ESA letter to your landlord: what to send and what to write
Half the people searching this want the clinician's letter and half want their own covering request. They are different documents with different authors, and sending one without the other is the commonest reason a request stalls. Here is both halves, and a template for the half that is yours.
Included below
- What the clinician writes versus what you write
- A complete covering request to adapt
- The three things to attach and nothing more
- Six phrases that cause avoidable trouble
An emotional support animal letter to your landlord
Half the people searching this want the clinician's letter and half want their own covering request. They are different documents with different authors, and sending one without the other is why requests stall.
- What the clinician writes, and what you write
- A covering request to adapt
- Six phrases that cause trouble
The covering request is short and it is yours to write. The clinician's assessment carries the substance.
The distinction that is the page
Two documents, two authors
Written by them
The clinician's letter
- Confirms a disability-related need exists
- Sets down that the animal meets a portion of it
- Carries a licence number and the issuing state
- Names no condition and describes no treatment
- Is evidence, and makes no request of anybody
Written by you
Your covering request
- Asks, in terms, for a reasonable accommodation
- Names the unit, the animal and its species
- Lists what is attached
- Gives a date for their reply
- Is the request, and without it nothing has been formally asked
Your covering request, complete
This is the part you write. Keep it this short - the clinician's letter carries the substance and your job is to ask clearly and give them somewhere to reply.
Subject: Request for reasonable accommodation, assistance animal - unit [unit number]
Dear [name],
I have lived at [address] since [date], and I am asking for a reasonable accommodation so that an assistance animal may live here with me.
The animal is a [species], named [name]. Attached is [clinician name]'s assessment. They hold state licence [licence number] and will take a call from you if confirmation would help.
Responsibility for how the animal conducts itself, and for anything it damages, rests with me. I will sign a separate note to that effect gladly.
Would you write back to say whether this is agreed, ideally before [date roughly two weeks ahead]. Where another colleague looks after these, please send it on and tell me who has it.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
[your name] · [unit] · [phone] · [email]
Phrases to avoid
Wording that causes trouble
All six crop up often in drafts we are shown, and each manufactures a difficulty that need never have arisen.
- My doctor says I need...Attribute the finding to the enclosed assessment rather than paraphrasing it yourself.
- My registered ESANo register exists. The phrase invites a request for a registration number you cannot supply.
- You are legally required to...True or not, it starts an argument with somebody who was about to approve it.
- My condition is...Never name it. It was not askable, and volunteering it opens a line of questioning.
- As soon as possibleGive a date instead. A date is a shared reference point; 'soon' is not.
- My certified support animalCertification implies a body that does not exist and weakens an otherwise sound request.
Ten practical answers
Sending the request
Is the ESA letter the same as my letter to the landlord?
No, and conflating them causes most of the confusion here. The clinician writes one document about your need. You write a separate covering request asking for the accommodation. The landlord receives both; only the second is written by you.
Why do I need to write anything if I have the clinician's letter?
Because the clinician's letter is evidence, not a request. Somebody has to actually ask for the accommodation, name the animal and the unit, and put a date on it. That somebody is you.
What should my covering request say?
Four items - the request itself, the animal in question, your enclosures, and the date you hope to hear back. Under two hundred words is normal and sufficient.
Should I send them at the same time?
Yes, as one message with the letter attached. Splitting them across two emails is how one half ends up in a file without the other.
Who do I address it to?
A named person wherever possible - the property manager or whoever signs your tenancy correspondence. Shared inboxes swallow requests, and a name gives you somebody to follow up with.
Do I have to use their portal?
Use it if one exists, then email the same thing to a named person. Things vanish inside portals, and getting your own uploads back out is not always possible.
Should I mention the law in my request?
One sentence identifying it as a reasonable accommodation request is enough. That phrase is what routes it correctly inside a management company, which is the practical reason to include it.
What if they reply asking for more?
Answer the specific question narrowly and in writing. Asking for your diagnosis or your files reaches past what may be demanded, and courteously saying so answers it fully.
Do I need to say what my animal does for me?
Not in detail. The clinician's letter covers the need. Naming the animal, its species and its name is enough from you.
How long should I give them to respond?
Two weeks is reasonable and normal. Name the date rather than saying promptly, because a date is something both sides can refer back to.
You will need the clinician's half first.
The covering request above is quick. The assessment behind it is the part that takes a licensed professional. Start there, at no charge.
