You might be wondering if you still have to pay a pet deposit for your emotional support animal when you move into a new apartment. If you have an Emotional Support Letter (ESA letter), your “pet” will no longer be treated the same as any other pet in housing situations. They will legally be recognized as an emotional support animal, which gives them housing protections under the Fair Housing Act, a federal law that prohibits landlords from discriminating against protected classes, including those with a disability.
With an ESA letter, your pet will be considered a reasonable accommodation under the law, enabling you to live with them even if your landlord or housing provider has a no-pet or size restricting policy. This applies even after signing your lease or rental agreement. Since emotional support animals aren’t pets, many owners wonder and ask do you have to pay pet deposit for ESA?
In this article, we will answer this question and cover everything else you need to know about the expenses when renting with an emotional support animal.
Do You Have to Pay a Pet Deposit for ESA?
Emotional support animals, according to the Fair Housing Act, can’t be treated as pets in housing situations. As long as the tenant’s request to have their emotional support animal is reasonable, the landlord must accommodate the ESA.
When it comes to pet deposits, landlords cannot request it for an emotional support animal, as they aren’t pets as far as the law is concerned. However, a tenant with an ESA is liable for any damages the animal causes. This also applies to other extra charges typically requested for pets, such as pet rents and pet fees. Emotional support animals are exempt from any of these extra fees.
However, if an ESA causes significant property damage to the point that it causes undue hardship for the landlord, it can be a basis for the landlord to ask the tenant to remove the emotional support animal.
The above, both the part about pet deposits and property damage, also applies to service animals. If you have a psychiatric service dog or another type of service animal, know that you won’t have to pay extra fees to have your animal live with you but you are still liable for any damage they cause to the property.
Do You Have to Pay a Pet Deposit for ESA if You Have Multiple ESAs?
What if you have multiple emotional support animals? Do you have to pay a deposit for them? Find out below.
As long as you get an ESA letter for all your animals, whether individually for each and every one of them or one ESA letter that covers all your animals, you still won’t pay for any pet deposits. The same also applies where you get your ESA letter, whether from an online ESA letter service or in person from a local therapist.
What if a Landlord Asks for a Pet Deposit for an ESA?
If your landlord asks for a pet deposit to allow your emotional support animal in the property, it would be a clear violation of the Fair Housing Act. This violation has civil penalties if the Department of Housing and Urban Development finds out that a landlord discriminated against a tenant by denying a reasonable accommodation.
Before taking any action and filing a complaint with the HUD, however, we recommend speaking about the law with your landlord. It is likely that they aren’t aware that they must accommodate emotional support animals without any extra charges. If they persist in their request to have you pay a pet deposit for your animal, you can report this violation.
As of right now, a landlord denying accommodation to an emotional support animal unlawfully pays up to $24,793 in civil penalties for the first violation, which can increase to $61,983 for the second violation within five years, and third violations can be up to $123,697. But these cases take a long time and it is recommended that you seek out legal counsel before filing.
Considering how big a penalty landlords unlawfully denying an ESA or asking for a pet deposit before allowing them in the property pay if the HUD finds out about the violation, your landlord is likely to back down and stop demanding a pet deposit.
Exercising Your ESA Rights
Do you have to pay a pet deposit for ESA? The answer is no. As we covered above, to charge a pet fee for an ESA would violate the Fair Housing Act. Exercise your ESA rights if your landlord asks you to pay pet deposit, and don’t hesitate to file a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development if your landlord continues to violate the Fair Housing Act. After all, it is your legal right to have your ESA with you without paying pet deposits.