ByCan Apartments Charge for Emotional Support Animals?
Emotional support animals play a vital role in helping people with mental disabilities cope with daily challenges. Since they play such an instrumental role in mental health treatment, the law grants emotional support animals specific rights that are not granted to most animal owners, including reasonable accommodations for housing.
, and does a landlord have the right to charge an emotional support animal security deposit? If you are an ESA handler, it's natural to have questions related to housing. Read on to find out whether you have to pay pet rent for an emotional support animal and how to get an emotional support animal waiver with ease.
What Are Emotional Support Animals, and How Do They Help People?
Before diving into apartment policies for emotional support animals (ESAs), it is helpful to understand the important role ESAs play in the lives of people who struggle with mental health disorders. Commonly known as ESAs, emotional support animals provide comfort, relief, and a sense of security to people suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other debilitating mental health disorders. Here are six of the many benefits that emotional support animals offer to people with mental health disorders:
- Decreased anxiety
- Greater social engagement
- The ability to relax
- Reduced depressive symptoms
- Regulated blood pressure and heart rate
- Lower stress
How Can You Find Out if Apartments Can Charge for ESAs on Your Own?
If you own an emotional support animal and are exploring a move to a new apartment complex, you want to make sure your transition to your new home is easy for you and your animal. You may also have questions like:
- "Do you have to pay rent for an ESA?"
- "Will I have to pay an emotional support animal security deposit?"
- "Who can advise me about how to get an emotional support animal waiver?"
These are all legitimate questions to have if you are moving to a new home with an ESA.
If you need to find out , you will need to carve out some time to do some research and secure the necessary paperwork you may need. The short answer is that due to the Fair Housing Act, you should not be charged a fee for your ESA in an apartment; however, you still need to take some steps to make sure your landlord gives you the reasonable accommodations you deserve.
Here is what you will need to do in three phases:
| Steps | What to do |
| Step 1: Understand Your Rights as an ESA Owner | As the owner or handler of an emotional support animal, you have rights. If you don't understand your rights as an ESA owner, you are more likely to be discriminated against by a landlord or apartment complex owner. Here are some things you can do to develop a strong working knowledge of your rights as an ESA owner:
|
| Step 2: Make Sure You Have an ESA Letter | Now that you are armed with valuable information about your rights as an ESA owner, it's important to understand that landlords do have the right to ask for verification that you are a legitimate ESA owner. While an apartment complex owner does not have the right to charge you special fees, your landlord does have the right to ask to see your ESA letter.
To obtain an emotional support animal prescription or ESA letter, reach out to your mental health provider and explain the situation. They can provide the documentation you need. |
| Step 3: Present Your ESA Letter to Your Landlord | It's always a good idea to be transparent about your ESA when talking to prospective landlords. Have a copy of your prescription or ESA letter on hand when you visit complexes.
If you encounter trouble, resistance, or efforts to charge fees, you can reach out to a lawyer or DoNotPay who could help by sending a demand letter. While it is unlikely you will need to resort to this tactic, it is wise to know that help is available. |
How to Get an Emotional Support Animal Waiver With the Help of DoNotPay
Life for anyone coping with a mental health disorder is already challenging enough. Between family obligations, work responsibilities, and therapy appointments, you may not have hours to spend tracking down landlords and trying to secure letters or waivers. Thankfully, DoNotPay can help you avoid emotional support animal pet rent in three simple steps.
Here's how DoNotPay can help:
DoNotPay's new Service and Emotional Support Animals product can help you with a vast array of issues related to emotional support animals. By following the three simple steps below, you can learn how to get an emotional support animal letter, inquire about airline accommodations for emotional support animals, and request a prescription for an ESA.
- Search "service animal" on DoNotPay.
- Select the type of issue you need help with, including contacting your landlord about your ESA/service animal, asking your airline about ESA options, or requesting ESA/service accommodations at other venues.
- Answer a series of questions about your current situation and the details of your ESA/service animal, so we can generate the best results for you.
Believe it or not, those are the only steps you need to take. DoNotPay will handle all the legwork for you, including generating a letter to mail to your landlord and sending it on your behalf. The DoNotPay app can even contact your mental health provider to ask for an ESA letter on your behalf.
Why Use DoNotPay to Find Out if Apartments Can Charge for Emotional Support Animals?
DoNotPay is the swiftest way to get help if your landlord tries to charge you for an emotional support animal. With the DoNotPay app, you can also avoid hours of tedious searching and phone calls to find the information you need. Here are some of the many qualities that make DoNotPay America's favorite resource for resolving issues related to emotional support animals:
- DoNotPay is speedy: In just 3 steps, you can be on your way to securing the detail you need about emotional support animals.
- DoNotPay is effortless: Using DoNotPay is surprisingly easy. Just answer a few questions using the DoNotPay app and that's all you need to do!
- DoNotPay is dependable: You can rely on DoNotPay to use the proper channels and get you the support you need.
DoNotPay Can Resolve Many Other Challenges Related to Emotional Support Animals
When you use DoNotPay to find out whether apartments charge for ESAs, you may be curious about whether the app can help you tackle other issues surrounding emotional support animal ownership. Thankfully, DoNotPay can help you with a wide array of other issues. Here are a few of the other challenges related to emotional support animals that DoNotPay can help resolve:
- Learn how to obtain an ESA letter for housing
- Find out about Southwest Airlines Emotional Support Animal policies
- Find out how to obtain an ESA dog
- Discover how to request emotional support animal approval from United Airlines
- Learn about how emotional support animals and the fair housing act
- Discover how to notify airlines about emotional support animals
- Learn to navigate American Airlines Emotional Support Animal policies
- Discover examples of ESA letters
How Else Can DoNotPay Help You Maximize Your Free Time?
Helping you with emotional support animal issues is just one of the many ways DoNotPay can help you acquire information, save time, and stretch your budget. Check out some of the many other tasks DoNotPay can help you accomplish with ease:
- Find out how to sell airline mileage
- Seek compensation for robocalls
- Learn how to send demand letters to someone in small claims court
- Locate and apply for available scholarships
- Learn how to seek compensation for a canceled airline flight
- Find out how to secure hotel upgrades with ease
- Learn how to request animal control services in your area
- Discover ways to cancel any subscription quickly
- Find out how to secure a pet license quickly
If you need quick, reliable solutions to the challenges you face in life, DoNotPay has you covered! Using DoNotPay allows you to save valuable time, stretch your budget, and minimize time-consuming hassles. We encourage you to to join the many happy people who now have more free time and extra cash thanks to DoNotPay.