Glossary Term
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides therapeutic benefit to a person with a disability through companionship. Refusing a reasonable accommodation a person with a disability needs is illegal under the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B); 24 CFR § 100.204), and that has not changed — so a landlord with a no-pets policy is still expected to consider a genuine ESA request. How HUD enforces it did change: HUD withdrew its 2013 and 2020 assistance-animal notices on September 17, 2025, and said on May 22, 2026 that it will pursue a complaint only where the animal is individually trained to do a disability-related task, the standard the ADA uses for service animals. HUD's own guidance says nothing in it affects the right to sue in court.
In short
An emotional support animal (ESA) is an animal that provides therapeutic benefit to a person with a disability through companionship. Refusing a reasonable accommodation a person with a disability needs is illegal under the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B); 24 CFR § 100.204), and that has not changed — so a landlord with a no-pets policy is still expected to consider a genuine ESA request. How HUD enforces it did change: HUD withdrew its 2013 and 2020 assistance-animal notices on September 17, 2025, and said on May 22, 2026 that it will pursue a complaint only where the animal is individually trained to do a disability-related task, the standard the ADA uses for service animals. HUD's own guidance says nothing in it affects the right to sue in court.
ESAs can be essential to a tenant's wellbeing, but the rules are often misunderstood by landlords and tenants alike — and the federal enforcement picture shifted in 2026. Knowing where the law is settled and where it is not helps you assert your rights without overstating them.
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No. A service animal is individually trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability and has broad public-access rights. An ESA provides comfort and does not have that public access. Since May 2026 that difference also decides whether HUD itself will pursue a housing complaint: it takes animal-accommodation cases only where the animal is individually trained.
For a service animal — one trained to do a disability-related task — no: it is an accommodation, not a pet, and that has not changed. For an untrained ESA this is less settled than it was: HUD's 2013 and 2020 notices said no fee could be charged, and HUD withdrew both on September 17, 2025, then narrowed its own enforcement to trained animals on May 22, 2026. The statute is unchanged and you can still sue, but whether the no-fee rule holds for your ESA now depends more on your state's law and local court decisions. You remain responsible for any actual damage the animal causes.
There is no official ESA registry and no certificate a landlord can require. An ESA does not become a service animal without task training — and since May 2026 HUD pursues a housing complaint only where an animal is individually trained for a disability-related task, so training is now what separates the strongest federal case from a weaker one.
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