What Landlords Need to Know about Emotional Support Animals

One of the toughest decisions you’ll have to make as a landlord is whether or not to allow pets in your rental property.

On one hand, if you allow pets you’ll likely have far more interested potential tenants. On the other hand, you might have to deal with additional damages when your tenants move out.

Whatever you decide as far as pets go is entirely up to you…that is, until emotional support animals enter the picture.

There are a lot of mixed feelings and varied reactions to emotional support animals, so it’s important to know the facts, the laws, and your rights as a landlord. Let’s go over this issue now…

What Are Emotional Support Animals?

Emotional support animals (ESA) are companion animals that provide support to a person with a disability.

They are not service animals nor are they therapy animals (those are different).

ESA’s offer recognized benefits to those with:

severe anxiety
depression
PTSD
agoraphobia
other mental health conditions

Animals, dogs in particular, have been used in therapy and to provide support for many years, although emotional support animals are a fairly new category of support animal.

Research in this area has produced mixed results. Animals in general have been shown to lower blood pressure and increase the abundance of feel-good hormones, and some evidence suggests that PTSD symptoms can be significantly reduced with a support animal. One study in particular, conducted by American Humane, revealed that therapy dogs can relieve anxiety surrounding cancer and cancer treatment in children suffering from the disease.

Saying that animals make people happy is a lot easier than quantifying the data according to the accepted standards in psychology, though. It’s notoriously difficult to pinpoint which animals are helpful, what quality or aspect is providing the benefits, and whether or not the person with the ESA really is receiving the benefits directly from the animal or if other factors are involved. And this difficulty to quantify leads to our next topic, accusations fake support animals…

Fake Emotional Support Animals

Because it’s difficult to accumulate hard evidence, the laws can be vague surrounding emotional support animals. This vagueness can lead to people taking advantage and pretending their pet is an emotional support animal when it’s not. This is terrible because it hurts those with disabilities who really need the ESA designation for their animal.

So there is this growing issue surrounding fake support animals, but that should not encourage you to believe that everyone who claims their animal is an ESA is lying. Most are genuine.

Many people follow the proper steps and are upfront with their landlords, so don’t let a few rule breakers give you a skewed view of those whose lives truly are changed with the help of an ESA.

What the Fair Housing Act Says About ESA

All that being said, opinions are irrelevant when it comes to the laws laid out by the Fair Housing Act.

As discussed in many posts on this blog, the Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination due to race, color, national origin, religion, gender, familial status, and disability. Emotional support animals fall under the disability category, as their intention is to assist those with mental disabilities.

According to the Fair Housing Act, landlords “cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a disability the equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”

Essentially, what this means is that as long as it does not cause unreasonable burden on you as the landlord, you can’t refuse to allow an emotional support animal, no matter what your policy on pets is.

How does a tenant qualify for an ESA?

Now, this doesn’t mean that a potential tenant can declare that they have an emotional support animal and be done with it. Since the Fair Housing Act discrimination policy covers those with disabilities, the potential tenant applicant will first have to qualify. In order to qualify, they will need to prove:

That they have a physical or mental disability that impairs one or more major aspects of their life;
That they have a record of possessing this disability, or
That they are regarded as having this disability.

So, someone who is in perfect health in every way, shape, and form and cannot prove that they have any type of disability would not qualify.

Additionally, they must be able to show that their emotional support animal is, in fact, necessary to help them live with their disability in the dwelling. The animal has to have a demonstrated purpose that proves their owner cannot “use or enjoy” the home without their ESA.

What Your Rights Are As a Landlord

All of this might seem a little unfair to landlords, but remember that the law does leave room for you and your rights. Keep in mind that the wording in the Fair Housing Act specifies reasonable accommodation, meaning if it causes a significant financial burden or affects your property in any overt way, you have the right to refuse.

Examples of Reasonable vs Unreasonable Accommodation for ESA’s

For example, if you have a no pets policy simply because you don’t want animals in your rental home, making an exception for a single dog or cat is a reasonable accommodation that you should allow. I just had to do this last month on one of my “no pet” rentals. At first I was annoyed, but then I realized that it’s just a dog, and the dog may really help this person have a better life.

What would not be reasonable? If a potential tenant wants to bring in a miniature horse (which have been known to be used as emotional support animals) and your rental property is in a suburban neighborhood. I think we can all agree that keeping a horse in a home without proper horse facilities would be unreasonable.

What would be an unreasonable financial burden? An example would be if your insurance policy specifies that rates will be raised if a certain breed of animal lives in the dwelling (think Pit Bull or other dangerous dog). This is an unreasonable expense, and as long as you can prove that your rate would go up due solely to the presence of the ESA, you can deny the tenant.

ESA’s Should Not Disrupt Other Tenants

If you have already leased your rental home to a tenant with an emotional support animal, and that animal has been disruptive to other tenants or caused harm to anyone, you can evict the tenant. Emotional support animals cannot bother other tenants. It is not a reasonable accommodation to ask your other tenants to put up with disruptive or frightening behavior.

Types of Housing that can Refuse Emotional Support Animals

There are also rules set in place for certain types of housing that can refuse emotional support animals. The first type is a multi-unit building (of four units or less) with one unit occupied by you, the owner. The other is a single family home that you are renting on your own, without the use of an agent, if you own 3 or less single family homes (this rule doesn’t apply if you own more than three single family homes).

ESA Letter as Proof of Need

Additionally, there are some things you can ask for to verify if the tenant has the proper documentation. The first is an ESA letter. These letters can only be written by:

Psychologists
Psychiatrists
Licensed counselors
Licensed therapists
Nurses
Physicians
Social Workers

This letter demonstrates that the tenant has seen a professional about their condition, and that professional has determined that an emotional support animal is necessary to help them in their daily lives specifically due to a mental illness.

Now, there have been cases where tenants have provided fake ESA letters, but there are ways to distinguish the real deal from something fabricated. Some tips to verify the legitimacy of an ESA letter include:

Verify the license number of the mental health professional who provided the letter.
Ensure the professional is licensed in the same state where the dwelling is located
Look at the date of issuance as well as the expiration date (ESA letters expire one year after issuance)
Check if the letter specifically states the name of the ESA and what services they provide, as well as how those services relate to the tenant’s disability

Landlord Cannot Contact the Mental Health Provider or Question the Disability

Keep in mind that you’re not allowed to contact the mental health professional directly or ask the tenant direct questions about their disability or accuse them of lying. You also cannot ask for proof that their animal has been trained or certified, as there is no certification or training process for emotional support animals. If you have concerns, be tactful about addressing them.

If the ESA is Legit, and not Unreasonable, Go with it

If you’ve verified the legitimacy of the ESA letter and don’t have a case for any unreasonable accommodations, you cannot legally turn the tenant away. You also cannot tack on additional fees, such as a pet deposit or higher rent. They must be treated like any other tenant, as is the spirit behind equal housing opportunities.

People with ESA’s are just trying to make the most of their lives

Getting an applicant with an Emotional Support Animal for your rental property can be tricky and a little unnerving. But remember the Fair Housing Act exists to help those who are at risk of being unfairly treated, and you must abide by it.

So sure, getting an ESA applicant might cause a little hassle to you, especially if you were adamant about a “no pets” policy.

But just remember that people with emotional support animals are not trying to take advantage of you or pull the wool over your eyes. They’re just trying to make the most of their lives, as are we all.