Animals that serve as emotional support animals, or ESAs, go above and beyond the role of a standard pet. These animals offer support and comfort for people suffering from mental health conditions.
While ESAs and service dogs have been around for a long time, emotional support animals have recently entered the spotlight due to their growing popularity as a tool to support mental health. If you are looking to get an ESA, New York residents must obtain an ESA letter first.
All states must comply with federal laws, like the Fair Housing Act, which allows for emotional support animals to live with their owners regardless of pet policy. In the interest of understanding what your rights are, we will be discussing ESAs in New York in depth below.
New York ESA Laws: Summary of Legal Protections
New York’s ESA laws are not exhaustive, but there may be some slight differences depending on if you live in New York City or not. The Fair Housing act allows ESA owners to bypass pet fees and deposits, though in NYC, there are local laws that assign liability for any damage incurred by as ESA. While the owners are always liable for any ESA caused damage, NYC has specific laws on the books outlining how such a case should be handled.
Emotional Support Animal New York Regulations: ESA Laws in New York
In the following four sections, we will cover exactly what laws protect an ESA for housing, employment, businesses, air travel, and more.
New York ESA Housing Laws
We’ll begin with housing laws. New York, especially the five boroughs, is filled with apartments and landlords. Depending on the landowner, having pets on the premises is complicated. Some landowners don’t mind letting our little companions live with you, but others explicitly prohibit pets in their leases.
Luckily, you don’t have to panic. According to the Fair Housing Act, emotional support animals are considered a reasonable accommodation. If you have a letter from a licensed mental health professional, landlords can’t reject your application because of the presence of an ESA.
New York ESA Employment Laws
Emotional Support Animals cannot accompany you in the workplace unless you have your employer’s consent. The Americans with Disabilities Act covers most mental health conditions and permits the use of service animals, though this does not extend to ESAs in New York. Because of this, you will need to discuss the possibility with your boss directly. Bring your ESA letter with you when you approach your employer to add legitimacy to your reasonable accommodation request.
New York ESA Travel Laws
If you want to take your emotional support animal on public buses, ride-share services, or even into businesses, you will have to check with the service before you buy a ticket or book a ride if you need to bring your ESA with you. There are no laws protecting emotional support animals access in public transport, so it will ultimately come down to the policy of the service you are choosing.
New York ESA Travel and Flying Laws
Air travel is stressful for a lot of people. Between take-off, turbulence, and being confined in a small space, planes can cause panic attacks in individuals who suffer from PTSD, phobias, or anxiety. While medications can help, cuddling up with your furry friend can be a helpful alternative or treatment supplement.
Unfortunately, while the Air Carrier Access Act used to allow all ESAs to fly for free with you on any airline in the cabin, that is no longer the case. Now, only service dogs have the right to accompany you freely on planes.
How to Get an ESA Letter in New York: ESA Letter New York Requirements
If you want to get an emotional support animal letter, New York requires you get an ESA letter by consulting with a LMHP. They will see if an ESA can help your daily life, and diagnose any mental condition you may have. A New York ESA letter must contain the LMHP’s name, license number, contact information, official letterhead, your name, and recommendation for an ESA. Your diagnosis is not required to be on the letter, and it is often advised that this information be omitted.
ESA New York Registration: ESA Certification in New York
If you want to get an ESA certification, there are things that should be taken care of prior to obtaining one. You should first sit down with a licensed mental health professional to see if you are eligible for an emotional support animal. If you are, get an ESA letter that is legitimate within New York.
Once you have an ESA letter, you can get an ESA certification. What is on an ESA certification will depend on who you go with, and there is no longer a requirement to obtain one. They can be useful when talking with a landlord, however, as they add weight to an emotional support animal claim when talking with landlords.
Get an ESA Letter in Cities Across New York
If you are looking for an ESA letter in New York City, Buffalo, or similar cities, we have a number of articles focused specifically on more metropolitan areas around the state. These can help ease initial confusion and help find physicians or services in your state or online that can get you a letter and help with tricky landlords.
Below, we overview ESA laws in the most popular cities in New York; to find out more, including how to get a legally valid ESA letter in these cities, click on the linked heading for the city you’re curious about.
ESA Laws in New York City
New York City offers some addendums to the Fair Housing Act where a landlord can exclude certain animals from their units. Similarly, they can also hold tenants responsible for damage caused by an emotional support animal.
New York City is the largest city in the country and has plenty of accommodations for just about anyone, including you and your emotional support animal. Regardless of the borough you are in, there will be plenty of restaurants, hotels, outdoor parks, and activities to engage in with your ESA.
ESA Laws in Buffalo
Often overshadowed by NYC, Buffalo is a large city with a rich culinary history and plenty of activities for you and your assistance animal to partake in. There are no local laws on the books regarding ESAs, but there are dozens of hotels and close to a hundred restaurants that allow for pet-friendly seating. Be wary that in the winter time outdoor seating may not be realistic.
ESA Laws in Yonkers
Yonkers is labelled as an inner suburb of NYC, and most people who live or travel there will have many opportunities to visit nearby hubs like Brooklyn for most ESA-friendly businesses. Within city limits, there are a handful of places you can go to, like Yonkers Brewing Company or Tio Nacho, though the selection is more limited than in other cities on the list.Yonkers has no additional ESA laws beyond the FHA.
ESA Laws in Rochester
A few hours north of New York City and three hours from Toronto, Rochester serves as a key hub between the two larger cities. Despite its smaller comparative size, it offers a considerable number of restaurants, hotels, and activities for those with emotional support animals. It does not have any emotional support laws unique to the city.
ESA Laws in Syracuse
An hour and a half east of Rochester, Syracuse is a city with a population of around 150,000 people. While it has no ESA laws for the city, it does comply with the Fair Housing Act both for landlords and on campus. There are a couple of dozen hotels that allow pets, and over fifty restaurants within the city that offer outdoor seating.
ESAs vs Psychiatric Service Dogs in New York
There are quite a few characteristics that separate an ESA from a psychiatric service dog (PSD). These differences are found in both training and the federal laws that protect them.
An ESA is only required to provide emotional support through its presence. They are not required to undergo any training, and are not even required to be dogs. A fish in an aquarium can be an ESA! An ESA gets its right to live in your rented unit only from the Fair Housing Act. They are not allowed to go places where pets are not permitted outside of your home. So hotels with no pet policies, movie theaters, and restaurants are off limits.
On the other hand, a PSD is required to be a dog, or miniature horse for those who have dog allergies or dog related trauma. A PSD is highly trained to protect everyone’s safety because they have the right to public access under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. This means that they can freely accompany you in restaurants, schools, or anywhere that the general public has access to, even if pets are usually prohibited. A PSD also is required to perform at least one task that assists a person with their disability. This can be as simple as notifying their handler who struggles with visual hallucinations that someone has really come to the door, or as complicated as retrieving medications and water for a handler experiencing a panic attack.
In either case, the owner/handler is responsible for any property damage caused by their ESA or PSD. You should check out our training programs to help your dog be the best they can be, and to protect yourself from potential harm.
How to Get a Psychiatric Service Dog in New York
In New York, as with the rest of the country, you need to have a diagnosed mental health related disability to qualify for a PSD. You do not need a letter confirming this but if you misrepresent your dog as a PSD, you are opening yourself up to legal liability.
When you are entering a facility that is open to the public, staff are permitted to only ask if your dog is a service dog, and if so, what tasks it performs. They cannot ask that the dog perform the task, nor can they ask what your disability is.
Many people are not savvy on service dog law, so they ask invasive and illegal questions. Some handlers prefer to direct the questioner to a nongovernment reputable online registry where they have signed up their service dog with a profile or to provide a letter from a LMHP confirming that they need a PSD.They often also carry around business cards with their dog’s account information with the registry to hand out. This is not legally required, but it will make people leave you alone faster.
The best way to ensure that you and your PSD go unbothered is by having a well trained PSD. People expect all these hoops because an uncontrolled dog can be dangerous. For your safety and the safety of your dog, consider a specialized training course like US Service Animals offers. We can connect you to a trainer in your area or provide you access to our online training program.
FAQs About New York Emotional Support Animal Laws
To give some insight into specific questions, we will go over some common misunderstandings in the following frequently asked questions. These will cover topics like who can write an ESA letter in New York, whether a landlord can deny an ESA letter in New York, and more.
Does New York Recognize Emotional Support Animals?
Yes, New York recognizes emotional support animals. They are given the same privileges that are offered to all ESAs under federal law, such as the Fair Housing Act, though some places like New York City have some minor tweaks.
Who Can Write an ESA Letter in New York?
A New York emotional support animal letter must be written by a licensed mental health professional. They will need to assess the patient one-on-one to determine if an ESA could prove beneficial to their everyday life. If they do, they will write an ESA letter, which can be used to bypass pet fees, policies, and deposits.
How Fast Can I Get an ESA Letter in New York?
Typically, it will take anywhere from a day or two all the way to a couple of weeks. It really depends on who you use, how busy they are, and how far off the consultation is scheduled. There are no conditions for an ESA letter in New York that prevent someone from getting an ESA letter from an LMHP if they don’t have a prior professional relationship.
Are Online Consultations for ESA Letters Legal In New York?
Yes! You can do online or in-person consultations, so long as the person you are speaking with is a licensed mental health professional who can practice within New York. Many people nowadays are getting ESA letters online, and we offer ESA letters for New York and other states across the country.
Can a Landlord Deny an ESA Letter in New York?
Not unless they meet very specific exemptions. A landlord must try to reasonably accommodate your emotional support animal, though sometimes they may be able to reject it on certain grounds. These include the animal causing sincere financial hardship, being dangerous or intimidating to other tenants, or causing damage to the property.
Can A Landlord Charge a Pet Deposit for an Emotional Support Animal In New York?
No. Emotional support animals are not classified as pets under the Fair Housing Act, making it illegal for a landlord to charge people pet deposits or monthly fees. Similarly, they cannot reject an emotional support animal because they have a no pet policy, unless they meet the criteria listed above.