In 2024, almost 84% of all fair housing discrimination complaints involved rental transactions, and just under 65% of all discrimination complaints involved alleged discrimination based on disability, many of which were based on issues around assistance animals.
Types of Assistance Animals
- Service animals – dogs with individualized training to perform specific tasks for the benefit of a specific individual with a disability
- Assistance animals – other animals that provide some sort of assistance or support for an individual with a disability
Service Animals
- Specific definition and meaning under applicable federal laws
- Dog of any breed or size
- Trained to perform a task related to a person’s disability
- Generally, can accompany people with disabilities in their homes and all areas where the public, participants in programs, services or activities, or invitees are permitted
Assistance Animals
- A broad term that can refer to assistance animals, support animals, emotional support animals, therapy animals, companion animals, etc.
- Could be any species
- necessary to mitigate the effects of a physical or mental disability
- Must be permitted in areas like a person’s home, workplace and K-12 schools
Laws About Assistance Animals
It is important to understand the laws and regulations regarding assistance animals:
Fair Housing Act
The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination when they rent or buy a home, get a mortgage, seek housing assistance, or engage in other housing-related activities.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development helps landlords understand the rules for assistance animals under the Fair Housing Act.
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act protects people with disabilities from discrimination. The ADA requires that businesses and state and local governments not discriminate against a member of the public with a disability who uses a service animal.
The Department of Justice explains in detail the rules for service animals under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act not only prohibits discrimination against individuals who need assistance animals, but it also prohibits discrimination against individuals who serve as handlers and trainers of assistance animals (i.e., they are not disabled themselves but help train animals for assistance purposes). The Housing Equity Center of Pennsylvania has many resources covering landlords’ fair housing compliance responsibilities, including specific information on assistance animals.
Pennsylvania Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act of 2018
The Pennsylvania Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act of 2018 makes it a criminal offense to misrepresent one’s disability and/or entitlement to a service or support animal. This might include making false claims about a disability or providing a fill-in-the-blank online form rather than a document from a professional with firsthand knowledge of an individual’s condition and needs.
Obtaining Legal Advice for You or Your Client
The rules around assistance animals can be very complex, with overlaps and differing requirements that can be difficult to interpret. There are some exceptions where the laws don’t apply, but they are narrow, and the state law has narrower exclusions than federal law. If real estate consumers (buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants) have questions about their legal rights and responsibilities, the best advice you can give is to suggest that they engage a local attorney with experience in this area of the law.
Do not try to give legal advice as to whether or how one or more laws may apply to their transaction.
Questions about the rights and responsibilities of real estate licensees involved in a transaction are best directed to a broker or office manager, and, as necessary, to brokerage counsel.
While the PAR Legal Hotline can answer general questions about the relevant rules, hotline attorneys cannot provide direct legal advice on how to handle specific transactional scenarios.
Complying with Laws Regarding Assistance Animals
Landlord Responsibility in Rental Units
Landlords are required to “make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.
Generally, this means that a landlord must engage in an interactive discussion with the tenant or prospective tenant to assess whether the request appears reasonable based on the information provided by the tenant. These determinations can be very fact-specific and legally complex. A landlord or property manager who seeks to deny or limit a request should seek counsel from a local attorney with experience in leasing and fair housing issues before making a final determination.
Are Assistance Animals Pets?
No, an assistance animal is not a pet. Assistance animals perform tasks or provide other support for individuals with disabilities and should be thought of like any other assistance device, such as a wheelchair or cane.
“No Animals” Policies
Landlords can have a “no animals” policy, but if a tenant or prospective tenant asks for an accommodation to keep an assistance animal, the landlord may have to make an exception to that policy as a reasonable accommodation, provided the request is supported by the information the tenant provides.
By definition, a reasonable accommodation is a change or adjustment to existing policies to support an individual with a disability, so a landlord cannot deny a request based merely on the existence of the “no animals” policy.
Assistance Animals and Fees
Can a landlord charge higher rents, higher security deposits or additional fees to a tenant who is approved to keep an assistance animal?
In a shift from its previous position, HUD guidance stating that landlords cannot charge any fees based on assistance animals was rescinded in 2025-2026. The law, however, does still require that housing providers make reasonable accommodations when requests are made based on a disability.
There is some caselaw suggesting that landlords who already charge a fee for animals could analyze a request to waive a fee differently from a request to keep an assistance animal. In that scenario, it might be possible for a landlord to determine that allowing the animal is “necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling,” but that a fee waiver is not necessary for that purpose.
That said, landlords should not attempt to charge additional or higher fees to a tenant based solely on a reasonable accommodation that was made on account of a tenant’s disability. For example, if a landlord does not already charge a “pet fee” to tenants who have pets, it would be questionable to create and charge such a fee only to tenants who are approved to keep an assistance animal as a reasonable accommodation for their disability.
These determinations can be very fact-specific and legally complex. A landlord or property manager who seeks to deny or limit a request should seek counsel from a local attorney with experience in leasing and fair housing issues before making a final determination.
Questions for Potential Tenants
On rental applications, landlords cannot ask about assistance animals. Asking about assistance animals is the same as asking “Do you have a disability?” Landlords cannot and should not ask any question designed to elicit information about whether a prospective tenant belongs to any protected class, since that should not be considered in any way in making a leasing determination.
There is no obligation for a potential tenant to proactively disclose any information about being in a protected class, since that should not be considered in any way in making a leasing determination. Another way to look at this is that “Do you have an assistance animal?” is similar to asking a person about a specific race or ethnicity. There’s no valid reason to ask for that information or make a decision based on the response.
A tenant can make their request for an assistance animal accommodation at any time, even after they’ve already brought an assistance animal into the property.
Requesting Documentation for Assistance Animals
A landlord can ask for documentation of the tenant’s need for the accommodation, with limitations.
No documentation can be required if the disability and need are obvious (e.g., a blind person with a guide dog). The landlord can ask for documentation that reasonably supports that the animal does work, performs tasks, provides assistance and/or provides therapeutic emotional support on behalf of the prospective tenant, but cannot require that they provide specific information about the nature and extent of the disability.
A landlord can require that the documentation be provided by an appropriate professional, but cannot limit the types of practitioners they’ll accept. For example, a landlord cannot require that the documentation come from a local primary care physician. A therapist or even a tele-health provider could be acceptable if they have the relevant knowledge about the need.
A landlord is not required to grant an accommodation if the tenant refuses to provide the type of documentation necessary to support their request. The Pennsylvania Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act of 2018 prohibits knowingly misrepresenting one’s disability or a need for an assistance animal.
