Can a Landlord Reject an Emotional Support Animal?
Written by 
If you live with a mental or emotional disability, your emotional support animal (ESA) provides essential companionship, comfort, and support. You may feel stressed when trying to secure a rental property that accepts your assistance animal.
In most situations, a landlord cannot reject an emotional support animal if you possess a valid ESA letter stating your need for the companion animal. These assistance animals are a necessary part of a treatment plan for mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD.
The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) offers strong legal protections for esa owners who need emotional support. This federal law generally obligates your landlord to provide housing for you and your emotional support pet. You need to remember that there are specific, legally defined exceptions where a landlord can legally reject your request. Understanding these limited scenarios is the first action required to protect your housing rights and ensure successful waiting for your housing approval.
Get your Official ESA Letter Consultation from a licensed therapist.
Get ESA Letter NowEmotional Support Animals Laws: What Fair Housing Act Says?
The Fair Housing Act (FHA) makes it illegal to discriminate against tenants with a valid emotional support animal. This comprehensive law protects housing rights for people with disabilities, ensuring you have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. The FHA defines a disability to include a physical or mental impairment substantially limiting one or more major life activities. Landlords are required by federal law to make reasonable accommodation for those with certified mental disabilities or physical impairments.
A reasonable accommodation is an exception or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to enjoy their housing equally. Landlords must make these accommodation changes. Since your emotional support animal is viewed as a medical tool, not simply a pet, your landlord cannot enforce a no pet policy against a properly documented ESA.
ESA owners are exempt from paying any pet fees or a pet deposit under the FHA. Your landlord must allow you to keep your support animal at no extra cost. This accommodation is critical for verification, successful waiting and maintaining your emotional health in your rental property.
When Can a Landlord Legally Reject an ESA?
Unfortunately, though ESAs have substantial protections under the law, there are also specific narrow exceptions that allow a landlord to legally deny an ESA request. The landlord has to show that it had a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for saying no – and the burden is on the landlord to demonstrate that its rejection was reasonable.
You should understand these specific reasons that allow a landlord to deny a request, because this anticipation is a necessary action for verification of successful waiting.
Illegitimate ESA Letter
An illegitimate ESA letter is among the reasons for denial of your ESA note. If your landlord decides that the documentation is fraudulent, falsified or from a healthcare provider not licensed in your state, they can refuse your ESA.
One of the most important steps to take in safeguarding your right to housing is receiving an authentic ESA letter from a licensed professional. Submitting a fake letter or forgery of any kind is against the law and tenants can be taken to court for doing so.
Get your Official ESA Letter Consultation from a licensed therapist.
Get ESA Letter NowHealth or Safety Risks
A landlord can reject an ESA if there is documented proof that the animal threatens other tenants’ or the landlord’s health and safety or will cause significant property damage. This does not include animals that themselves are a nuisance to other tenants (i.e. causing disruption, noise etc.).
If other tenants suffer from severe allergies — which can produce complicated health problems if not properly treated — a landlord may also deny emotional support animals. Ultimately, the landlord is permitted to cause the animal’s removal if it becomes a nuisance or safety concern for other people. This is allowed because there are recognised exemptions for safety.
Financial Hardship
A landlord’s refusal to modify an accommodation that imposes an undue financial burden on the landlord is not reasonable. A very unlikely reason is that allowing the emotional support animal would drive up property insurance rates to a point where they are unaffordable, or making accommodations for the emotional support pet would be prohibitively expensive.
If an ESA causes damage to property consistently, the financial suffering could be enough reason for a landlord to deny service pets. This burden is unreasonable and cannot be proven by a landlord for successful verification waiting.
Unreasonable Request
If your landlord can prove that accommodating an ESA is an undue hardship, they may refuse your request. An absurd request could be accommodating an animal which is unreasonably large, or exotic for the home for rent.
For example, requesting a horse stable in your studio apartment is usually not reasonably required that a landlord would have to permit. Size of the ESA can be one criteria if it physically prevents sleeping in the rest of the space.
Landlord Insurance and ESA Protection
It’s important for landlords to prioritize and lock in the correct landlord insurance for their investment property. Landlord insurance offers you liability from property damage, legal disputes and the loss of rental income.
Landlords would be wise to check their insurance policies to confirm they have coverage for pet-related damages resulting from the ESA. Certain policies might exclude specific types of animals or you may need a rider for damages caused by a pet. This financial move indicates wait management for validating hit success.
Fair Housing Act Exemptions
Some housing situations may be exempt from those laws, so your landlord isn’t required to offer reasonable accommodation for your ESA. These exceptions involve owner-occupied buildings with four units or less. And single-family homes that are rented without an agent by an owner who has no more than three such homes are frequently also exempt from the FHA protections.
How to Prove Your ESA Is Legitimate
All you need is a valid ESA letter written by a licensed professional or licensed healthcare professional who can verify your ESAs authenticity. This correspondence is the legal documentation required for federal housing rights.
You should be evaluated by a therapist to decide if an emotional support pet is/would be beneficial for your mental health care, and this consultation is a necessary step for waiting to be successful.
In order to have a real ESA letter, there are a few specific things you need your letter to fulfill. It must be printed on letterhead from your licensed mental health professional. Ensure it includes the name and contact information of the licensed professional, as well as the medical license number. You should know that in some states, including Arkansas, California and Iowa, you will need to have a client-therapist relationship of at least 30 days before the letter can be issued.
Your documentation must explicitly say that you have a verifiable disability and that the ESA gives some level of support to help manage those symptoms of your disability. This very relationship between you and your psychological wellness is one of the cornerstones of proper validation, so this paperwork must be available for evidence.
Please note that an ESA registration site, ID or certification has NO legal authority and carries no legal weight. Under the federal law, only an ESA letter from a licensed professional is needed. Using a fake esa letter/ forged documentation is illegal, and the tenant could be fined or face legal action.
Get your Official ESA Letter Consultation from a licensed therapist.
Get ESA Letter NowWhat to Do If a Landlord Rejects Your Emotional Support Animal
If a landlord denies your request for an emotional support animal, they must explain why in writing, based on solid reasons. The first step is to make sure that you have a legitimate ESA letter that fits the desired period: many landlords do not accept an ESA letter if it appears old or has expired. Your documents need to be renewed annually, as part of a continued process of verification and successful waiting.
Ask your landlord to give the reason for rejection in writing. If the landlord had a legitimate reason to deny the emotional support animal at first, however, he must be able to have a conversation about potential reasonable modifications. This of course is necessary to keep us from violating fair housing law.
If they continue to decline, even after asking you for available evidence of a professional’s advice, offering proof from your therapist or other licensed professional. Federal law prohibits the landlord from reaching out to your therapist directly; any such effort on their part is likely a violation.
If the landlord is denying your rights you can file a complaint with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mediation by a neutral third party is another alternative to settle controversial cases outside of court. For both cases, you should retain detailed records of all communications with the landlord about your accommodation request.
Can a Landlord Charge Fees or Deposits for an Emotional Support Animal?
No, a landlord may not charge tenants a fee for the specific animal they own in an ESA. Given that the ESA is considered a medical device (tool) which you need in place of because of your disability, you are not subject to these fees, even if you rent from a no pet policy apartment.
You can still be held responsible for physical damage caused by the animal to property, though. If you’re a renter, damages from the emotional support animal may be covered by a security deposit. Esa owners also should make sure that their animal is orderly and non-destructive so as to limit the destruction done to landlord property.
Although landlords might attempt to justify their rejection of the ESA by claiming it would cause them financial hardship, they still need to show that doing so would impose an undue financial burden. To be binding, this duty must appear in the form of documentation and proof of successful waiting. Landlord insurance must be examined in terms of pet caused damage in the rental property.
Get your Official ESA Letter Consultation from a licensed therapist.
Get ESA Letter NowCommon Myths About Emotional Support Animals and Housing Laws
ESA Registration is Required
You do not need ESA registration—it is not legally required. Federal law only requires the ESA letter from a licensed healthcare professional. Any website offering ESA registration for a fee is a scam, as this document holds zero legal value. Avoid using an illegitimate esa letter.
Landlords Can Reject Based on Breed or Size Alone
Landlords cannot reject an ESA based solely on breed, size, or weight limitations, as prohibited by FHA regulations. Unlike service animals, which are typically dogs, any animal can be an ESA if it provides support. However, the size of the emotional support animal can be a factor if it makes the accommodation physically unreasonable for the rental property. A landlord can still deny an ESA if the specific animal poses a direct threat or causes substantial property damage.
ESAs Must Be Trained Service Animals
Unlike service animals, emotional support animals do not require specialized training to perform specific tasks. Service animals are individually trained to perform specific tasks for a person with a disability. ESAs are only required to provide emotional support and companionship to help alleviate symptoms of your mental or emotional condition.
ESA Letter for Housing FAQs
No, a landlord may not refuse an ESA in a no pet building when you have proper documentation. The FHA protections trump a no pet policy and obligate your landlord to accommodate an emotional support animal.
Yes, in some cases. At least one ESA is necessary for providing the maximum therapeutic benefit and there is no legal restriction on the number of ESAs you can have, as long as each animal meets prescription criteria by a licensed professional. But a landlord can restrict if the number of animals violates local zoning laws, or if it is not possible to accommodate all ESAs safely in the living space.
A landlord may request for documentation establishing the need for emotional support, like a valid ESA letter. In fact, by law, they can’t inquire about the details of your mental health condition (diagnosis) or private medical records.
No, you are not required to register your emotional support animal. and ESA registration carries literally no legal protection and is not even recognized at the federal level. The only legally required document is the ESA letter from a licensed therapist.
Yes, it is a landlord’s right to deny ESA based on credible health risks, example being severe allergies already of other tenants. A landlord can also deny an ESA if it would result in an undue financial hardship to accommodate the animal, such as substantially increased insurance coverage for rental properties. They have to demonstrate that the financial hardship is unreasonable.
No, landlords are not allowed to evict you only for having an ESA as long as you’re following the law. But a landlord’s right to evict or remove a tenant’s service animal may be based on the animal being violent, disruptive/injurious, damaging property or threatening the safety of other tenants. The landlord must also comply with state requirements for notice and show a legitimate reason for eviction.
Final Thoughts: Your Rights as an ESA Owner
The FHA protects tenants who have valid ESA documentation. Your ESA is an integral aspect of treatment that cannot be replaced and you are protected by law to have your housing accommodation with this assistance animal. Landlords usually cannot refuse a reasonable request if you qualify for verification successful waiting.
The one proven necessary step to protect your housing rights, aside from receiving an authentic ESA letter (from a licensed health professional or licensed therapist) is taking action. The one necessary first step is contacting a qualified licensed therapist or other mental health professional. Ensure your rights now and reach for proof of successful wait.
