ESA letters in Houston

The garage apartment problem

Houston's lack of zoning produced something unusual: an enormous stock of garage apartments, converted duplexes and back-house rentals scattered through Oak Forest, the Heights, Spring Branch and East End. Many are owned by the person living in the front house.

That matters more here than almost anywhere else in Texas, because the Fair Housing Act exempts owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units. If your landlord lives on the property and the building has four units or fewer, the Act may not reach your request at all. It does not make an accommodation impossible — many small landlords say yes when asked properly — but you are negotiating rather than asserting a right, and it is worth knowing which position you are in before you write.

The opposite is true in the mid-rise and high-rise market through Midtown, Montrose, the Museum District and the Energy Corridor. Those are professionally managed, almost never exempt, and usually have a written accommodation procedure that staff can point you to if you ask.

Corporate management and breed lists

A large share of Houston's apartment inventory is owned by institutional landlords and run by national management companies. That cuts both ways. They rarely have a personal objection to your animal, and they usually have a compliance department that knows what the Fair Housing Act requires. They also run standardised pet policies with breed and weight restrictions baked into the leasing software.

Those restrictions are pet policies. They do not apply to an approved assistance animal, and a leasing agent quoting the breed list at you is usually reading from a screen rather than making a legal determination. Ask, in writing, for the accommodation request to go to whoever handles them.

After a storm

Houston displaces and rehouses more renters than any other Texas city, and a rushed lease signed after a flood is where assistance animal problems tend to start. If you are moving under pressure, make the accommodation request before you sign rather than after you move in. A request made at application is a conversation. A request made after your animal has already been discovered is a dispute.

Where to complain in Harris County

If a Houston 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. Harris County falls within the service area of Lone Star Legal Aid, which covers 72 counties across east, southeast and Gulf Coast Texas. Applications are taken by phone on 800-733-8394, subject to income eligibility.

Before any of that, read how to make the request properly — most denials we see in Houston follow a request that was never put in writing.