or is slow to respond. These external factors are beyond PetScreening’s control and require additional time in the review process. While many of our reviews are completed within 1-2 business days, the average review time is 3-5 business days. Note: HUD’s 2020 Assistance Animal Notice provides up to 10-days for a property manager to review and respond to an accommodation request and does not include the additional time delays based on the external factors described above. 

No Pets: The No Pet profile is processed instantaneously and shared with the property manager upon its submission by the applicant.

Applicant Exceptions

🚩 What if an applicant does not have internet/computer access or a credit/debit card to submit his/her Pet or No Pet/Animal profile?

There may be unique situations where the applicant does not have internet or computer access or a debit/credit card. We recommend you make an in-office computer available to help the applicant complete the process. If the applicant cannot pay with debit/credit card then please contact us at support@petscreening.com explaining the situation. We will help you proceed with a cash or check payment methodology, as needed.

 

🚩 What if an applicant (Requester) cannot or does not want to use PetScreening to submit his/her reasonable accommodation request for his/her assistance animal?

If the individual seeking the reasonable accommodation cannot or does not want to use our service to submit his/her reasonable accommodation request then no further action between the Requester and PetScreening is needed for the disability inquiry part of the profile. We recommend that you, the housing provider, remain positive, willing, and able to review the individual’s accommodation request independently and external to PetScreening. In the event this happens, no matter the reason, PetScreening is still available to assist the housing provider as a resource in the review process. The housing provider can contact PetScreening at support@petscreening.com to explain the situation and request our assistance. Our Assistance Animal Review Team will help the housing provider navigate the review process externally. The key take-away in this specific situation is that the housing provider must always be ready to accommodate the individual’s circumstances, including but not limited to, his/her inability or refusal to work with PetScreening for any reason whatsoever.