Emotional support animals (ESAs) help people with mental disabilities with the companionship they provide. At first, many think that emotional support animals are just pets – this isn’t true. Also known as ESAs, emotional support animals are recommended by mental health professionals to assist people in coping with their symptoms. Therefore, they aren’t treated as pets, and because of this, they have certain legal protections, particularly when it comes to housing.
However, understanding emotional support animal laws can be confusing, with many asking whether landlords have to accept emotional support animals because they are protected under federal law. If you’re wondering the same and looking for answers, our article will cover everything you need to know.
Whether you’re a landlord or an emotional support animal owner, read to the end to learn whether landlords must accept emotional support animals.
What Are Emotional Support Animals?
Before diving deeper into whether landlords have to accept emotional support animals, let’s cover the legal definition of an emotional support animal. Knowing what an emotional support animal is will enable you to better understand ESA laws.
Emotional support animals are one of the most common types of companion animals. Unlike pets, these animals provide therapeutic benefits to individuals with a psychiatric disability. However, emotional support animals don’t achieve this with specialized training. They offer comfort and support without performing specific tasks – their presence and the routine required for caring for them are enough for many emotional support animals to notice their benefits.
Given that emotional support animals aren’t pets, those who want an ESA can’t just adopt or purchase an animal and call them their emotional support animal. There’s a process involved with getting an emotional support animal, and that requires speaking to a licensed mental health professional and obtaining an ESA letter, which essentially works the same as a prescription.
Since no one can decide on their own that they need an emotional support animal, people who think that an emotional support animal would be beneficial for their condition should consult a mental health professional. You can do this in person by visiting a mental health professional or through online services like US Service Animals. Learn how to get an ESA letter online.
How ESAs Are Different From Service Animals
Emotional support animals aren’t the only support animals – there are also service animals that help those with mental disabilities, but in a different way than emotional support animals. Due to this, they have different legal rights, which is a must for prospective owners to know to understand housing laws around emotional support animals better.
The biggest difference between ESAs and service animals is how they help their owner. While emotional support animals provide comfort and therapeutic benefits through companionship, service animals perform tasks related to a disability.
For example, a psychiatric service dog can perform tasks like reminding the user to take medication and interrupting harmful behaviors. Therefore, service animals have training requirements, whereas ESAs don’t. The training requirements to perform a task related to a disability also give service animals public access rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act – they can accompany their handlers in public spaces like restaurants, whereas ESAs are subject to pet policies.
Another main difference is what kind of animals can be ESAs and service animals. An emotional support animal can be any animal that an individual is legally allowed to keep, even choices that seem strange to most people, like emotional support lizards or fish. Service animals, on the other hand, can only be dogs (and miniature horses that are trained and housebroken).
Lastly, as mentioned above, emotional support animals need an ESA letter written and signed by a licensed mental health professional. Service animals don’t require any documentation, including any form of training certificate that proves their training. As long as service animals are trained for a task related to someone’s disability, they will have everything they need to be legally recognized.
Do Landlords Have to Accept Emotional Support Animals? Get Your Answers Below
Now that we’ve explained what emotional support animals are, here’s everything you need to know about landlords accepting emotional support animals.
Are Landlords Required to Accept Emotional Support Animals?
In most circumstances, yes, landlords have to accept emotional support animals. This is because the Fair Housing Act protects the rights of emotional support animals to live with their owners.
Therefore, housing providers are required to make reasonable accommodations for a tenant with a mental disability. This includes waiving no-pet policies on the lease or the rental agreement. The same goes for condos with pet restrictions – HOAs must waive pet restrictions for emotional support animals, like pet weight restrictions or any limit on the number of pets in a unit.
The “reasonable” here is key, as the adjustments the landlord makes must not cause undue hardship, which we get into more detail below. Outside of this, a landlord cannot typically deny an emotional support animal just because they don’t want an animal or there’s a no-pet policy in the lease or rental agreement.
Situations When Landlords Can Reject an Emotional Support Animal
There are different instances where a landlord can reject an emotional support animal. For example, a landlord can deny accommodating a tenant’s emotional support animal if the emotional support animal poses a direct health or safety risk, such as a dog acting aggressively towards other tenants.
Another legitimate reason is if the ESA causes substantial damage to the property. Take a heavy emotional support animal like a miniature horse as an example. The presence of such a heavy animal could damage floors and lead to other structural damage that would cause undue financial hardship due to renovations.
Lastly, a landlord can reject an emotional support animal if the tenant fails to provide a valid ESA letter written and signed by a mental health professional in the state. Among all these, a lack of proper documentation is often the reason for landlords rejecting emotional support animals.
Although these are quite rare situations that only a handful of tenants and landlords experience, note that landlords must have proof for any of the above to be a legal basis for rejecting an emotional support animal. The landlord cannot rely on stereotypes or could-haves – they must have evidence that the ESA’s presence causes or has caused undue hardship.
Commonly Asked Questions About Landlords and Emotional Support Animals
Here are answers to the commonly asked questions about landlords and emotional support animals. These will cover minor details that many wonder about but weren’t discussed in our article.
Can Landlords Deny an ESA Letter?
In general, a landlord cannot deny an ESA letter under normal circumstances. As long as the emotional support animal owner has a valid ESA letter and has a mental disability that requires an emotional support animal, the landlord cannot legally deny it. Therefore, an ESA letter cannot be rejected unless it is illegitimate or fake. However, as we mentioned above, a landlord can deny an emotional support animal legally if the animal’s presence causes undue hardship.
How Many ESAs Can You Have in an Apartment?
There isn’t a limit on how many emotional support animals one can have. Due to this, there isn’t a limit on how many ESAs you can have in an apartment. However, it all comes down to the “undue hardship” we’ve covered above. A tenant cannot have an unreasonable number of emotional support animals. For instance, a landlord can deny a tenant’s accommodation request for five emotional support dogs in a small studio apartment.
Can a Landlord Deny an ESA Because of Breed?
Emotional support animals aren’t considered pets as they are support animals that are medically required for someone with a mental disability. This means that they can’t be treated the same as pets and aren’t subject to breed restrictions in housing. The same applies not only to housing but also to general ownership. Even if there’s a local law that restricts the ownership of a certain breed, emotional support animals won’t be subject to it.
Do Landlords Have to Accept Emotional Support Animals? The Final Word
Under normal circumstances, landlords have to accept emotional support animals. As long as the tenant has a valid emotional support animal, they can request the landlord to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate their emotional support animal, such as waiving a no-pet policy.
However, there are instances, such as an emotional support animal not being appropriate for the property or a lack of proper documentation, that create the legal basis for a landlord to reject an emotional support animal. These should also be kept in mind when thinking about whether or not landlords have to accept emotional support animals.