One federal foundation, fifty local rulebooks. Start with the essentials below, then open your state’s dedicated law guide.
Every ESA question — housing, stores, flights — comes down to which of these applies.
Where you live. Most landlords must reasonably accommodate a valid ESA — even in no-pet buildings — with no pet fees, deposits, or breed and size limits. This is where ESA rights are strongest, though HUD narrowed its own enforcement for untrained ESAs in May 2026.
Public places. The ADA covers task-trained service animals only. ESAs have no public-access rights to stores, restaurants, or offices — the key difference from psychiatric service dogs.
In the air. Since 2021, airlines may treat ESAs as pets — fees and carriers apply. Task-trained psychiatric service dogs keep free cabin access with the DOT form.
Accept a valid letter from a professional licensed in your state · waive pet rent, fees, and deposits · set aside breed, size, and weight limits · respond to your request within a reasonable time.
Demand your diagnosis or medical records · charge extra for an approved ESA · reject a letter just because the evaluation was telehealth · retaliate against you for requesting an accommodation.
These states have their own rules on ESA documentation, landlord requests or misrepresentation, on top of the federal baseline. Last checked October 13, 2026; each card links to the full state guide.
HB 198 (2018), Act 2018-235 — Limits landlord documentation requests to non-obvious disabilities or needs, defines reliable documentation as coming from the person's medical provider, and penalizes misrepresenting a need for, or a pet as, an assistance or service animal in housing.
HB 2068 (2025), Laws 2025, Ch. 191 — Defines assistance animals (including untrained emotional support animals) in the Arizona Fair Housing Act and protects landlords from liability for injuries caused by an assistance or service animal they allowed as an accommodation.
Act 819 (2025) — Lets private property and business owners prohibit emotional support animals except where the Fair Housing Act or other federal law requires them, and limits owner liability for injuries caused by such animals.
AB 468 (2021) — Sets licensing, 30-day relationship, clinical evaluation and notice requirements for anyone documenting a need for an emotional support dog, and requires sellers of ESA dogs and ESA certificates or gear to give written notice that ESAs are not service animals.
HB26-1045 (2026), 'Disabilities Housing Protections' — Defines assistance and emotional support animals in state fair housing law and makes allowing them presumptively a reasonable accommodation, with limits on documentation requests and denials.
SB 1084 (2020), Ch. 2020-76, Laws of Fla. — Defines what landlords may ask and what counts as reliable ESA documentation, including personal-knowledge and in-person-care rules for practitioners.
SB 2002 (2022), Act 154 — Defined 'assistance animal' (including emotional support animals) in state fair housing law, set what verification a housing provider may request, and declared that vests, tags and online registrations are not valid verification.
HB 3671 (2019), Public Act 101-0518 — Created the Assistance Animal Integrity Act, setting documentation rules, a 'therapeutic relationship' requirement, a ban on pet fees for assistance animals, and limited grounds for denial.
SEA 240 (2018), P.L. 162-2018 — Created state rules for emotional support animals in rental housing, including verification standards, a no-fee rule and a Class A infraction for misrepresentation or improper verification.
SF 2268 (2024), 2024 Iowa Acts ch. 1092 — Rewrote both sections to require a provider finding that certifies a relationship of at least 30 days, discloses any separate fee, and stays valid for 12 months or the lease term, and to spell out when landlords may deny a request.
HB 335 (2024), 2024 Ky. Acts ch. 140 — Clarified that emotional support animals do not get assistance-dog public access rights, while KRS 383.085 continues to govern ESAs in housing.
HB 407 (2024), Act 558 — Created documentation standards for support-animal letters (Louisiana or compact license, 30-day relationship, two sessions), banned misrepresentation of disability or support-animal need, required disclaimers by sellers of animals and letters, and set escalating fines.
P.L. 2019, c. 464 — Amended the list of licensed professionals who can determine that a person needs an assistance animal.
S.F. 3492 (2024), ch. 118, sec. 6 — Requires landlords who charge pet fees to state in the lease that service and support animals are exempt, and lets tenants recover fees paid when that disclosure was missing.
SB 644 / SB 656 (2020) — Expanded Missouri's service dog misrepresentation law to cover misrepresenting any animal, including an emotional support animal, as an assistance animal for housing, with misdemeanor penalties and civil liability.
SB 149 (2025), Ch. 360, L. 2025 — Requires the letter writer to be a Montana-licensed mental health professional with at least a 30-day client relationship and a completed clinical evaluation of the tenant.
NRS 118.105 (added 1977; last amended 2005) — Prohibits refusing to rent to a person with a disability because of an animal that assists or supports them, and lets landlords ask for a health care provider statement as proof.
HB 1272 (2017) — Tightened who may provide assistance-animal documentation for rentals and made fraudulent disability claims or documentation an infraction with eviction and up to a $1,000 damage fee.
HB 1178 (2025) — Made misrepresenting a pet as a service animal a misdemeanor in businesses and public places; it does not change the housing rules for emotional support animals.
Oregon has no comprehensive emotional support animal statute, but its landlord-tenant law (ORS 90.300(4)) bars landlords from charging a pet security deposit for a service animal or companion animal that a tenant with a disability needs as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws.
HB 2049 (2018), Act 118 of 2018 — Let landlords and associations request written documentation for assistance animals and created criminal penalties for misrepresenting a disability or an animal's status in housing.
S.281 (2019), Act No. 44 — Set the questions and documentation a landlord may require for emotional support and other non-service assistance animals, and separately created fines of up to $250/$500/$1,000 for misrepresenting a pet as a service animal.
SB 119 (2018) — Lets landlords request reliable documentation from a licensed provider for a service or emotional support animal and allows eviction plus a fee of up to $1,000 for knowingly false claims or fraudulent documentation.
SB 2030 / HB 2266 (2024), Pub. Ch. 754 — Provides that documents from websites whose main purpose is selling animal certificates, registrations or similar paperwork are not reliable documentation for a rental animal exception.
2023 recodification (Laws 2023, ch. 308) — Moved the service and support animal provisions into Title 26B without changing their substance.
HB 1725 (2023), Acts 2023 ch. 439 — Bars providers from supplying fraudulent documentation of a disability or disability-related need for an assistance animal and makes it a prohibited practice under the Virginia Consumer Protection Act.
SB 300 (2024) — Moved the Fair Housing Act's assistance animal rules (first added by HB 2387 in 2014 to former 5-11A) into the new Chapter 16B.
AB 771 (2017), 2017 Wisconsin Act 317 — Defined emotional support animals, allowed landlords to request documentation from a Wisconsin-licensed health professional, and set forfeitures of at least $500 for misrepresentation.
SF 147 (2025), Laws 2025 ch. 99 — Updated the definition of assistance animal to include animals that provide emotional support alleviating identified symptoms of a disability, and raised penalties for harming service or assistance animals.
Every guide covers the Fair Housing Act locally, who may write your letter, your state’s enforcement agency, and where the limits sit.
If a housing provider refuses a valid accommodation, put the request and the refusal in writing — then escalate. HUD accepts Fair Housing Act complaints from every state, and most states run a civil-rights agency that handles housing cases too; your state’s page names the right office.
The law cuts both ways: many states now penalize misrepresenting a pet as an assistance animal or using fabricated documents. No registry, ID card, or vest is legally required anywhere — the only document that matters is a letter from a licensed mental health professional issued after a real evaluation. That standard protects honest handlers, and it’s exactly the standard our network follows.
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