Emotional Support Animals - Right to Emotional Support Animals in "No Pet" Housing - Information Sheet 6

Sep 15, 2026

Provides guidance on the right of tenants to keep emotional support animals in housing with “no pet” policies under U.S. disability law. Explains how assistive animals may mitigate psychiatric disabilities and outlines the legal basis under the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and ADA Title II. Details what qualifies as a “reasonable accommodation,” when landlords must grant an exception, and the core elements required to establish a reasonable accommodation claim.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

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Pages12

Reading Time4 min

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Fair Housing Information Sheet # 6

Right to Emotional Support Animals in "No Pet" Housing

Reasonable Accommodation: What It Means

Legal Protections Under Federal Statutes

Fair Housing Act (FHA)

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, § 504

ADA Title II

Disability Definition for Tenants

Fair Housing Information Sheet \# 6 Right to Emotional Support Animals in "No Pet" Housing Advocates and professionals have long recognized the benefits of assistive animals for people with physical disabilities, including Seeing Eye dogs or hearing dogs that are trained to perform simple tasks such as carrying notes and alerting their owners to oncoming traffic or other environmental hazards. Recent research suggests that people with psychiatric disabilities can benefit significantly from assistive animals, too. Emotional support animals have been proven extremely effective at ameliorating the symptoms of these disabilities, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, by providing therapeutic nurture and support. See Psychiatric Service Animals page for information about other issues and the 2010 definitions of service and companion animals under the ADA, the Fair Housing Act, and Section 504. See also comments filed with the Department of Justice (in 2008) and the Department of Transportation(December 2009) addressing proposed regulations governing the use of psychiatric service animals, described in our December 8, 2009 Action Alert. The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act protect the right of people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals, even when a landlord's policy explicitly prohibits pets. Because emotional support and service animals are not "pets," but rather are considered to be more like assistive aids such as wheelchairs, the law will generally require the landlord to make an exception to its "no pet" policy so that a tenant with a disability can fully use and enjoy his or her dwelling. In most housing complexes, so long as the tenant has a letter or prescription from an appropriate professional, such as a therapist or physician, and meets the definition of a person with a disability, he or she is entitled to a reasonable accommodation that would allow an emotional support animal in the apartment. What exactly is a reasonable accommodation? Discrimination under the FHA includes "a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford [a person with a disability] an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. " 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) . So long as the requested accommodation does not constitute an undue financial or administrative burden for the landlord, or fundamentally alter the nature of the housing, the landlord must provide the accommodation. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and several courts have explicitly stated that an exception to a "no pets" policy would qualify as a reasonable accommodation. See, e.g., Bronk v. Ineichen, 54 F.3d 425, 429 (7th Cir. 1995) (balanced against landlord's economic or aesthetic concerns as expressed in a no-pets policy, deaf tenant's need for accommodation of hearing dog is per se reasonable); Fulciniti v. Village of Shadyside Condominium Association, No. 96-1825 (W. D. Pa. Nov. 20, 1998) (defendant condominium association had not presented any evidence suggesting that the tenant's assistive animal created a threat or disturbance, and therefore violated the FHA by failing to provide a reasonable accommodation); Occupancy Requirements of Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs, HUD, No. 4350.3, exhibit 2-2 (1998) (it would not constitute a fundamental alteration in the nature of the program or activity to require the Owner to make an exception to the no pets rule so that tenant could keep assistive animal, where "assistive animal" includes emotional support animals for people with chronic mental illness) . Depending upon the type of housing in which the tenant resides, his or her right to a reasonable accommodation will be grounded in one, or any combination, of the following statutes: | Statute | Covered Housing | Elements of

FAQs

What is the tenant’s right to an emotional support animal in housing with a “no pet” policy?

Federal law generally requires landlords to make an exception to a “no pet” policy as a reasonable accommodation for a tenant with a disability, allowing the tenant to use and enjoy the dwelling with the emotional support animal.

What qualifies as a “reasonable accommodation” in this context?

A reasonable accommodation is an adjustment to rules, policies, or services that may be necessary to provide an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, provided it does not impose an undue financial or administrative burden or fundamentally alter the nature of the housing.

Which federal laws protect the right to keep emotional support animals?

The Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and ADA Title II protect people with disabilities and can require exceptions to “no pets” policies when the required standards are met.

Sep 15, 2026

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