# ESA Letter in Alabama: The Duty Hidden in the Exemptions

> Alabama's accommodation duty sits inside a section headed Exemptions. What § 24-8-7(g)(2) requires, why ADECA handles complaints, and the 180-day deadline.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-08-11
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

**Summary:** Alabama's fair housing law rewards reading past the obvious section. Ala. Code § 24-8-4 lists the unlawful housing practices, and its first two subdivisions (refusing to rent, and discriminating in the terms of a tenancy) do not mention handicap at all. The handicap limb is subdivision (6), and what that subdivision means is defined two sections later, inside a section headed "Exemptions": § 24-8-7(g)(2) makes it discrimination to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when they may be necessary to afford a person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. That is the provision an emotional support animal request runs on. Alabama also has a service animal chapter at § 21-7-1 et seq., but it covers trained animals and expressly does not limit rights regarding other assistance animals, so it is not the route for an ESA. Two further features set the state apart: fair housing is administered by the Office of ADECA, the state economic development agency, and a complaint must be filed within 180 days.

## The section that looks like the answer, and is not

Most guides to a state's fair housing law start at the list of unlawful
practices. In Alabama that list will mislead you.

Ala. Code § 24-8-4 sets out the unlawful discriminatory housing practices, and its opening
subdivisions are the ones that matter most in ordinary life. Subdivision (1) covers refusing
to rent. Subdivision (2) covers discriminating in the terms, conditions or privileges of a
tenancy. Both protect against discrimination because of "race, color, religion, sex,
familial status, or national origin."

Handicap is not in either list.

It appears in subdivision (3), on discriminatory advertising, and in subdivision (4), on
falsely representing that a dwelling is unavailable. The handicap limb proper is subdivision
(6), and subdivision (6) does not say what it means. For that you have to go two sections
further on, into a section headed **"Exemptions."**

## What the exemptions section actually contains

Ala. Code § 24-8-7 runs to nine thousand characters of carve-outs: religious organisations,
private clubs, convictions for drug distribution, housing for older persons. Then subsection
(g) changes register entirely and defines what discrimination means for purposes of
subdivision (6) of § 24-8-4.

> "(2) A refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or
> services when accommodations may be necessary to afford the person equal opportunity to
> use and enjoy a dwelling."

That is Alabama's reasonable accommodation duty, and it is the provision an
emotional support animal request runs on. A landlord, or a tenant, who reads
§ 24-8-4, finds no handicap duty and stops there will reach exactly the
wrong conclusion.

Subsection (g)(1) covers physical modifications. Those are at the disabled
person's expense, and on a rental the landlord may, where it is reasonable
to do so, condition permission on the renter agreeing to restore the
interior, reasonable wear and tear excepted: a restoration agreement rather
than a bond.

The federal duty says close to the same thing. 24 C.F.R. § 100.204 makes it
unlawful to refuse reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices,
or services where necessary to afford a person with a handicap equal
opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, and its worked example is a no-pets
building admitting an assistance dog.

## Alabama's other animal statute, and why it is not yours

Alabama does have a chapter about animals and disability, at Ala. Code §
21-7-1 et seq., and it is easy to land on by mistake.

It is a **service animal** chapter. Section 21-7-1(7) defines a service
animal by reference to 28 C.F.R. § 35.104 and further as an animal trained
to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, with the
work directly related to that disability. The examples run from guiding and
alerting to helping a person with a psychiatric or neurological disability
by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviours. Training
is doing the work in that definition, and an untrained emotional support
animal is outside it.

Section 21-7-9 then gives those animals housing rights, and gives them
generously. Subsection (c)(2) provides that an individual with a disability
**may not be required by the housing accommodation to pay extra compensation
for a service animal**, though they remain liable for damage the animal does
to the premises or to another person. Subsection (c)(3) lets a housing
provider ask for proof of compliance with vaccination requirements.

None of that transfers automatically to an emotional support animal, and
pages that claim it does are overreaching. But the chapter closes with the
sentence that matters most:

> "(d) This chapter does not limit the rights or remedies of a housing accommodation or an
> individual with a disability that are granted by state or federal law with regard to other
> assistance animals."

So Title 21 confers rights on trained service animals and expressly leaves
alone whatever other law provides for other assistance animals. The ESA
route through § 24-8-7(g)(2) and the federal Fair Housing Act survives
intact.

## What that means for a charge

A landlord charging pet rent or a pet deposit for an approved emotional
support animal cannot be answered by pointing at § 21-7-9(c)(2), because
that provision is about service animals.

The answer comes through the accommodation analysis instead. A charge levied because of the
animal is a term of the tenancy and a policy of the building, and § 24-8-7(g)(2) reaches
refusals to accommodate in "rules, policies, practices, or services." Where the animal is a
necessary accommodation, the charge attached to it is the thing being asked about.

## A definition that keeps the older threshold

Ala. Code § 24-8-3(6) defines handicap as a physical or mental impairment
which substantially limits one or more of the person's major life
activities, a record of having such an impairment, or being regarded as
having one.

That "substantially limits" formula is the older federal wording, and several states have
since dropped it. Alabama has not. It does not put mental health conditions outside the
definition. It changes what useful supporting documentation looks like, because a letter
that describes how the condition affects daily functioning does more work here than one that
records a diagnosis and stops.

## Complaints go to an economic development agency

This is the most surprising feature of Alabama's scheme, and it is not a
drafting accident.

Ala. Code § 24-8-3(8) defines "office" to mean the Office of ADECA, the
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Section 24-8-9
provides that the office administers the chapter, and may delegate its
functions with respect to investigating, conciliating, hearing, determining
and ordering to its employees.

There is no Alabama civil rights commission taking these complaints, and
unlike Arizona and Oklahoma there is no Attorney General route either. Fair
housing here sits with the agency that also handles community development
grants, energy programmes and broadband.

## One hundred and eighty days

The deadline is the shortest in these guides, tied with Pennsylvania.

Ala. Code § 24-8-12(b) requires a complaint to be filed **within 180 days
after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred**. It must be in
writing and must state the facts on which the allegation is based, and it
may be reasonably and fairly amended at any time.

Six months sounds generous until a tenant spends three of them trying to
resolve matters with a leasing office. Where a request has been refused, the
date of the refusal is worth writing down the day it happens.

Alabama's clock is not the only one running. Under 42 U.S.C. §
3610(a)(1)(A)(i) a complaint may go to the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development not later than one year after the practice occurred or
terminated, a separate forum on a separate clock. Section 24-8-15 has the
office check for that filing and coordinate rather than duplicate it.

Once a complaint is in, § 24-8-12(f) requires the office to make final
administrative disposition within one year of receiving it, unless that is
impractical, and to notify both parties in writing if it cannot.

## Deposits: sixty days, and an address you have to supply

Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 governs the money, and it puts one obligation on the
tenant that is easy to overlook in a move.

The deposit is due **60 days after termination of the tenancy and delivery
of possession**. Where the landlord does not refund the entire deposit, they
must provide an itemised list of the amounts withheld inside that same
60-day period.

The tenant's obligation: on vacating, you must give the landlord **a valid
forwarding address, in writing**. That is the address the deposit or the
itemised account is sent to. A tenant who moves out and leaves no written
address has removed the mechanism the statute relies on.

## Registries, and a penalty with community service attached

No Alabama agency registers emotional support animals or issues
certificates, vests or identification cards for them, and nothing in §
24-8-7(g)(2) turns on paperwork of that kind. The question is whether an
accommodation may be necessary for equal opportunity to use and enjoy the
dwelling.

Alabama does punish one related form of dishonesty, and the penalty is
unlike any other in these guides. Under § 21-7-4(h) a person who knowingly
and willfully misrepresents themselves as using a service animal, or as a
trainer of one, is guilty of a Class C misdemeanor, and in addition to any
fine **must perform 100 hours of community service for an organisation that
serves individuals with disabilities**, to be completed within six months. A
second or subsequent violation is a Class B misdemeanor with a hundred
dollar fine.

Note what it covers: claims about service animals, made in places of public
accommodation. It is not a housing provision, and it is not about emotional
support animals.

## Who rents in Alabama, and where

About 29.8% of Alabama households rent rather than own, on the 2020-2024
American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is the lowest statewide
share of any state in these guides, below Pennsylvania's 30.7%.

The spread between cities is the widest in the corpus. Tuscaloosa rents at
57.1% and Birmingham at 54.5%; Auburn, the other university city, at 46.9%.
At the other end, **Alabaster rents at 12.9%**, the lowest share of any city
covered anywhere in these guides, with Vestavia Hills at 22.0% and Madison
at 26.0%. In those suburbs an animal question is far more likely to reach a
homeowners association than a leasing office.

## Making the request

Get screened on income, credit and rental history like any other applicant.
A disability is not a proper screening subject, and nothing obliges an
applicant to raise one while an application is pending.

Once approved and before the lease is signed, make the request in writing,
explaining the disability-related need and what the animal does that makes
equal use and enjoyment of the home possible. Supporting information from a
professional who has actually assessed you is what carries that.

Then keep two dates. One hundred and eighty days from any refusal for a
complaint to the Office of ADECA, and the day possession changes hands for
the written forwarding address your deposit depends on.

For city-level detail on deposits, local help and market conditions, browse the
[Alabama city guides](/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/), and see our
[guide to getting an ESA letter](/blog/articles/how-to-get-esa-letter/) for what a defensible
letter contains.

## Key statutes

- **Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2)** (The reasonable accommodation duty: inside the exemptions section): Provides that for purposes of subdivision (6) of § 24-8-4, discrimination includes a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when accommodations may be necessary to afford the person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Despite sitting in a section headed Exemptions, this is the operative accommodation duty in Alabama law. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(1)** (Modifications, and the restoration condition): Treats as discrimination a refusal to permit reasonable modifications of existing premises at the handicapped person's expense where necessary to afford full enjoyment, except that on a rental the landlord may, where reasonable, condition permission on the renter agreeing to restore the interior to its previous condition, reasonable wear and tear excepted. A restoration agreement, not a bond. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-4** (Unlawful discriminatory housing practices: and an uneven list): Lists the unlawful housing practices. Subdivisions (1) and (2), covering refusal to sell or rent and discrimination in terms, conditions or privileges, name race, color, religion, sex, familial status and national origin but not handicap. Subdivisions (3) and (4), on discriminatory advertising and false representations that a dwelling is unavailable, do name handicap. The handicap limb proper is subdivision (6). Enacted by Acts 1991, No. 91-659. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-3(6)** (How Alabama defines handicap): Defines handicap in three parts: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the person's major life activities; a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment. Alabama keeps the substantially-limits threshold, which several states have since dropped. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-3(8), § 24-8-9** (Fair housing sits with an economic development agency): Defines "office" as the Office of ADECA (the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs), and provides that the office administers the chapter and may delegate its investigating, conciliating, hearing, determining and ordering functions to its employees. Alabama has neither a civil rights commission nor an Attorney General route for fair housing. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-12(b)** (One hundred and eighty days to complain): Requires a complaint to be filed within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred. The complaint must be in writing and must state the facts on which the allegation of a discriminatory housing practice is based, and may be reasonably and fairly amended at any time. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-12(f)** (What happens after filing): Requires the office to make final administrative disposition of a complaint within one year of the date it is received, unless it is impractical to do so, and to notify the complainant and respondent in writing of the reasons where it cannot. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 21-7-9** (Service animals in housing: and the clause that preserves everything else): Entitles an individual with a disability who has a service animal to full and equal access to any housing accommodation, provides that they may not be required to pay extra compensation for the service animal while remaining liable for damage it does, and permits a housing provider to request proof of compliance with vaccination requirements. Subsection (d) then provides that the chapter does not limit rights or remedies granted by state or federal law with regard to other assistance animals. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 21-7-1(7)** (What Alabama means by service animal): Defines a service animal as defined by 28 C.F.R. § 35.104 and further as an animal trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability, the work being directly related to the disability. Listed examples include guiding, alerting, pulling a wheelchair, assisting with balance, and helping a person with a psychiatric or neurological disability by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviours. Training is central to the definition. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 21-7-4(h)-(i)** (Misrepresentation: a misdemeanor plus community service): Makes a person who knowingly and willfully misrepresents themselves as using or training a service animal guilty of a Class C misdemeanor and, in addition to any fines, requires 100 hours of community service for an organisation serving individuals with disabilities, to be completed within six months. A second or subsequent violation is a Class B misdemeanor carrying a one hundred dollar fine. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 35-9A-201** (Security deposits: sixty days, and a forwarding address): Makes the deposit due 60 days after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession, requires a landlord who does not refund the entire deposit to provide an itemised list of amounts withheld within that period, and requires the tenant on vacating to provide the landlord with a valid written forwarding address to which the deposit or itemised account is sent. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)
- **Ala. Code § 24-8-15** (The federal forum, acknowledged in Alabama's own chapter): Requires the Office of ADECA, before accepting a complaint, to determine whether the complainant has filed a similar complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development or another agency with authority to investigate and resolve complaints alleging a violation of the chapter, and where one has been filed to coordinate efforts with that agency to avoid multiple investigations of the respondent. [Text](https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama)

**Registration myth:** Alabama operates no emotional support animal registry, and no state agency issues certificates, vests or identification cards for these animals. Nothing in the accommodation duty at Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2) turns on paperwork of that kind. It asks whether an accommodation may be necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. Alabama does police one related form of dishonesty, and does it unusually: under § 21-7-4(h) a person who knowingly and willfully misrepresents themselves as using or training a service animal commits a Class C misdemeanor and must additionally perform 100 hours of community service for an organisation serving people with disabilities, within six months. A second offence is a Class B misdemeanor with a one hundred dollar fine. That provision concerns claims made in places of public accommodation rather than housing, and it is about service animals rather than emotional support animals.

## What Alabama landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where they may be necessary to afford a person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, under Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2)
- Cannot treat a no-pets policy, a breed restriction or a weight limit as an answer to an accommodation request, because each is a rule or policy that the accommodation duty reaches
- Cannot rely on the service animal chapter at § 21-7-1 et seq. to defeat an emotional support animal request, since § 21-7-9(d) provides that the chapter does not limit rights or remedies regarding other assistance animals
- Cannot make, print or publish any notice, statement or advertisement indicating a preference, limitation or discrimination based on handicap, under § 24-8-4(3)
- Cannot represent to a person because of handicap that a dwelling is unavailable for inspection, sale or rental when it is in fact available, under § 24-8-4(4)
- Cannot require a tenant with a trained service animal to pay extra compensation for that animal, under § 21-7-9(c)(2)
- Cannot keep any part of a deposit without providing an itemised list of amounts withheld within 60 days of termination and delivery of possession

**Can:**
- May condition permission for a physical modification of the premises on the tenant agreeing to restore the interior, reasonable wear and tear excepted, under § 24-8-7(g)(1)
- May request proof of compliance with vaccination requirements for a service animal, under § 21-7-9(c)(3)
- May hold the tenant liable for damage the animal does to the premises or to another person on the premises
- May decline where no reasonable accommodation exists that meets the tenant's need without fundamentally altering the housing or imposing an undue burden

## How to get an ESA letter in Alabama

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Alabama. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes: free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional**, You are matched with a provider licensed for Alabama clients who reviews your situation in a telehealth evaluation. (Telehealth evaluation)
3. **Complete your evaluation**, The professional evaluates whether an emotional support animal alleviates symptoms of a condition recognized in the DSM-5. Honest evaluations, not everyone qualifies. (Most of Our Applicants Qualify)
4. **Receive your signed letter**, Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number: the documentation Alabama landlords may lawfully request. (Typically within days of approval)
5. **Send it to your landlord**, Submit the letter with a short reasonable-accommodation request. Pet fees, pet deposits, and breed limits no longer apply to your animal in Alabama. (Protection under FHA + state law)

## Conditions that can qualify for an ESA

No fixed government list exists. A licensed professional evaluates whether an animal alleviates symptoms of a DSM-5-recognized condition, commonly:

- Generalized anxiety disorder
- Major depressive disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Panic disorder
- Social anxiety disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- Phobias with housing impact
- Chronic stress affecting daily function

## City guides in Alabama

- [ESA letters in Huntsville](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/huntsville.md)
- [ESA letters in Mobile](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/mobile.md)
- [ESA letters in Birmingham](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/birmingham.md)
- [ESA letters in Montgomery](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/montgomery.md)
- [ESA letters in Tuscaloosa](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/tuscaloosa.md)
- [ESA letters in Hoover](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/hoover.md)
- [ESA letters in Auburn](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/auburn.md)
- [ESA letters in Dothan](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/dothan.md)
- [ESA letters in Madison](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/madison.md)
- [ESA letters in Decatur](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/decatur.md)
- [ESA letters in Florence](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/florence.md)
- [ESA letters in Prattville](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/prattville.md)
- [ESA letters in Phenix City](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/phenix-city.md)
- [ESA letters in Vestavia Hills](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/vestavia-hills.md)
- [ESA letters in Opelika](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/opelika.md)
- [ESA letters in Alabaster](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/alabaster.md)
- [ESA letters in Gadsden](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/gadsden.md)
- [ESA letters in Athens](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/athens.md)
- [ESA letters in Northport](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/northport.md)
- [ESA letters in Daphne](https://supportanimal.com/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/daphne.md)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Alabama law require a landlord to consider an emotional support animal?

Yes, through the accommodation duty rather than through any animal statute. Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2) makes it discrimination to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when they may be necessary to afford a person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. That provision sits inside a section headed Exemptions, which is why it is so often missed, and it defines what subdivision (6) of § 24-8-4 prohibits.

### Alabama has a service animal law. Does that cover my ESA?

No, and the chapter says as much. Ala. Code § 21-7-1(7) defines a service animal by reference to 28 C.F.R. § 35.104 and as an animal trained to do work or perform tasks, so an untrained emotional support animal falls outside it. But § 21-7-9(d) provides that the chapter does not limit the rights or remedies granted by state or federal law with regard to other assistance animals, so the ESA route through § 24-8-7(g)(2) and the federal Fair Housing Act is left intact.

### Does the no-extra-charge rule apply to an emotional support animal?

That rule is written for service animals specifically. Ala. Code § 21-7-9(c)(2) provides that an individual with a disability may not be required by a housing accommodation to pay extra compensation for a service animal, while remaining liable for damage the animal causes. For an emotional support animal the same result has to be reached through the accommodation analysis under § 24-8-7(g)(2), because a charge levied because of the animal is a term the accommodation duty can reach.

### Who handles fair housing complaints in Alabama?

The Office of ADECA, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Ala. Code § 24-8-3(8) defines "office" that way, and § 24-8-9 provides that the office administers the chapter and may delegate its investigating, conciliating, hearing and determining functions. Alabama is the only state in these guides where fair housing sits with an economic development agency rather than a civil rights commission or the Attorney General.

### How long do I have to file a complaint?

One hundred and eighty days for the state route. Ala. Code § 24-8-12(b) requires a complaint to be filed within 180 days after the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurred, in writing, stating the facts on which the allegation is based: half the time allowed in Arizona, Washington or Oklahoma, so the date a refusal is given matters more here than in most states. The federal route runs on its own clock: 42 U.S.C. § 3610(a)(1)(A)(i) allows a complaint to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development not later than one year after the practice occurred or terminated. Ala. Code § 24-8-15 has the Office of ADECA check for such a filing and coordinate with that agency rather than duplicate it.

### When does my security deposit have to come back?

Within 60 days of the tenancy terminating and possession being delivered, under Ala. Code § 35-9A-201. Where the landlord does not refund the whole deposit, an itemised list of the amounts withheld must be provided inside that same 60-day period. One obligation sits on the tenant: on vacating, you must give the landlord a valid written forwarding address, which is where the deposit or the itemised account is sent.

### How much of Alabama rents, and where?

About 29.8% of Alabama households rent rather than own, on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, the lowest statewide share of any state in these guides. The spread between cities is enormous: Tuscaloosa rents at 57.1% and Birmingham at 54.5%, against 12.9% in Alabaster, 22.0% in Vestavia Hills and 26.0% in Madison.

---

Get evaluated by a licensed provider: https://my.supportanimal.com/qualify?sa_source=blog&sa_medium=blog&sa_campaign=esa-guides&sa_content=markdown&ref=blog&sa_term=alabama-emotional-support-animal