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

14 April, 2017

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.

18 comments

Samantha says: March 3, 2019

I have been trying to find housing for me and my medically trained seizure alert sefvice dog. But eveyone is deniing me even with paperwork. What can i do?

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- Melissa levalley says: March 21, 2019
  
  You are not obligated to tell anyone about your service dog/ pets. After you sign you’re lease have your dr write a letter stating that you need your service dog. You don’t have to disclose what disabilities you may have…
  
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  - Debi says: April 8, 2019
    
    If you have proper legal certification stating that it is your seizure alert service dog they cannot deny you by law…Contact the ADA and get them involved. People that deny you can face stiff penalties
    
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- Latricia says: April 30, 2019
  
  My therapist wrote me a letter my landlord is giving one day to have dog out. What should I do
  
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Jenny Gardiner says: March 3, 2019

The landlord agent is refusing to accept three of my animals that are my ESA animals what do I do

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- Kk123 says: April 13, 2019
  
  I have an ESA I am going to move into a house and they said no pets. I haven’t told them about my ESA and I am afraid to because I am afraid they will deny us. If I don’t tell them about My ESA and they find out and try to evict can they if it’s an ESA? I don’t want to tell them because then they won’t let me rent the house.
  
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Julian bottoms says: March 4, 2019

My apartment has a 2animal limit and i have a letter from mental esa letter saying i need it for anxiety, ptsd and im on disability for the same problems and my apartment is saying i have to get rid of one of my other animals to get the esa animal is this illegal i live in ga

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Braxton says: March 4, 2019

i currently live with several other roommates in a house for the last year. I’ve recently felt that having an emotional support animal for my well being and also for diabetes alert purposes would be advantageous. If I am able to get a therapist approval for a certified dog, is my landlord required to allow this dog even if my roommates do not want the dog?

We all signed a rental lease for 3 years and at the time of signing, we did not have any pets. The lease I signed states ” unless otherwise provided in CA civil code 54.2, pets not allowed”

A couple of my roommates say they are fearful of dogs, so they do not want a dog in the house. What are my rights in this situation?

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- Jody says: April 5, 2019
  
  Look for another place to live. Don’t try to force your dog on your roomates. That is unfair to them.
  
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- Jean Freestone says: April 5, 2019
  
  Just my opinion, but it seems disrespectful to your roommates to get a dog against their wishes. It would also put them at risk if the landlord objected. Many people like me are allergic to dogs. In my experience, dog owners do not walk or exercise them enough. They become inured to the smell of dogs that other people find offensive. If you are not respectful of your roomies, you should move.
  
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Cody says: March 12, 2019

Hello, we have lived at our single family residence for 24 months as of march 31st 2019. We have recently signed to renew our lease for an additional 12 months, which begins on april 1st of this year. We have an authorized pet on our lease for 24 months and on the recently renewed lease. We have also recently applied for an esa and have been excepted by a licensed esa therapist. The animal is a female pit bull breed. We have recently sent an email containing the esa letter from the therapist and an additional letter from ourselves requesting that we have an additional animal on our lease for the next 12 months. We wish to have both our current authorized pet on the lease and our esa dog. Are we within in our florida law? Can they deny us the right to have the esa dog? The esa dog has not current or prior incidents associated. It has never been a threat to another animal or person.
Thank you and we hope for your advice.

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- Jean Freestone says: April 5, 2019
  
  There are some exemptions from the law. One is if your landlord rents the single family house themselves.
  Housing covered by the Fair Housing Act
  All types of housing, including public housing, are covered by the FHA except: 1. Rental dwellings of four or less units, where one unit is occupied by the owner; 2. Single family homes sold or rented by the owner without the use of a broker; 3. Housing owned by private clubs or religious organizations that restrict occupancy in housing units to their members.
  
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Tori says: March 12, 2019

I got an ESA letter online from a certified medical doctor and my landlord denied it saying they want a letter from a local doctor not one from online. What can I do at this point.

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Aimee says: March 20, 2019

I live in Maine in section 8 housing. I got a service dog but now my landlord is saying their insurance may refuse to insure her breed, in which case they will have to evict me if I keep her. Is this legal for then to do?

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- Ashley McDaniels says: April 16, 2019
  
  If it is a service dog (and not an emotional support dog) yes, it is illegal. There are no breed exceptions when it comes to service dogs. Contact your local general attorney’s office to handle the matter.
  
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Genene Weldon says: April 2, 2019

I have lived in an apartment for a few years.
They dont allow pets.
I have recently been given a letter from my therapist stating my ferrets are emotional support animals.
Can he evict me or charge me extra for having them?

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- Cat says: April 16, 2019
  
  I have a question. I have a ESA dog for 6 years. Where I’m moving dont allow dogs. They are going to let me have her but if she barks to much they will tell me to get rid of her or we have to leave. I dont think this is right but I need help
  
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Matthew Edwards says: April 26, 2019

My landlord refused my ESA for not having a rabies shot, she is too young to have the shot as she is only 10 weeks. Do they have the right to refuse my ESA?

Reply