Can tenant’s caregiver be denied parking space for her apartment?

Q: My mother requires 24hour nursing care. The caregiver, who stays overnight, also delivers medical supplies to shut-ins and has always parked her truck in the apartment’s visitor lot.

My mother received a notice saying the truck can no longer be parked in the lot because it is a commercial vehicle.

Since the vehicle belongs to a caregiver, does it really matter if it is a car or a commercial truck?

Isn’t my mother entitled to have her caregivers use the visitors parking lot?

A: In order to give a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit or a common space, landlords are required to make reasonable accommodations to a property’s rules practices and procedures.

In your mother’s case, the accommodation would be an adjustment to the rules that prohibit commercial vehicles from parking in the visitor lot, assuming there is a clear need to park there in order to provide effective care to your mother. Although a landlord is not obligated to bend every rule, he or she is expected to accommodate requests that do not pose an undue financial or administrative burden, and that do not fundamentally alter the way in which the business is run.

Since the commercial truck is for a caregiver that your mother needs for her disability, it would be reasonable to request that the caregiver be allowed to use the visitors parking lot.

If the manager still denies the request even after you have made it clear that you are requesting a reasonable accommodation, contact your local fair housing agency for further assistance.