# ESA Letter in Birmingham, AL: The Duty Two Sections Further On

> Birmingham rents at 54.5%, the highest of Alabama's big four. Why § 24-8-4 looks like it excludes handicap, and where the accommodation duty actually lives.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 196,357
- Households renting: 54.5%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## A majority-renter city in an ownership state

Birmingham rents at 54.5%: roughly 40,600 of its 74,500 occupied units on
the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is the
highest share of Alabama's four largest cities, ahead of Mobile at 46.0%,
Montgomery at 45.6% and Huntsville at 41.7%.

The context makes it more striking. Alabama's statewide renter share is
29.8%, the lowest of any state in these guides. Birmingham is a
majority-renter city sitting inside a state where seven households in ten
own.

The stock behind that number is largely early-century houses divided into
flats and mid-century apartment courts, much of it held by individuals
rather than management companies. Written pet policies are the exception
here; conversations are the rule.

## The section that appears to exclude you

Anyone who looks up Alabama's fair housing law will land on Ala. Code §
24-8-4, the list of unlawful discriminatory housing practices, and it reads
badly.

Subdivision (1) prohibits refusing to rent, or otherwise making unavailable or denying a
dwelling, because of "race, color, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin."
Subdivision (2) prohibits discriminating in the terms, conditions or privileges of a tenancy
on the same grounds.

Handicap is in neither list.

It appears in subdivision (3), on discriminatory advertising, and
subdivision (4), on falsely representing that a dwelling is unavailable. And
the handicap limb proper is subdivision (6), which does not say what it
covers.

A landlord who reads this far concludes Alabama imposes no accommodation
duty. So does a tenant. Both are wrong.

## Where the duty actually lives

The answer is two sections on, inside a heading that suggests the opposite: § 24-8-7,
**"Exemptions."**

Most of that section is genuine carve-outs — religious organisations, private clubs, housing
for older persons. Then subsection (g) changes subject 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. It is the provision an
assistance animal request runs on, and its placement is a drafting artefact
rather than a signal about its force.

The federal duty runs alongside. 24 C.F.R. § 100.204 obliges a housing
provider to make reasonable accommodations where necessary to afford a
person with a handicap equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, and
its own worked example is a no-pets building admitting an assistance dog.

## The service animal chapter, and the sentence that saves you

Alabama has a second statute about animals, at Ala. Code § 21-7-1 et seq.,
and landlords find it more easily than they find § 24-8-7(g).

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 directly related to a disability. An emotional
support animal that has not been trained to a task is outside that
definition, and no amount of argument changes it.

What matters is how the chapter ends:

> "(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."

The legislature confined the chapter to trained animals and then expressly declined to
disturb anything else. A landlord who says "Alabama's animal law only covers trained
service dogs" is right about the chapter and wrong about the conclusion.

One caution in the other direction. Section 21-7-9(c)(2) says a person with
a disability may not be required to pay extra compensation for a **service
animal**. That is a good rule, and it is not about emotional support
animals, reaching the same result for an ESA runs through the accommodation
analysis instead.

## Small landlords are inside the duty

Birmingham's divided houses are frequently let by owners with a handful of
properties, and the assumption that legislation of this kind is aimed at
large complexes is common here.

Section 24-8-7(g)(2) contains no threshold based on portfolio size. It is
written around what happens when an accommodation is requested, not around
who owns the building. The deposit provisions in Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 apply
identically.

## Sixty days, and an address you have to supply

Most disputes about an animal in this market surface at move-out as a
deduction rather than at the start as a refusal, so the deposit rules are
worth knowing in advance.

Section 35-9A-201 fixes the timetable. The deposit falls due **60 days after
termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession**, and if any of it is
kept back the landlord owes an itemised statement of the sums withheld
inside those same 60 days.

There is an obligation on the tenant, and it is the one people miss: on
vacating you must give the landlord **a valid forwarding address, in
writing**. That is where the deposit or the itemised account goes. Leaving
without providing one removes the mechanism the statute depends on, and
against an informal landlord it is often the only address they will ever
have.

## What supporting documentation should do

Alabama keeps the older definition of handicap, and § 24-8-3(6) can be
satisfied in three ways: by an impairment, physical or mental, that
**substantially limits** a major life activity; by a record of having had
such an impairment; or by being regarded as having one.

That threshold does not exclude mental health conditions. It shapes what a
useful letter looks like: one that explains how the condition affects daily
functioning carries more weight in Alabama than one that names a diagnosis
and stops there.

Nothing in the statute asks for a registry entry, a certificate or a vest,
and no Alabama agency issues any of those things.

## Where a complaint goes, and how little time you have

Alabama has no civil rights commission, and unlike Arizona or Oklahoma no
Attorney General route either. Ala. Code § 24-8-3(8) defines "office" as the
Office of ADECA (the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs),
and § 24-8-9 provides that the office administers the chapter and may
delegate investigation, conciliation, hearing and determination to its
employees.

The deadline is the part to act on. Under § 24-8-12(b) the window closes
**180 days** after the discriminatory housing practice took place, and the
filing has to be written and set out the facts the allegation rests on.

Six months disappears quickly when a tenant spends the first three trying to
sort things out directly. Birmingham has no verified municipal fair housing
office to fall back on, so write down the date a refusal is given on the day
it happens. A federal filing is a different matter from a local one: 42
U.S.C. § 3610(a)(1)(A)(i) allows one year, running from the occurrence or
termination of the practice, for a complaint to the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development. The state 180 days is untouched by that and still ends
when it ends; under § 24-8-15 the office asks first whether HUD already has
the complaint and then coordinates.

Once filed, § 24-8-12(f) requires the office to reach a final administrative
disposition within a year of receipt unless that is impractical, and to
explain in writing if it cannot.

## Before you sign

Be screened on income, credit and rental history like anyone else; a
disability is not a proper screening subject and nothing requires raising
one while an application is pending.

Once approved and before signing, put the request in writing, describing the
disability-related need and what the animal does that makes ordinary use of
the home possible. Against a landlord who keeps no formal file, the copy you
keep is frequently the only one that survives.

For the statutes behind these rules, see the
[Alabama ESA law guide](/blog/alabama-emotional-support-animal/), and our
[guide to getting an ESA letter](/blog/articles/how-to-get-esa-letter/) for what a defensible
letter contains.

## What Birmingham 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 Birmingham

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Birmingham. 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 Birmingham. (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

## Housing help in Birmingham

- [Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA)](https://adeca.alabama.gov/) (state agency)
- [Legal Services Alabama](https://legalservicesalabama.org/apply-for-services/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### My landlord says Alabama law does not cover emotional support animals.

It is an understandable mistake, because the section that lists unlawful housing practices does not obviously say otherwise. Ala. Code § 24-8-4(1) and (2) (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 it prohibits is spelled out two sections later at § 24-8-7(g)(2): a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services where necessary for equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

### Why is the accommodation duty in a section called Exemptions?

Because of how the 1991 Act was drafted rather than for any substantive reason. Ala. Code § 24-8-7 is mostly carve-outs (religious organisations, private clubs, housing for older persons), and then subsection (g) changes subject entirely and defines what discrimination means for purposes of § 24-8-4(6). The placement is confusing but the effect is not: it is the operative accommodation duty in Alabama law.

### Does Alabama's service animal law help me?

Not directly, though it does not hurt you either. Ala. Code § 21-7-1(7) defines a service animal as one trained to do work or perform tasks, so an emotional support animal sits outside that chapter. But § 21-7-9(d) provides that the chapter does not limit rights or remedies granted by state or federal law with regard to other assistance animals, so the route through § 24-8-7(g)(2) and the federal Fair Housing Act is expressly preserved.

### My landlord owns three houses on the same street. Do these rules apply?

Yes. Nothing in § 24-8-7(g)(2) sets a threshold based on the number of properties a landlord holds, and the accommodation duty is written around the response to a request rather than the size of the operation. The deposit rules in Ala. Code § 35-9A-201 apply the same way, including the 60-day deadline and the itemised list of anything withheld.

### How long do I have to complain if the request is refused?

One hundred and eighty days, which is short. 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 relied on. Complaints go to the Office of ADECA, Alabama has no civil rights commission and no Attorney General route for fair housing. Note the date of any refusal when it happens rather than afterwards. Separately, 42 U.S.C. § 3610(a)(1)(A)(i) allows a HUD complaint within one year of the practice occurring or terminating: a parallel clock, not an extension.

### When does my deposit come back in Birmingham?

Sixty days after the tenancy terminates and possession is delivered, under Ala. Code § 35-9A-201. Where the landlord keeps any of it, an itemised list of the amounts withheld must arrive inside that same period. There is a step for the tenant too: on vacating you must give the landlord a valid forwarding address in writing, and that is the address the deposit or the itemised account is sent to.

### How does Birmingham compare on renting?

Birmingham rents at 54.5%, roughly 40,600 of 74,500 occupied housing units, on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is the highest of Alabama's four largest cities (ahead of Mobile at 46.0%, Montgomery at 45.6% and Huntsville at 41.7%), and almost twenty-five points above the statewide 29.8%. Only Tuscaloosa, at 57.1%, runs higher in the state.

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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%2Fbirmingham