What Is the Next Step After Getting an ESA Letter

Here's what you should do after receiving your ESA letter to ensure a smooth housing accommodation process.

How Do You Know If Your ESA Letter Is Valid?

Your ESA letter is valid if a licensed mental health professional writes it and carries a few clear markers. It's worth checking this first, because landlords routinely verify ESA letters and missing details cause most delays and rejections. Confirm that yours includes:

• The provider's name, signature, and professional letterhead
• Their state license number and the state where they're licensed
• Their contact information
• The issue date, signed and dated within the last 12 months
• A statement that you have a disability-related need for the animal as part of your treatment plan

What it should not rely on: a "certification," a "registration number," or a listing in a national database. None of those are what the law recognizes, and letters built around them are the ones landlords reject. 

A valid letter is grounded in a real relationship with a licensed provider, which is why RealESALetter.com connects people with state-licensed mental health professionals who evaluate genuine need before any letter is issued.

What Should You Do First With Your ESA Letter?

The first thing to do is submit a copy of your ESA letter to your landlord or property manager as a written reasonable accommodation request under the Fair Housing Act.

This is the single action that activates your housing rights, and everything else follows from it. You don't need special legal language. Just put the request in writing so both sides have a record. In short:

1. Send a copy, never your original letter.
2. Put the request in writing, using the phrase "reasonable accommodation request."
3. Attach the letter from your licensed provider.
4. Keep a dated record of what you sent and when.

A short email is enough. You can adapt this template:

Subject: Reasonable Accommodation Request for [Your Unit / Address]

Dear [Landlord / Property Manager],

I'm requesting a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act to keep an assistance animal in my home. Attached is a letter from my licensed mental health professional confirming a disability-related need for my emotional support animal.

Because an assistance animal is not a pet under the FHA, I'm asking that pet fees, pet deposits, and any no-pets policy be waived for this animal. Please confirm your decision in writing.

Thank you, [Your name] · [Phone / email]

This works the same in a standard rental or a no-pet building. For the full version, use the complete walkthrough below. It covers detailed wording, edge cases, and how to handle a property manager who pushes back.

Walk through the complete ESA accommodation request process →

What Happens After You Submit Your ESA Letter?

After you submit, your landlord reviews the request and responds. Under HUD guidance, housing providers should respond promptly to a reasonable accommodation request. As a best practice, HUD suggests a decision generally within 10 days of receiving your documentation. 

That's a recommended standard, not a hard legal deadline. Some replies come faster, and some take longer. What often follows is the interactive process: a follow-up question or two to confirm the disability-related need. That's normal and doesn't mean you're being denied.

During review, your landlord has clear limits. They cannot demand your medical records, ask for a specific diagnosis, or require a particular certification or registration.

They also cannot force your provider to fill out a proprietary questionnaire when your letter already meets the legal bar, and they cannot charge a pet deposit, pet fee, or monthly pet rent for an assistance animal.

If you already paid a pet deposit before your animal was recognized as an ESA, you can generally request it back. You do remain responsible for any actual damage the animal causes, which comes out of your standard security deposit. Fees paid before your letter's issue date, though, aren't refundable.

If you hear nothing back after a reasonable window, a polite written follow-up referencing your original request usually moves things along.

What If Your Landlord Denies Your ESA Request?

If your landlord says no, a denial isn't the end of the road, and it doesn't mean your letter is worthless. Many refusals come from landlords who misread their obligations, and a clear written record usually resolves a wrongly rejected ESA letter. 

If a housing provider refuses a valid reasonable accommodation request, you can file a complaint with HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which enforces the Fair Housing Act.

That said, a landlord can legally decline in a few narrow situations: if the specific animal poses a direct threat to others' safety or would cause substantial property damage, or if the accommodation would create an undue financial or administrative burden. A small set of properties are also exempt from the FHA's assistance-animal rules altogether. 

The main ones are owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units (the "Mrs. Murphy" exemption) and single-family homes rented directly by the owner without a real-estate broker. These exemptions are narrow and don't apply to most rentals.

Where Does Your ESA Letter Work, and Where Doesn't It?

Your ESA letter works in housing and essentially nowhere else: it grants protections under the Fair Housing Act, not universal access everywhere you go.

Two limits matter most. First, an ESA is not a service animal under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so it carries no public-access rights to shops, restaurants, or other businesses.

Second, under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), a 2021 Department of Transportation rule removed emotional support animals from the definition of a service animal. 

Airlines now treat ESAs as regular pets, subject to standard carrier policies and fees. If you need your animal in the cabin, the only federally protected path is a trained Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD), a dog trained to perform specific tasks for a mental-health disability. A PSD still qualifies under the ACAA. Your letter does its main job at home. It just doesn't stretch beyond housing.

Do You Need to Renew Your ESA Letter After Getting It?

An ESA letter does not have a federally mandated expiration date, so it does not automatically become invalid after a certain period. However, many landlords prefer documentation issued within the last 12 months, and some states, including Iowa and Arkansas, have their own annual renewal requirements.

Renewing your ESA letter each year helps demonstrate that a licensed mental health professional has recently confirmed your ongoing need for an emotional support animal. Updating your documentation before it becomes outdated can also help avoid delays when requesting housing accommodations.

If you move to a new home, you generally do not need a new ESA letter simply because your address has changed. A legitimate ESA letter can be used to request a housing accommodation from your new landlord, provided it reflects your current need and meets any applicable state requirements.

You did the hard part by getting your letter. From here it's simple: confirm it's valid, submit it in writing, keep your records, stay within the housing protections it grants, and renew before the year is out. Do that, and your letter will quietly do its job for as long as you and your animal are together.