# ESA Letter in Decatur, AL: Silent Leases and One State Complaint Route

> Decatur rents at 36.7% on older stock with short leases. What happens when a lease says nothing about animals, and which clock starts on the day of a refusal.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 57,974
- Households renting: 36.7%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## A working river city, west of the boom

Decatur rents at 36.7%: roughly 8,900 of 24,300 occupied units on the
2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, close to seven
points above Alabama's statewide 29.8%.

It sits on the Tennessee River twenty-odd miles west of Huntsville, and it
is a manufacturing city rather than a satellite of the aerospace economy.
The rental stock reflects that: older and more mixed than Madison's newer
subdivisions, with mid-century houses, small apartment courts, and a managed
sector that is present but modest.

The practical consequence for an assistance animal is a lease that often
says nothing at all.

## When the lease is silent

A tenant who reads a short agreement, finds no pet clause and no
accommodation procedure, and concludes there is nothing to work with has
drawn the wrong inference.

Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2) is about what a housing provider does when an
accommodation is requested. It does not require a written policy to exist
first, and a landlord cannot acquire a stronger position by having written
less.

What silence does change is where the answer lives. In a documented market
the file exists whether or not the tenant builds it. Here the answer is
given across a counter or over the phone, and unless somebody writes it
down, in six months there is nothing to point at.

Put the request in writing. Ask for the reply in writing. In a market like
this that is not formality. It is the entire evidential record.

## Where the duty actually is

Alabama does not put its accommodation duty anywhere obvious.

Ala. Code § 24-8-4 lists the unlawful discriminatory housing practices. Its
opening two subdivisions, on refusing to rent and on the terms of a tenancy,
protect race, color, religion, sex, familial status and national origin, and
leave handicap out. It appears at (3) and (4), and the handicap limb itself,
subdivision (6), never states its own content.

That content is two sections later, under the heading **"Exemptions."**
Section 24-8-7(g)(2) provides that discrimination, for purposes of
subdivision (6), includes declining to adapt a rule, policy, practice or
service where the adaptation may be what a person needs to use and enjoy the
dwelling on equal terms.

The federal duty at 24 C.F.R. § 100.204 is near-identical, with a no-pets
building admitting an assistance dog as its worked example.

## Title 21 is a different question

Ala. Code § 21-7-1 et seq. is the chapter a landlord searching online finds
first, and it governs service animals.

Section 21-7-1(7) defines one by reference to 28 C.F.R. § 35.104 and by
**training** to do work or perform tasks directly related to a disability.
An untrained emotional support animal never enters that chapter, and arguing
otherwise is a losing position.

Section 21-7-9(d) is what matters instead: nothing in the chapter cuts down
rights or remedies available under other state or federal law where other
assistance animals are concerned. Establishing that an ESA is not a Title 21
service animal establishes something true and beside the point.

One line to keep straight: the no-extra-compensation rule at § 21-7-9(c)(2)
is written for service animals. For an emotional support animal the same
result is reached through the accommodation analysis, not by borrowing that
subsection.

## One state route, and a second at federal level

This is where Decatur is thinner than Dothan or Montgomery, and the page
should say so plainly.

Alabama has no civil rights commission and no Attorney General fair housing
route. Ala. Code § 24-8-3(8) makes the forum the Office of ADECA (the
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs), and § 24-8-9 gives
that office the administering, investigating, conciliating and determining
functions.

Morgan County is not among the twenty-nine counties in the Central Alabama
Fair Housing Center's published service area, and no municipal fair housing
function could be verified for the city. There is no local body to consult
first.

That matters because of the clock. Under Ala. Code § 24-8-12(b) the limit is
**180 days**, counted from when the discriminatory housing practice took
place, with the complaint written and the underlying facts set out in it.
Half the time most states give, and no local body to try first.

Within Alabama, that is the whole of it. Federal law counts separately: 42 U.S.C.
§ 3610(a)(1)(A)(i) lets an aggrieved person file with the Secretary of HUD "not later than one
year after an alleged discriminatory housing practice has occurred or terminated." Same
starting event, two independent clocks. The state's 180 days is neither lengthened nor
replaced. Section 24-8-15 has the office check for such a filing and coordinate with the
agency holding it.

Note the date of a refusal the day it is given.

## What the threshold asks of a letter

Alabama retained a threshold several states have abandoned. Under Ala. Code
§ 24-8-3(6) an impairment qualifies where it **substantially limits** a
major life activity, where a record establishes it, or where the person is
treated by others as having it.

Mental health conditions clear that bar. What shifts is emphasis, not
eligibility. Naming a condition addresses only part of what the section is
asking; setting out its practical effect on the person's day answers the
rest.

No Alabama agency registers assistance animals or issues certificates, cards
or vests, and the accommodation duty turns on none of them.

## The deposit, and the gap in Alabama law

Alabama imposes no move-in checklist requirement. Washington voids a deposit
taken without one; Alabama says nothing, which leaves the burden of proving
what was already damaged sitting with the tenant.

In a city of older houses and mid-century courts that gap is not academic.
Photograph the property on the day you take possession and keep the images
somewhere that survives a move.

The timetable itself is in Ala. Code § 35-9A-201. The deposit is due **60
days after termination of the tenancy and delivery of possession**, and a
landlord keeping any part of it must provide an itemised list of the amounts
withheld inside that period.

The obligation running the other way is easy to miss: on vacating, the
tenant must give the landlord **a valid forwarding address, in writing**.
That is where the balance or the itemisation is sent.

## Liability, and what a landlord can actually point to

Smaller landlords raise the risk of injury more readily than management
companies, because the exposure feels personal rather than corporate.

Alabama has enacted no shield here. Oklahoma legislated to remove a
landlord's liability for an assistance animal permitted as an accommodation;
Alabama did not, and pretending otherwise would be inaccurate.

What the state does have is the allocation in § 21-7-9(c)(2) for service
animals, under which the tenant answers for damage the animal causes to the
premises or to another person on them. That is a sensible basis for an
accommodation agreement in any event, and offering it in writing addresses
the concern directly rather than leaving it unresolved.

## Requests made for another member of the household

Older housing stock tends to mean longer-established households, and
requests are often made by one occupant for another rather than by whoever
signed the agreement. A landlord sometimes answers that the tenant does not
appear to be disabled.

The statute asks something different. Section 24-8-7(g)(2) turns on whether
an accommodation may be necessary to give **the person** equal use and
enjoyment of the dwelling, and § 24-8-4 reaches discrimination affecting
anyone residing in or intending to reside in it. Nothing requires the
disabled occupant to be the signatory.

Where an owner insists otherwise, ask for it in writing. It is a discrete
claim that either holds up against the section or does not.

## Getting it down on paper

Be screened on income, credit and rental history like any other applicant. A
disability is not a proper screening subject, and nothing requires raising
one while an application is pending.

Once approved and before signing, set the request out in writing: the
disability-related need, and what the animal does that makes ordinary use of
the home possible. Keep the reply in whatever form it arrives.

In a market where leases are short and answers are spoken, the copy you keep
is generally the only copy there is.

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 Decatur 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 Decatur

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

- [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

### There is no pet policy in my lease at all. Does that help or hurt?

Neither, strictly. Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2) is about what a housing provider does when an accommodation is requested, and does not require a written policy to exist first. In practice a silent lease means the answer will be given verbally, which is why putting the request and the reply in writing yourself matters more here than in a market that documents everything as a matter of routine.

### Where does Alabama impose the duty to consider my animal?

At Ala. Code § 24-8-7(g)(2), inside a section headed Exemptions. The section listing unlawful housing practices, § 24-8-4, omits handicap from its first two subdivisions; the handicap limb is subdivision (6), and § 24-8-7(g) supplies its content. The duty is to accommodate in rules, policies, practices or services where that may be necessary for equal use and enjoyment of a dwelling.

### My landlord quoted the state's service animal statute.

That chapter governs trained animals. Ala. Code § 21-7-1(7) defines a service animal by reference to 28 C.F.R. § 35.104 and by training to do work or perform tasks, so an untrained emotional support animal is outside it entirely. Section 21-7-9(d) then provides that the chapter does not limit rights or remedies available under other state or federal law for other assistance animals.

### Is there a local organisation that covers Decatur?

Not one that could be verified. Morgan County is not among the twenty-nine counties in the Central Alabama Fair Housing Center's published service area, and no municipal fair housing function was confirmed for the city. The statutory forum is the Office of ADECA under Ala. Code § 24-8-3(8), and Legal Services Alabama takes applications for civil legal help.

### How long do I have if a request is refused?

One hundred and eighty days from the date the practice occurred, under Ala. Code § 24-8-12(b), filed in writing and stating the facts relied on. That is half the window Arizona, Washington and Oklahoma allow, and with no local alternative to try first it is the deadline that governs everything, so the date of a refusal is worth recording immediately. Federal law runs a second clock: 42 U.S.C. § 3610(a)(1)(A)(i) allows a year from the practice occurring or ending to complain to HUD's Secretary. Alabama's 180 days is unchanged.

### What does the landlord have to do about my deposit?

Return the balance within 60 days of the tenancy terminating and possession being delivered, with an itemised list of any amounts withheld inside the same period, under Ala. Code § 35-9A-201. The tenant's part is to give a valid forwarding address in writing on vacating. That is the address the deposit or the itemised account is sent to.

### How much of Decatur rents?

About 36.7%, or roughly 8,900 of 24,300 occupied housing units, on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, close to seven points above the statewide 29.8%. That is higher than Madison at 26.0% and Hoover at 28.9%, though below Huntsville at 41.7%.

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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%2Fdecatur