# Goodyear ESA Requests: What Counts as Asking in Writing

> Goodyear is 22.3% renters and the decision often sits with a management company. What an ESA request must establish, how to send it, and what to keep.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/arizona-emotional-support-animal/goodyear/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-07-29
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 118,186
- Households renting: 22.3%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): $0 for an approved assistance animal; any other security a Goodyear landlord takes, whatever it is called, is held to one and one-half month's rent by A.R.S. § 33-1321
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $0 for an approved assistance animal; monthly animal charges stop once the accommodation is approved, and accepting a reduced one instead trades the request away
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Roughly one Goodyear home in five is rented

Goodyear counted 118,186 residents in the Census Bureau's 2024 estimate.
Renters occupy 22.3% of its homes — about 8,507 households — against a
statewide share of 32.6% on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey.

An owner-majority city changes who ends up reading an accommodation
request. The rentals here are scattered, and authority over them usually
sits with a management company or an owner living elsewhere, so the person
who decides is often someone the tenant will never meet.

Hence the case for treating a request as a document rather than a
conversation. A document moves between people who never speak.

## Asking out loud is asking, and it is still hard to prove

Nothing in Arizona law makes an accommodation request valid only in
writing. A tenant who asks aloud has asked, and the duty to consider it
attaches from that moment.

The problem is evidentiary. Writing does not create the right; it
preserves proof that the right was invoked on a particular day, which is
what nobody can supply from memory a year afterwards.

## Three things the writing has to establish

A.R.S. § 41-1491.19(E)(2) makes it discrimination to refuse "reasonable
accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services if the
accommodations may be necessary to afford the person equal opportunity to
use and enjoy a dwelling."

Turn that clause around and it becomes a list of what the page has to
carry. First, that the person has a disability. Second, that the animal is
necessary for equal opportunity to use and enjoy this home. Third, what is
actually being asked for. Everything else in the letter is manners.

## The third item is the one people leave out

Most requests describe a situation and stop there, as though the
conclusion followed by itself, leaving an administrator working a queue to
guess what response would satisfy it.

Name the rule and name the relief. That the no-pets clause not be applied
to this animal. That the pet rent and animal deposit not be charged. A
request specifying its own outcome is much harder to shrug at.

## Neither a diagnosis nor a credential belongs in it

Subsection (E)(2) never asks what condition a person has. It asks whether
an accommodation may be necessary for equal use and enjoyment of a
dwelling — a question about function, not about a label. Naming the
condition is the tenant's choice, not the tenant's obligation.

Nor does anything bought online help. Arizona issues no emotional support
animal registration and no state credential, and a purchased card asserts
a conclusion while giving a provider no basis to reach it.

## Phone calls do not have dates

A call to a management company produces nothing a tenant can hold. The
office may log it in a system nobody outside will see, or not log it at
all, and either way the record of the asking sits with the other side.

Email leaves a dated item in the sender's own account, a portal message
leaves a timestamp, and a mailed letter leaves a delivery receipt.

## A portal history belongs to whoever runs the portal

A Goodyear rental run by a management company is usually administered
through a resident portal, and some treat it as the only accepted channel.
That is fine for maintenance tickets and a poor place to keep the
one document a fair housing complaint may turn on: access ends with the
tenancy, and the archive is the provider's.

Where a portal is the required channel, send the request through it and
send the identical text by email the same day. The portal satisfies the
process; the email is what the tenant still has a year later.

## Write down who answered

Replies from a management company often arrive without an obvious author —
a shared inbox, a first name, a signature naming the firm. Note whatever
there is: the name, the address it came from, the date, any job title.

Where an answer comes by phone, send a short message afterwards
summarizing what was said and inviting correction. An unanswered summary
of that kind is far stronger than nothing.

## Silence is a fact, and facts can be dated

The most common outcome in a market of remote decision-makers is no answer
at all. That is not approval — a tenant who assumes consent and brings the
animal home carries a risk nobody agreed to. It is not a refusal that can
be pointed to either.

What it is, is an event worth recording: the date the request went out,
each follow-up, the last contact of any kind. A sequence of dated
non-answers describes a practice, and a practice is what a complaint is
about.

## The year runs from a date, and the file holds the dates

A.R.S. § 41-1491.22 sets the filing period at one year, measured from the
point at which a discriminatory housing practice "has occurred or
terminated, whichever is later." Arizona has no civil rights commission for
this; the complaint goes to the state's law officer.

Those closing words repay attention where a request was left hanging. A
refusal persisting as an ongoing state of affairs may be measured from its
end rather than its beginning — which is why the dates in the file matter
more than a tenant's sense of when things went wrong.

## An accommodation request is not an opening offer

A management company that cannot approve and will not refuse often
proposes a middle. The pet rent halved. The deposit waived but the monthly
charge kept.

Accepting that is not a compromise, it is a conversion. A tenant who takes
the discount has agreed to be a pet owner paying less and has abandoned
the request. The reply to a counter-offer is to restate the request in
writing and ask for a decision on it.

## What an approval removes, and what it leaves standing

Once an accommodation is granted, charges attached to keeping an animal
stop applying, because it is no longer kept under the pet policy. Pet
rent, animal deposits and per-animal fees do not survive the approval.

Two things do survive it. A.R.S. § 33-1321 still governs security however
it is labelled, holding it to one and one-half month's rent and requiring
an itemized list of deductions within fourteen days, excluding weekends
and legal holidays, once the tenant has demanded it. And damage the animal
actually causes is assessed at move-out like anyone else's.

## When the reply quotes a law about businesses

A provider searching for Arizona's animal statute usually lands on A.R.S.
§ 11-1024, which defines a service animal as a dog or miniature horse
individually trained to do work or perform tasks, allows an operator of a
public place two questions, and sets a civil penalty of up to $250 for
fraudulent misrepresentation.

Every clause of it concerns public places. An emotional support animal
falls outside that definition and so carries no Arizona public-access
right, but the section says nothing about a dwelling. Keep a reply citing
it: it records the provider applying the wrong test.

## The same duty appears again in federal regulation

24 C.F.R. § 100.204 states the same duty in federal terms. Where an
accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services may be necessary to
give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a
dwelling unit — public and common use areas included — refusing it is
unlawful. The regulation's own illustration is a building with a no-pets
rule that has to let an assistance dog in, and one well-drafted request
satisfies both provisions.

## What the state does with what you kept

Under A.R.S. § 41-1491.34, where no conciliation agreement is reached
within thirty days, the attorney general "shall immediately file a civil
action." A court may award actual and punitive damages, injunctive relief,
affirmative-action orders and costs, and the aggrieved person may
intervene.

That case is built from what the tenant assembled: the request, the reply
or its absence, the dates and the names.

## Where a Goodyear renter finds help

Housing discrimination complaints go to the Civil Rights Division of the
Arizona Attorney General, within the one-year period above. AZLawHelp
publishes general legal information for state residents, and Community
Legal Services is an Arizona legal aid provider whose practice includes
housing.

## The page of the file somebody else has to write

The wording, the channel, the dates and the copies are all within a
tenant's control. The supporting information is not, and it is the part a
management company reads first.

It has to come from a licensed professional who has actually assessed the
person and can describe why the animal matters in that particular home.
The weak point in an otherwise well-kept file is a template letter written
by someone who knows nothing about the household. The rules binding
whoever opens it are set out in the
[Arizona ESA guide](/blog/arizona-emotional-support-animal/), and what the
assessing professional needs to put on the page is covered in our
[guide to getting an ESA letter](/blog/articles/how-to-get-esa-letter/).

## What Goodyear landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where the accommodation may be necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling
- Cannot apply a no-pets policy, a breed restriction or a weight limit to an approved assistance animal without going through that accommodation analysis
- Cannot demand or receive a deposit, however it is labelled and including prepaid rent, of more than one and one-half month's rent
- Cannot keep any part of a deposit without providing an itemized list of deductions within fourteen days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, of the tenancy ending, possession being delivered and the tenant demanding the balance
- Cannot treat the service-animal rules in A.R.S. § 11-1024 as the housing standard, since that section governs public places rather than dwellings

**Can:**
- May ask for information supporting the disability and the disability-related need where neither is apparent, because the accommodation analysis turns on necessity
- May hold the tenant responsible for damage the animal causes, assessed at move-out on the same terms as any other damage
- 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 Goodyear

1. **Check that you qualify** — Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Goodyear. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes — free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional** — You are matched with a provider licensed for Arizona 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. (95% of applicants qualify)
4. **Receive your signed letter** — Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number — the documentation Arizona 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 Goodyear. (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 Goodyear

- [Arizona Attorney General, Civil Rights Division](https://www.azag.gov/civil-rights) (government)
- [AZLawHelp](https://www.azlawhelp.org/) (legal information)
- [Community Legal Services](https://clsaz.org/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### What does a written ESA request to a Goodyear management company need to say?

Three things, which come straight out of A.R.S. § 41-1491.19(E)(2): that the person has a disability, that the animal is necessary for equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home, and what is being asked for — usually that a named rule not be applied. A diagnosis is not required, and no certificate exists in Arizona that would substitute for any of it.

### My landlord only accepts messages through the resident portal. Is that enough?

Use the portal, then send the same text by email the same day. A portal message is dated, but the archive belongs to the management company and access ends with the tenancy, so the copy a tenant can still produce a year later is the emailed one. Sending both satisfies the required channel and preserves the record.

### Nobody has replied to my request. What does that mean?

Silence is not consent and it is not a denial. Bringing the animal home on the assumption of approval carries a risk nobody agreed to. Record the date the request went out, the date of each follow-up and the date of the last contact of any kind; a run of dated non-answers is what describes a practice if a complaint becomes necessary.

### How long do I have to complain in Arizona?

A.R.S. § 41-1491.22 gives an aggrieved person one year to file with the attorney general, counted from when the discriminatory housing practice occurred or terminated, whichever is later. Arizona routes these to the Attorney General rather than to a civil rights commission, and the dates recorded along the way are what fix where that year begins.

### The management company offered to halve the pet rent. Should I take it?

That is a negotiation, not an accommodation. A tenant who accepts reduced pet rent has agreed to remain a pet owner paying less and has given up the request that was made. The better reply is to restate the request in writing and ask for a decision on it, since an approved accommodation removes animal charges rather than discounting them.

### If my request is approved, what can still be charged?

Charges tied to keeping an animal come off, but ordinary tenancy rules continue. A.R.S. § 33-1321 still caps security, however it is labelled, at one and one-half month's rent and requires an itemized list of deductions within fourteen days excluding weekends and legal holidays once the tenant demands it. Damage the animal actually causes remains chargeable like anyone else's.

### Can a Goodyear landlord rely on Arizona's service animal law to refuse?

Not in a housing dispute. A.R.S. § 11-1024 defines a service animal as a dog or miniature horse individually trained to do work or perform tasks, permits an operator of a public place two questions, and sets a civil penalty of up to $250 for misrepresentation — all of it about public places. Keep any reply citing it, since it records the wrong test being applied.

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Get evaluated by a licensed provider: https://my.supportanimal.com/qualify?sa_source=blog&sa_medium=referral&sa_campaign=esa-guides&sa_content=markdown&ref=blog&sa_term=arizona-emotional-support-animal%2Fgoodyear