How to ask your landlord

When to submit

As early as you can. Before you sign, if you already have the animal and the letter. Before you move the animal in, if you’re already housed. A request made after a violation notice still has to be considered, but you’re negotiating from a worse position and possibly against a clock.

Put it in writing

Email or a dated letter, to the property manager or the address in your lease for notices. Keep a copy of everything. Verbal requests are legally valid, but they’re hard to prove and easy to lose in a staffing change.

Attach the therapist’s letter. Don’t attach your medical records, and don’t volunteer your diagnosis. You’re documenting a disability-related need, which is all the provider is entitled to.

Sample wording

Dear [Property manager],

I am a tenant at [unit and address]. I am requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act to keep an assistance animal in my home. I have a disability, and my [dog / cat] helps with its effects.

Attached is a letter from [therapist name], a [license type] licensed in Texas, confirming my disability-related need for the animal. Please let me know in writing if you need anything further, and I would appreciate a written decision.

Thank you, [Name, date, phone, email]

Adapt this. Don’t include your diagnosis, and don’t attach medical records.

Keep it short and unemotional. You aren’t persuading anyone, you’re creating a record of a request that was made on a date, supported by documentation from a licensed professional.

What to expect

• Approval. Often with a request to sign an animal addendum. Read it. An addendum that imposes pet rent or a pet deposit on an approved assistance animal is asking you to waive something the Act gives you.
• A follow-up question. Usually reasonable, especially for an unusual species. Ask for it in writing and answer it in writing.
• Silence. Follow up in writing after a week or two. Unreasonable delay can amount to a constructive denial.
• Denial. Ask for the reason in writing.

Improper requests

Common improper requests, and short answers you can adapt:

• “Send us your diagnosis or medical records.” The letter confirms a disability-related need for the animal, which is the information a housing provider may request. I am not able to provide diagnostic or treatment records.
• “Register the animal / send a certificate or ID card.” No such registration or certification exists in law, and HUD guidance is explicit that it may not be required.
• “Pay the pet deposit and pet rent.” An approved assistance animal isn’t a pet under the Fair Housing Act, so pet fees and deposits don’t apply. I remain responsible for any actual damage.
• “The breed isn’t allowed.” Breed and weight restrictions are pet policies and don’t apply to an assistance animal.

If you’re denied

1. Get the stated reason in writing.
2. Check it against the four permissible grounds. If it’s none of them, say so in writing, calmly, and reference the request date.
3. If a genuine clarification would resolve it, one revision from the therapist is included in your fee.
4. If it doesn’t resolve, file with HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity or the Civil Rights Division of the Texas Workforce Commission, and consider contacting a Texas legal aid organization. Deadlines apply.

After approval

Keep the approval, the letter and the correspondence together somewhere you can find them in two years. Staff turn over, files get lost, and management companies change. The tenant who still has the dated email is the tenant who doesn’t have to relitigate this at renewal.