Garland · Dallas County
ESA letters in Garland
Garland is mostly a single-family city, and single-family rentals produce a different accommodation problem from apartments: the landlord is often one person with one house.
County
Dallas County
Evaluation
Telehealth, video or phone
Therapist
From
$129 for up to 2 animals
One landlord, one house
A large share of Garland's rental housing is detached homes owned by individuals, many of them former owner-occupiers who moved and kept the property. These landlords are covered by the Fair Housing Act if they own more than three single-family homes, or if they use a broker or an agent, which most do when they advertise.
What they will not have is a procedure. Nobody is going to hand you an accommodation request form. Write a short email, attach the therapist's letter, ask for a written answer, and keep it. That email is the entire record if this later goes wrong.
Homeowners associations
Newer subdivisions in north Garland are governed by property owners associations under the Texas Residential Property Owners Protection Act. If your landlord is a member, the association's rules may reach you through the lease. Association pet restrictions do not displace fair housing obligations for an assistance animal, but the association may need notifying, and your landlord is usually the one to do it.
Yard, fence and nuisance terms
Single-family leases contain terms apartments do not: fencing, yard damage, noise carrying to neighbours. Those apply to you as they would to any tenant. An accommodation covers keeping the animal; it does not excuse damage or a nuisance, and persistent unaddressed problems can cost you the accommodation.
Where to complain in Dallas County
If a Garland housing provider denies a request you believe was lawful, there are three routes and they are not mutually exclusive.
- The Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission enforces the Texas Fair Housing Act statewide.
- HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity handles complaints under the federal Act. Deadlines apply, so do not sit on it.
- Free legal help. Dallas County falls within the service area of Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, which covers 114 counties across North and West Texas and the Panhandle. Applications are taken by phone on 888-529-5277, subject to income eligibility.
Before any of that, read how to make the request properly — most denials we see in Garland follow a request that was never put in writing.
Garland questions
My landlord owns just this one house. Are they covered?
Possibly not. A private owner of three or fewer single-family homes who rents without a broker and without discriminatory advertising can fall within an exemption. Using a listing agent generally removes it.
Does the HOA have to approve my animal?
An association cannot use its pet rules to defeat a lawful assistance animal accommodation, but it may need to be notified. Ask your landlord who is responsible for association compliance.
An ESA letter is housing documentation. It does not create public access rights in Garland shops, restaurants or hotels, and it has not helped with air travel since the Department of Transportation rule took effect in early 2021. Texas law makes it an offense to knowingly represent an animal as an assistance or service animal when it is not specially trained or equipped. Read the Texas law guide.
Also serving:Houston · San Antonio · Dallas · Austin · Fort Worth · El Paso · Arlington · Corpus Christi · Plano · Lubbock · Laredo · Irving · Frisco · McKinney · Amarillo