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What to Do if Your Landlord Does Not Accept Your Emotional Support Animal

When seeking rented accommodation, it is not uncommon to find that landlords or housing providers have imposed a ‘no pets’ policy as part of their agreement. This is usually due to many factors such as noise, potential damage to their property, or simply due to insurance restrictions. While the majority of renters have to abide by this policy, there are some situations where individuals are allowed to keep animals in accommodation where a ‘no pet’ policy is imposed.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that disabled persons may live in accommodation with their service animals, even where pets are not usually allowed. This is because service animals are extremely well behaved due to their extensive training, and are not considered as pets. As emotional support animals are prescribed to individuals as a therapeutic treatment for their psychological disorders, some landlords will allow them to live with their owners despite a ‘no pet’ policy, but they are not always obliged to, and will not always allow this. So what can you do if your landlord does not accept your emotional support animal?
Emotional Support Animals Do Not Have the Same Rights as Service Animals
Animals have long been used to medically assist humans with various needs, such as a service dog to aid a blind or visually impaired person with navigation and protection, or an emotional support animal to provide affection and companionship as part of a treatment plan for anxiety issues. These animals both provide a similar service, but are not regarded equally in the eyes of the law.
Service animals are trained specifically to assist with an individual’s disability and are recognized by the ADA. Emotional support animals, however, are not ADA approved animals and therefore are not exempt from certain restrictions such as access to public places or private establishments in the same way that service animals are.
While applying to rent private accommodation with a ‘no pets’ policy can be a relatively straightforward process for owners of service animals due to the ADA, the same process can be a little more tricky for people with emotional support animals. Not to worry though! The Fair Housing Act protects owners of emotional support animals to live with their ESA in most housing situations.
Some landlords may be okay with Emotional Support Animals, and some might not
Because landlords are not obliged to accept emotional support animals when processing your application in the same way they have to with service dogs, you may have to accept that some accommodation may be off limits to you if you do not have documentation or an ESA letter from a licensed therapist.
Whether you already have an emotional support animal and are seeking new accommodation, or already live in accommodation with a ‘no pet’ policy and have been assigned an emotional support animal, you may face a few barriers regarding your application. Please continue reading to find out how to protect yourself from uninformed landlords.
How Can I Get an ESA Letter Online?
What to do if my Landlord says “NO” to my Emotional Support Animal?
If you provide the correct documentation from a licensed therapist and your landlord is still insistent about not allowing your ESA, you have a few options.
- You can contact the HUD and file a complaint
- You can contact a lawyer and have them write a strongly worded letter to your landlord
- You can contact an ESA advocate that will point you in the right direction
All hope is not lost thanks to the Fair Housing Act (FHA)
When can apartments not allow my emotional support animal? There are certain circumstances where landlords are not obliged to accept Emotional Support Animals, such as:
- Buildings that have four or fewer dwellings of which the landlord is the occupant of one
- Single family accommodation rented or sold without a real estate broker
Thankfully, an accommodation that does not fall under these categories are not imposed by such restrictions and must consider all service animal or emotional support animal applications.
While service animals are looked upon more favorably in these circumstances, the fact that emotional support animals are technically not pets goes a long way when a landlord processes your application.
Should your landlord decide not to accept your emotional support animal, and if your accommodation doesn’t come under one of the above categories, then you should provide them with a letter from a licenced mental health professional, which, under the Fair Housing Act, should be sufficient proof of your need for an emotional support animal for your application.
If for any reason you are unable to obtain a letter from a licensed mental health professional, there are many services available to provide sufficient proof after a successful assessment. One such service is ESA Doctors who can determine your eligibility for an emotional support animal.
Although applying for an apartment is usually a straightforward process for individuals with emotional support animals, without the need to jump through hoops to be allowed to live with their animal, sometimes the process can be a little trickier than it ought to be. By providing a letter from a licensed mental health professional such as your psychologist, therapist or psychiatrist which verifies your need for an ESA, you should have little problem making a successful application under the Fair Housing Act.
See if you qualify for an emotional support animal.
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Some people don’t like dogs and they choose to live in a rental community with a no pets policy. I have mental illness – my ADHD makes me freak out over loud sounds like dogs barking – it may not bother most people, but there are people who will go to bed crying each night after hearing barking dogs all day. Nobody cares about us, though. I guess I should get an emotional support tarantula so the government will protect me? I am not being negative towards people with mental illness or disabilities because I get it, I know what it is like, but while the dog may help you, it makes other people worse. My anxiety has been through the roof all day since someone moved in with 3 emotional support dogs that barked non-stop all day long. I had to leave my apartment because I was going to lose it. I am so upset because this is one of the ONLY apartment communities that doesn’t allow dogs, but now someone decided they don’t care, they are going to rent here anyway with their 3 dogs. I can’t contact HUD because they only protect or care about mental illness if it involves a dog. I guess if you have an emotional support dog, it trumps everyone else’s mental illness that is worsened by barking dogs.
Isn’t it kind of “inconsiderate” for someone with an emotional support animal (dog) to insist on renting in an apartment complex with a “No Dog” policy? There are people like me who specifically chose to live here because they do not want to live near dogs. I have ADHD and that causes me to be hypersensitive to noises (such as barking dogs) and it causes me great anxiety. This is the reason I sought out an apartment in a Dog-Free Community. But, someone just moved in with 3 barking dogs and I was told, “It is okay, they are emotional support animals.” Well, it is not okay for me because barking dogs make me very upset. There are hundreds of people renting here who don’t have dogs and probably don’t want to own or live near dogs, but we have no rights. The law protects people with depression and allows them to force a landlord to rent to them and their disruptive animal….but the law doesn’t care about the other people living there who may have ADHD or a fear of dogs or just don’t like dogs. It may sound petty or stupid to some people, but the sound of barking dogs all day makes me want to jump out of my skin. Some people have the ability to “tune it out” but there are people like me who cannot do that. These ESAs are making it worse for people who suffer from anxiety or ADHD while making it “better” for the person with depression. What is the hierarchy of mental illnesses that the laws take into consideration? I have mental illness, but I go to therapy and take medication, I don’t force people to let me bring an inconvenient animal into the neighborhood. I don’t mean to sound rude, but I feel it is rude for someone with an animal to choose to rent in one of the few communities with a no dog policy (MOST apartments in Columbus, Ohio do allow dogs so it was hard to find one with a No Dog Policy.)
In that case of 3 dogs barking all the time it is very inconsiderate. I have an ESA in training right now but I live in my own home but will be renting soon . I will look for places that allow dogs and will have mine put through extensive training before I sell my house.
Even with doctors’ letters regarding my need for a Service Dog (& mine is trained Tibetan Spaniel, 10#s, pad trained, rarely barks unless emergency, most well-behaved dog at my current apt complex (w/over 100 dogs here) states my Res. Mgr & Asst. Mgr, I continually get turned down for new rental. 3 in a row, w/ 2nd person claiming that tenant after me had better credit (I checked mine w/ 2 of 3 credit agencies & it was very good. Last landlord actually said I could not have my service dog as parts of apt had carpeting & 1 family member had allergies! I even offered to replace carpeting (in writing) when parents retired from Tahiti in distant future & moved back. They replied no again re the dog. What can I do??? Sincerely, Jan Allen
I rent out a room in my home. I allowed the tenant to bring her dog without a pet deposit or a monthly fee. She has become a very difficult tenant and I pointed out that I have been very accommodating with her dog. I even take it outside multiple times a day when she isn’t home. I told her if we can’t come to an agreement on cleanliness and just common courtesy I was going to charge her a monthly pet fee at contract renewal. She says I am not allowed to charge her for her ESA. This is my home and all I am asking is for her to be a decent roommate.
I recently received an ESA letter from my therapist and presented it to my parents “manager” from the apartments we live in since the other tenants and I do not have any contact with the landlord. When I presented my ESA letter to the “manager” he immediately said “no, no pets are allowed that’s what was signed in your contract” and refused to listen to anything I had to say. I then told him to at least to forward my ESA letter to the person above him, in this case the land lord, and to please get back to me. He then went on to say ok. I presented this Tuesday morning of 01.19. 2021 and he still hasn’t gotten back to me. I currently have my ESA with me but I am concerned the “manager” won’t deliver my ESA letter to the landlord and will try to evict my parents and I for “other reasons” that are probably indirectly blaming my ESA.
I recently received an ESA letter from my therapist and presented this form to the “manager” of my apartment since the other tenants and I do not have any contact with the landlords. When I presented my ESA letter to the “manager” he immediately said “no, no pets are allowed that’s what was signed in your contract” and refused to listen to anything I had to say. I then told him to at least take and give my ESA letter to the person above him, in this case the land lord, and to please get back to me. He then went on to say ok. I presented this to him on 01.19.2020 Tuesday morning and he still hasn’t gotten back to me. I currently have my ESA with me but I am concerned that the “manager” won’t deliver my ESA letter to the landlord and will try to get me in trouble by claiming I never told him about my ESA. Please I am in need of help since this is all so new to me. Will I get in any trouble if he never forwarded my ESA letter to the landlord? Also, will they try to find reasons to try to kick me out or raise my rent by indirectly blaming my ESA by using “different reasons”?
My ESA will not hurt a fly and is nothing but a big sweet heart and behaves extremely well. I cannot lose her and risk a decline in mental health or have to worry about finding another place to stay when everything in California is expensive as it is.
If a landlord ask you to get rid of your service dog, how long do you have to file a complaint against them. My mother had a service animal, and the landlord told myself if we wanted the apt we had to get rid of him. What can I do cause the landlord during Covid period asked us to find another place. We have paid our rent on time every month, and I need to know what can a renter do
I believe I read somewhere that you have up to a year from the day the issue happened.
Sorry to hear about the trouble. Make sure to get the landlord’s rejection in writing and file a complaint with HUD as soon as possible. Unless there are very specific conditions for the landlord to reject the service dog (like the dog is misbehaving or endangering other tenants) they are not allowed to ask such a thing. You may find this article on if landlords can deny service dogs interesting https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/landlords-service-dog/
I have a potential landlord demanding to know what disability i have and exactly what services my dog performs, I know that he is not allowed to ask these questions, but what can I do about it?
If a landlord is violating your Fair Housing rights as a service dog owner, you can consider filing a complaint with HUD. You may find this article on if a landlord can deny a service dog interesting https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/landlords-service-dog/ Hope you and your service dog can find a welcoming place to stay.