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How to Submit an ESA Letter to Your Landlord
Getting the letter is step one. Submitting it correctly is what actually keeps your pet.
Free screening
See If You Qualify
- 10 minutes of questions, nothing to pay
- Reviewed by a mental-health professional licensed in your state
- Signed letter within 15 minutes of approval
- Declined? You are not charged for a letter
HIPAA-aligned · no card required
The Order That Works
Most rejected requests are not rejected on the merits. They are rejected because a tenant emailed a PDF to a maintenance address with no covering request, or sent an undated letter, or sent it to the previous property manager. Do it in this order.
1. Identify Who Decides
The property manager or the management company's compliance address — not the front desk and not your superintendent. If the building is professionally managed, there is usually a named person or a designated email for accommodation requests. Ask for it in writing.
2. Send the Request and the Letter Together
Two attachments, one email. The request explains what you are asking for and under what law; the clinical letter supplies the verification. Sending only the second is the most common mistake we see.
3. Ask for a Written Decision by a Date
Something like: "Please confirm receipt, and let me know your decision in writing by the 30th." It is polite, and it creates a timeline you can point to later.
4. Answer Verification, Not Interrogation
They may verify your mental-health professional's license and that the letter is genuine — your mental-health professional will handle that without disclosing your diagnosis. They may not demand your records, a diagnosis, or a fee.
5. Keep Everything
Every email, every notice, every phone call with a date and a name. If this ever reaches a HUD complaint or a lawyer, the file you kept is the case.
What We Send You
- The clinical letter, signed and dated, with license details
- An accommodation request letter you can edit and send
- A one-page explainer addressed to your leasing office
- A short script for the phone call, if they ring you
- Mental-health professional support for verification requests for 12 months
Situations
Where This Comes Up Most
A Notice After Move-In
Someone saw the cat. You have 10 or 14 days to respond. Send the accommodation request immediately, even before the letter arrives, and say documentation is being prepared — that alone often pauses the clock.
Pet Rent You Cannot Sustain
$40–$75 a month plus a deposit, on an animal that is genuinely part of how you manage a condition. Fees do not apply to assistance animals; ask for the charge to stop and for improperly collected pet fees to be returned.
A Breed or Weight Ban
Blanket bans generally give way to a valid request. A provider needs evidence about your particular animal, not a policy about its breed.
A New Lease or a Move
Disclose and request early, in writing, before signing. It is far easier than renegotiating after you are in.
Campus Housing
Goes through disability services, not the residence desk, and deadlines fall months before term. Start in the spring for a September move.
A Condo Board or HOA
Association rules are subject to the same accommodation analysis. Submit to the board in writing and request minutes of the decision.
If you have received an eviction notice
Documentation helps, but it moves at clinical speed and eviction moves at court speed. Send your accommodation request in writing today, and contact a tenants' rights organization or legal aid office in your state in parallel. Do not let a filing deadline pass while you wait for a PDF.
Check us yourself
Don't Take Our Word for It. Verify It.
We haven't published client reviews yet. Real ones, with written consent, or none at all — so here is the harder proof instead.
Look Up the License
Every letter carries the signing mental-health professional's license number, type and state. Every state board publishes a free public lookup.
Check the NPI Registry
Search the mental-health professional by name at npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov. It is a second, independent check.
Call Them Directly
The mental-health professional's own contact details are on your letter. Your landlord can verify with the person who signed it.
Ask Us to Say No
Mental-health professionals are paid for the assessment, not the approval. A provider that guarantees a yes is guaranteeing something worthless.
Why this page is empty of testimonials
A site whose whole argument is our documentation can actually be checked has no business publishing testimonials that cannot. When we have real reviews from real clients who have given written consent, they will appear here.
Licensed provider
The Mental-Health Professional Who Signs Your Letter
Every ESA and PSD assessment is conducted by a licensed mental-health professional. The professional who signs your documentation is identified below, with the means to verify the license.
Licensed provider
Dr. Jonathan Chance Miller, MD
Licensed Physician · Telehealth · ESA & PSD evaluations
An evaluation should feel like a conversation, not an interrogation. My job is to understand what you are living with and document it accurately — or to tell you plainly if an assistance animal is not the right answer.
Related Reading
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
My Lease Says No Pets and I Already Signed It. Is It Too Late?
No. A reasonable accommodation request can be made at any point in a tenancy, including after you have signed and after the animal has moved in. A signed no-pets clause does not waive your rights under the Fair Housing Act. Do act quickly if you have received a notice, and keep everything in writing.
Can They Make Me Pay a Pet Deposit Anyway?
Not for an assistance animal — pet rent, pet fees and pet deposits do not apply, refundable or otherwise. You are still liable for actual damage the animal causes, which they may pursue like any other damage.
The Leasing Office Insists I Use Their Own Form. Must I?
They may not require a specific form as the only acceptable documentation. In practice, if their form is harmless — name, animal, mental-health professional contact — filling it in alongside your letter costs nothing and speeds things up. If it demands your diagnosis or your records, that is where to push back.
How Long May a Housing Provider Take to Decide?
The standard is a reasonable time. There is no fixed number of days in federal law, but weeks of silence after a written request starts to look like constructive denial. Ask for a written response by a specific date, and keep the timeline.
What About a Homeowners Association or Condo Board?
HOAs and condo associations are generally covered by the Fair Housing Act too, and the same accommodation analysis applies to their rules and by-laws.
Who Exactly Should I Send the Request To?
The property manager or the management company's compliance address. Ask in writing who handles accommodation requests if it is not obvious.
Should I Send the Letter by Email or Post?
Email, so you have a timestamp and a record. Ask for confirmation of receipt.
What Should the Accommodation Request Actually Say?
That you are requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act for an assistance animal, which animal it is, and that you would like a written decision by a specific date. We include an editable template.
Can My Landlord Meet My Animal First?
In most circumstances they may not require it as a precondition of granting the accommodation.
What if the Building Has Already Refused Verbally?
Put the request in writing anyway. A verbal refusal is hard to act on; a written request and a written response create the record you would need later.
Does This Work for a Room in a Shared House?
It depends on the property. Owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units are among the federal exemptions, though state or local law may still cover them.
How Soon Before Moving Should I Start?
As early as you can, and before signing where possible. Campus housing in particular runs on deadlines months ahead of term.
Get a Letter Your Landlord Can Verify
Screened and signed by a mental-health professional licensed in your state, with the accommodation request template included.