How to use AI to reply to a reasonable accommodation request
Claude or ChatGPT can help you stay organized when a tenant asks for an exception to a rule because of a disability: it can restate the request, list what you may ask for and draft a polite acknowledgment. It cannot decide the request and it should never be asked to judge the tenant. You decide, in writing, using the HUD and DOJ guidance, and you may want a fair housing lawyer for anything you would deny.
What counts as a reasonable accommodation request
A reasonable accommodation is an exception, change or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice or service because of a disability. The HUD and DOJ joint statement gives a plain example: a tenant with a physical disability asks for a mailbox she can reach, or for a parking space closer to her door. The statement says the request can be made orally or in writing, and that a provider must give it appropriate consideration even if the tenant does not use your form.
That detail matters when you work with an AI assistant. A request might arrive as a text, a hallway comment or a message that never uses the words "reasonable accommodation". The assistant can help you notice it. It cannot tell you whether the tenant has a disability, and you should never ask it to guess.
What AI can do for you here
Treat the assistant as a careful clerk. Good jobs for it:
- Restate the request in one neutral sentence so you both agree what is being asked.
- List what you still need to know to evaluate the request, using only the categories the joint statement allows.
- Draft an acknowledgment that says you received the request and will respond by a date you choose.
- Build a dated timeline of the messages so your file shows what was asked and when.
A prompt that works: "A tenant wrote the message below. Restate the request in one neutral sentence. Do not say whether the tenant has a disability. List the rule or policy it would change. Draft a short, kind acknowledgment that gives me until [date] to reply. Do not promise approval or denial."
Paste only what you need. Names and medical details do not need to go into a chat; see what to redact before you paste a lease into ChatGPT.
What you may and may not ask the tenant for
The joint statement says a provider may obtain information that is necessary to evaluate whether the accommodation may be necessary because of a disability. If the disability is obvious or known and the need for the accommodation is also apparent, the provider may not ask for more information about the disability or the need. If the disability is known but the need is not apparent, the provider may ask only for information necessary to evaluate the disability-related need.
Where the disability is not known or apparent, the statement says a provider may request reliable disability-related information that verifies the person meets the Act's definition of disability, describes the needed accommodation, and shows the relationship between the disability and the need. A doctor or other reliable third party can supply it. The statement also says a provider may not ordinarily ask about the nature and severity of a disability.
So a good instruction to your assistant is: "Draft a question that asks only for what shows the link between the disability and the request. Do not ask for a diagnosis or medical records." Then read the draft yourself and cut anything that goes further.
A step-by-step way to handle it
- Write down the date and the exact words of the request, however it arrived.
- Ask the assistant for a neutral restatement and check it against the original.
- Send the acknowledgment so the tenant knows you are working on it.
- Decide whether you need any information. If the disability and the need are apparent, you need none.
- Make the decision yourself, in writing, with the reason. The assistant can tidy the wording, not choose the outcome.
- If you are leaning toward denying, stop and talk to a fair housing lawyer before you send it.
Example a made-up tenant texts, "My knees are bad. Can I have the parking spot by the side door?" The assistant restates it as a request for a closer assigned parking space. Your lot has one open spot there, so you approve it in writing and add the spot to the tenant's file. No medical information was needed.
Where AI should stay out
- Do not ask it whether the tenant "really" has a disability.
- Do not let it send the reply on its own. You read every word first.
- Do not ask it to cite case law and rely on the answer; it can invent citations. See can you trust ChatGPT on landlord law.
- Do not treat assistance animals as a separate case: they follow the same request process. The deeper rules are in assistance animals and pet policy.
Some small owner-occupied buildings fall outside the accommodation rule. The joint statement says it does not apply to owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units. Check your state law, which can be broader.
How DoorKeeping handles it
When Claude or ChatGPT is connected to DoorKeeping, the assistant can read the tenant's message thread and, with your yes, send one message to one tenant in two steps: it shows you the draft first and sends only after you confirm. Your records keep the dates and wording for your file. Rent stays in your own bank account, and anything involving money or a legal step waits for your approval. DoorKeeping does not decide accommodation requests and gives no legal advice. The decision, the wording and the legal call stay with you.
Sources
Questions
- Can ChatGPT decide if a tenant gets an accommodation?
- No. It can organize the facts and draft wording, but the decision is yours. Do not ask it to judge whether the tenant has a disability.
- Does the request have to be in writing?
- Not according to the HUD and DOJ joint statement. It can be oral or written, and you must consider it even if the tenant skips your form. Putting your own record of it in writing is wise.
- Can I ask for a doctor's note every time?
- No. If the disability and the need are apparent you may not ask for more information. When they are not, you may ask for reliable information about the disability-related need, not a diagnosis or records.
- Should I paste the tenant's medical details into an AI chat?
- Avoid it. Paste only the request itself. You rarely need health details to draft a neutral reply.