If you have a mental health condition, you likely have heard about emotional support animals (ESAs). These animals comfort their owners through the companionship they provide. The routine required to care for an emotional support animal and their comforting presence can also ease someone’s symptoms. With their positive impact, many mental health professionals recommend emotional support animals to help those with a psychiatric disability.
Since emotional support animals are basically a prescription that’s recommended by a mental health professional as part of someone’s treatment, they aren’t treated the same as pets. Thanks to this, emotional support animals benefit from certain exceptions when it comes to housing, such as not being subject to no-pet policies. However, just because someone has an ESA doesn’t mean that they can live in any no-pet housing.
Knowing that there are limits to the housing protections given to emotional support animals, many ESA owners wonder when a landlord can legally reject an ESA. In this article, we will answer this question by taking a close look at what the law says about a landlord rejecting a tenant with an emotional support animal.
Emotional Support Animal Definition
Before we get to the circumstances where a landlord can legally reject an emotional support animal, let’s first define what an emotional support animal is in legal terms.
An emotional support animal, also known as an ESA, is a type of support animal for people with a mental disability. These animals comfort their owners with their presence, and the routine required to care for them gives the owner a sense of purpose and a reason to get out of the house more often.
To get an emotional support animal, individuals need an ESA letter written by a licensed mental health professional in their state. This letter confirms the individual has a mental disability and that an emotional support animal will benefit their condition, essentially “prescribing” them an emotional support animal as part of their treatment.
However, note that since ESA letters are issued by mental health professionals, it is up to them to decide whether someone needs an emotional support animal. Therefore, not everyone with a mental disability can get an emotional support animal. For example, a mental health professional might decide that an emotional support dog isn’t suitable for someone because the care involved might be a burden on their shoulder.
With this to keep in mind, getting an emotional support animal requires visiting a licensed mental health professional, whether in person or online. If you choose the online route, always work with a credible licensed mental health professional or use reputable services to get your ESA letter online.
ESA vs. Service Animal
Service animals shouldn’t be mistaken for emotional support animals, as they have major differences. Here’s a quick overview of the differences between emotional support animals and service animals.
- Purpose: The primary difference between emotional support animals and service animals is their purpose – ESAs provide companionship with their presence, whereas service animals actively perform tasks to benefit the handler, such as deep pressure therapy and reminding the handler to take medication.
- Process: A service animal only needs training to be legally recognized as a service animal. On the other hand, an ESA letter written and signed by a mental health professional is a must for emotional support animals.
- Type: Perhaps the biggest difference is the type of animal – any animal an individual is legally allowed to have can be an emotional support animal, from cats and dogs to rare choices like lizards and tarantulas. Service animals, however, must be dogs or miniature horses (with some added requirements) trained for a disability-related task.
- Legal Protections: Another main difference is their legal requirements – service animals enjoy both housing and public access rights, thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, whereas emotional support animals are only protected under the Fair Housing Act.
Additionally, emotional support animals are only for people with psychiatric disabilities. They don’t help individuals with physical disabilities unless their disability causes mental health challenges. Service dogs, on the other hand, can also help those with physical disabilities, such as in the case of mobility assistance dogs and wheelchair assistance dogs.
Housing Rights of Emotional Support Animals
Emotional support animals don’t have public access rights like service animals, but they have the same benefits when it comes to housing. ESAs are legally protected under the Fair Housing Act to prevent landlords from discriminating against tenants with an emotional support animal.
If you have an emotional support animal, these protections mean that your landlord must make reasonable accommodations to allow your emotional support animal, such as waiving a no-pet policy in your lease or rental agreement. Since emotional support animals aren’t considered pets under legal terms, the landlord cannot charge pet fees, deposits, or rent for the ESA.
The law is very clear about the housing rights of emotional support animals, but also the instances when a landlord can legally reject an emotional support animal. We talk more about these instances that allow landlords to deny an emotional support animal legally.
When Can a Landlord Legally Reject an ESA for Housing?
Although it won’t apply to most landlords and individuals with emotional support animals, a landlord can legally reject an ESA under certain circumstances.
Here are the most common reasons that create the circumstances for a landlord to legally reject an emotional support animal.
ESA Causes Undue Financial Burden
If accommodating an emotional support animal will cause an undue financial burden for the landlord, they can legally reject the ESA. However, this doesn’t mean that any increase in cost is enough to justify rejecting an ESA. The burden must be significant and unreasonable for the landlord to be able to deny an emotional support animal.
For example, a tenant requesting accommodation for four emotional support dogs in an apartment complex with shared areas can cause an undue financial burden to them, as the landlord would have higher maintenance expenses for landscape repair and hiring cleaning services for the common areas.
Property Damage
Property damage is also one of the reasons for a landlord to reject an emotional support animal legally. For instance, a landlord can deny accommodating an emotional support miniature horse for their condo in fear that the weight of the miniature horse will damage the hardwood flooring, which is a reasonable concern as miniature horses can weigh up to 300 pounds.
With property damage, it is important to note that even if the landlord initially accommodates an emotional support animal, they can ask the ESA to be removed if they discover that it caused significant property damage. If this happens, the landlord can also require the tenant to pay for the damages caused by the emotional support animal.
ESA Poses a Health/Safety Risk
Another basis for a landlord to remove or reject an emotional support animal legally is if the ESA poses a health or safety risk to others. A common problem many landlords experience is dealing with aggressive dogs, for example. If an emotional support dog is displaying aggression around others, such as growling or barking excessively, it will be a safety risk for others, which the landlord can use to reject the ESA.
When it comes to health risks, however, note that pet allergies typically aren’t a justifiable reason to remove an emotional support animal. For example, a landlord renting out different rooms cannot legally ask an emotional support animal to be removed because the other tenant has pet allergies.
When Can a Landlord Legally Reject an ESA? Conclusion
We’ve covered various points on landlords rejecting an emotional support animal above – now, it is time to wrap everything up.
Landlords can legally reject an ESA only under certain circumstances that cause undue hardship. Therefore, a landlord cannot deny an emotional support animal just because they have a no-pet policy or the HOA doesn’t allow pets. Emotional support animals aren’t pets, and they are protected under the Fair Housing Act.
As long as you have a valid ESA letter and your emotional support animal won’t cause any undue hardship for the landlord, there is no reason for your accommodation request to be rejected. However, despite this, many landlords unlawfully reject emotional support animals, which adds to the struggles of those living with a psychiatric disability.
If you’re an ESA owner and think that you’ve been discriminated against because of your support animal, consider filing an online complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development.