An ESA is a medical tool and non a pet. Under Federal Off-white Housing Laws, Emotional  Support Animals must have access to apartments with a no-pet policy and are exempt from pet-related fees.

Pets that provide people with comfort have unique housing rights. The constabulary refers to these types of pets as Emotional Back up Animals. Emotional Back up Animals help aid with an emotional or mental disability. An ESA is a medical tool and not a pet. Nether Federal Fair Housing Laws, Emotional  Back up Animals must accept admission to apartments with a no-pet policy and are exempt from pet-related fees.

If you lot feel like you lot may benefit and qualify for an ESA, you may read this article for more than data.

If you are set up to authorize for an emotional support animal alphabetic character, complete the questionnaire to connect with a licensed mental health professional today.

Need help? We can help! Get started here
  • FAQ #1 – How practise I tell my landlord I have an ESA?
  • FAQ #2 – What practice I do if my landlord rejects my ESA even afterward I show them my ESA letter?
  • FAQ #3 – Tin a landlord reject my ESA considering information technology is as well young or too old?
  • FAQ #four – My landlord is requiring me to register my ESA. Tin can a landlord crave ESA registration if I already submitted my ESA letter of the alphabet?
  • FAQ #5 – Can a landlord evict me for getting an ESA?
  • FAQ #6 – Can a landlord question me about my mental or emotional disability?
  • FAQ #7 – When can a landlord legally reject an ESA?
How to tell your landlord you have an ESA.

How to Get an ESA Letter of the alphabet to Testify my Landlord

In society to qualify for an emotional support animal, you must first take an ESA alphabetic character from a licensed mental health professional or LMHP. The ESA letter lets your landlord know that y'all need the emotional back up animal for your inability and that you qualify under the Fair Housing Act. If you take an ESA letter of the alphabet from a real LMHP, your landlord cannot deny your request or charge you a pet fee and pet eolith.

In lodge to become your ESA letter to show your landlord, yous can either connect with a licensed mental health professional person in real life or connect with i online. The LMHP will determine if an emotional support creature will do good you and provide a written document requesting your ESA to live with you.

To connect with a real licensed mental health professional online, complete the ESA Questionnaire in the "Get Started" link below.

Get Started

Living with an Emotional Support Dog or Cat – A Guide to Dealing with Difficult Landlords

Although the law is on your side, telling your landlord yous accept an Emotional Support Animal can exist stressful. We will accost commonly asked questions and provide tips on how to inform your landlord you take an ESA. Although information technology may exist uncomfortable at first, standing upwardly for your rights is important. Not only for yourself simply for other people who may need the back up of an ESA.

Be confident in telling your landlord about your ESA. It is your right.
Be confident in telling your landlord most your ESA. Information technology is your right.

FAQ #1 – How do I tell my landlord I have an ESA? Especially if the building has a no pet policy or monthly fees/special pet eolith.

Informing your landlord you lot have an ESA can be more challenging than informing an airline you lot are traveling with an ESA. The primary effect is that many landlords are unaware of ESA regulations.

The get-go step you should take before informing your landlord about having an ESA is to empathise your rights. Landlords may try to peachy y'all by requesting sensitive medical records or your medical history. This is not legal and is in violation of Fair Housing standards. Yous do not need to give in to this pressure. Instead, you should stand upward for yourself and other ESA handlers.

From another perspective, your landlord may also only be unaware of ESA laws. You can take this opportunity to inform them of your rights. This will let them to better sympathise your request for reasonable accommodations.

Either way, it is of import for you to know your legal rights clearly. You may read more near ESA housing rights by this article – Guide to Renting with an ESA.

To make your pet into an official ESA, you will need an ESA letter from a therapist. This is mandatory, without an ESA letter of the alphabet your pet would not be considered an ESA fifty-fifty if they provide you with comfort. If you are currently seeing a therapist, we recommend that you lot request an ESA letter from them directly. We would also be happy to pair you with a top animal therapy therapist if your therapist is unaware of ESA laws.

The second footstep is submitting your ESA letter via email, fax, or in person. This shows that yous have the necessary documents for you to live with your emotional support brute. Emailing your alphabetic character will provide proof that you have submitted your paperwork to your landlord or homeowners association.

Become started on qualifying for an ESA letter past completing the questionnaire in the link below.

Three easy steps to get an ESA Letter with ESA Doctors
Get Started

FAQ #two – What exercise I do if my landlord rejects my ESA fifty-fifty later I prove them my ESA letter?

If your landlord persists on rejecting your ESA, you will inquire them to write a formal letter reflecting this rejection. You will write back to them in an e-mail stating that you have provided all necessary documentation (which is an ESA letter from an ESA doctor or licensed mental wellness professional). You may write back documenting that they are rejecting a reasonable accommodation request . You tin can then inform them that you will exist filing a complaint with the HUD for open discrimination of your inability. At this stage, your landlord will be pushed to read upwards on the law and see that reasonable accommodation is required to emotional support beast handlers. Exist at-home only ready to fight for your rights, no one should be forced out of their habitation or denied housing due to their disability.

Please note that we are not lawyers and this is not legal advice. This is data that our clients have found helpful and nosotros promise this is helpful to y'all as well.

FAQ #3 – Can a landlord reject my ESA because information technology is too young or as well old?

emotional support animal puppy
An emotional support brute cannot be denied by a landlord but because information technology is a puppy or kitten. Age is not a factor for an ESA.

Emotional support animals cannot exist denied due to their age. Landlords that deny dogs because they are younger and are considered puppies are not following the rules set up out by the Off-white Housing Act. With that beingness said, y'all are responsible for the actions of your ESA. If your puppy causes damages to the edifice, yous are liable. The key is to clearly explain to your landlord that there are no age requirements for an ESA and that you volition exist a responsible handler and will brand certain your ESA, regardless of age, is well behaved.

FAQ #4 – My landlord is requiring me to register my ESA. Can a landlord require ESA registration if I already submitted my ESA alphabetic character?

ESA Registration? There is no such thing! Let your landlord know that ESA registries are bogus. All you need is an ESA letter.
ESA Registration? There is no such affair! Allow your landlord know that ESA registries are bogus. All you need is an ESA alphabetic character.

The only blazon of "registration" you need is your ESA letter. ESA registration is non required by law. The Off-white Housing Act merely requires an ESA letter signed by a licensed mental health professional person that is written on their official letterhead.

Whether or not you club an ESA Certification (divide and not to be confused with an ESA letter) is upward to you. Some people will adopt to club a certificate or vest instead of arguing with their landlord. You lot can always make this conclusion, but information technology is also important that y'all are enlightened that their request is not mandated by Fair Housing.

FAQ #five – Tin a landlord evict me for getting an ESA?

A landlord cannot deny an ESA simply because they do not allow pets.
A landlord cannot deny an ESA simply because they practice not allow pets.

No, your landlord cannot evict y'all because they do not desire you to take an ESA. This is in direct violation of Fair Housing regulations. You are required to request reasonable accommodations for your ESA before bringing them into your apartment. If you qualify for an ESA alphabetic character, you volition submit information technology to your landlord and request reasonable accommodations for your ESA. One time they grant your request, you may bring your ESA home. You are not required to pay a pet deposit or monthly fee.

Unfortunately, not many landlords or building supers are well versed in ESA regulations. If they bully you, do not feel worried. Instead, calmly propose them of your rights and have them verify it with their team.

Need help? We can help! Get started here

FAQ #6 – Can a landlord question me about my mental or emotional inability?

Landlords cannot question you about your disability. They cannot require that you provide medical information in relation to your ESA.
Landlords cannot question you lot nearly your disability. They cannot crave that you provide medical information in relation to your ESA.

No, they cannot. Only this does non mean they volition not try. If you lot ever feel uncomfortable with your landlord's questions, you may request that they e-mail them to you. Most of the time, landlords are simply unaware of the rules surrounding emotional support animals. Nosotros recommend that you stay calm and clearly explain your rights to them. Let them know that inquiring virtually your inability is not allowed and recommend they seek legal communication before standing to pressure you to disclose details regarding your disability.

FAQ #vii – When can a landlord legally reject an ESA?

In that location are some weather condition when a landlord can reject your ESA. Emotional support creature protection is meant to protect a person with an emotional or mental inability, the police is not made to punish the landlord. This is why at that place are detail situations where a landlord tin turn down an ESA.

  1. Offset – if the animal is also large for the accommodation size. For instance, a horse or a llama may be rejected from a modest studio apartment.
  2. 2d – if the building has 4 units or less and the landlord lives in one of the buildings.
  3. Third – information technology is a single-family house that was rented without a realtor and the owner owns less than 3 single family homes.
  4. Fourth – if the animal in the unit brings an undue fiscal hardship to the landlord.
  5. Fifth – if the fauna causes amercement or harm to others in the building.

What to do if your landlord continues to discriminate against your ESA

The first step would exist to request that your landlord advise yous of their current position (refusal, denial, etc.), in writing, every bit required by law. That means email or letter of the alphabet, but non text.

Then, nosotros recommend that you lot suggest your landlord (in writing) that you are willing to file a HUD complaint almost open bigotry. Nosotros find that the vast majority of landlords will follow the law (even if reluctantly) and corroborate your ESA rather than violate federal housing laws and disability rights outlined by HUD. It is important to stand up upward for yourself and the right to alive with your emotional support animal. When faced with the fearfulness of discrimination, recall that the rules are here to protect you.

Housing Discrimination Complaint Online
Office of Off-white Housing and Equal Opportunity
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street, S.W. , Room 5242
Washington, D.C. 20410

Other Emotional Support Animate being Rights

Also housing access, emotional support animals are likewise allowed to fly with their handler on airplanes. To larn more than about flight with your ESA, you may read this article.

Qualify for an emotional support fauna today!

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Disclaimer: Nosotros are not doctors, a medical dispensary, lawyers or a law business firm and we do non provide legal, medical, business or tax communication. None of our representatives are lawyers and they likewise practise not provide legal, business or tax advice. The accuracy, completeness, adequacy or currency of the content is not warranted or guaranteed. Our sites and services are not substitutes for the advice or services of an attorney. We recommend y'all consult a lawyer or other appropriate professional if you want legal, business concern or tax advice .