Emotional Support Animals in No Pet Housing

An emotional support animal is any pet belonging to a person with a mental health-related disability that provides therapeutic support, companionship and affection. Emotional support animals are often cats or dogs but can also be ferrets, rabbits, guinea pigs, birds or other animals. Having an emotional support animal is pretty much the same as having a pet, except in a few circumstances. One such circumstance is that the Fair Housing Amendments Act requires landlords to make reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities, and allowing those with mental health-related disabilities to have an emotional support animal is generally considered a reasonable accommodation.

Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHA)

As explained by the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, courts have repeatedly interpreted the Fair Housing Amendments Act to require landlords to allow emotional support animals in housing even if they normally do not allow pets, provided tenants can show that they have a mental health-related disability and a health care provider states that the tenant needs an emotional support animal as part of his treatment. Landlords cannot charge additional deposits or rent for tenants that need emotional support animals, but tenants can be held responsible for any property damage done by their pets.

Emotional support animals must be reasonably well-behaved. For instance, dogs cannot bark excessively or behave aggressively towards other tenants; if they do, landlords can refuse to allow those dogs to live there. Dogs must be kept on leashes and tenants must pick up after their dogs.  

In most cases, the ability to have one emotional support animal is considered a reasonable accommodation; landlords are not usually required to allow disabled tenants to keep multiple emotional support animals. However, in some cases it might be considered reasonable to allow two animals. For instance, experts recommend that some animals be kept in pairs for the benefit of the animals, and in these cases the ability to keep two emotional support animals would be a reasonable accommodation.

Written Documentation from a Health Care Provider

Landlords may require written documentation from a health care provider verifying that a tenant has a mental health-related disability that significantly limits one or more major life activities and that an emotional support animal is a recommended component of treatment. Health care providers do not need to disclose the specific disability a tenant has, and tenants are not required to provide this information, either. It should be noted, however, that the tenant needs to have a disability that significantly limits major life activities, which include things like hearing, seeing, walking, communicating and thinking. A person may be diagnosed with something like depression or anxiety but not be disabled by his condition.