# How to File a Fair Housing Complaint Over an ESA

> The federal complaint regulations spell out who may file, what to include, where it goes, and how long you have. A step-by-step read of 24 C.F.R. part 103.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/articles/how-to-file-an-esa-discrimination-complaint/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-07-29
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

- Author: Support Animal Editorial Team (Reviewed by licensed providers)
- Published: 2026-07-29

Most people who have been refused an accommodation never file anything.
The reason is almost never the merits — it is that the process looks
opaque from the outside, so a real grievance quietly expires. The process
is not opaque. It is written out, in plain question-and-answer form, in
24 C.F.R. part 103, and it takes about twenty minutes to understand.

## The clock, before anything else

Section 103.35 is titled "Is there a time limit on when I can file?" and
answers itself: "Yes, you must notify us within one year that you are a
victim of discrimination. If you indicate that there is more than one act
of discrimination, or that the discrimination is continuing, we must
receive your information within one year of the last incident of
discrimination."

That second sentence is the one that saves cases. A refusal in March
followed by an unlawful monthly charge every month since is not a stale
March claim. The last incident is the one the year runs from.

A separate and longer clock exists for court. HUD's April 2026 notice
withdrawing its old fair housing guidance, published at 91 FR 17291,
restates the statutory position: "the Fair Housing Act provides that
complainants may file a civil action in an appropriate Federal district
court or state court within two years after the occurrence or termination
of the alleged discriminatory housing practice." The same notice confirms
that conduct failing to comply with the Act's text remains subject to
enforcement by the Department.

## Who counts as the person filing

Section 103.9 defines an aggrieved person as anyone who "claims to have
been injured by a discriminatory housing practice" or who "believes that
such person will be injured by a discriminatory housing practice that is
about to occur." The second half matters for anyone who has been told an
application will be refused if the animal comes along. You do not have to
wait to be harmed before you are a person the regulation recognizes.

The same section names the other participants: the complainant is the
person who files, the respondent is the party accused, and conciliation
is "the attempted resolution of issues raised by a complaint, or by the
investigation of a complaint, through informal negotiations."

You also do not have to do this by yourself. Section 103.20 says HUD's
Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity can help with the filing if
contacted directly, and that "you, or anyone who acts for you, may also
ask any HUD office or an organization, individual, or attorney to help
you." Tenant unions and legal aid offices file these routinely.

## What the filing has to contain

Section 103.25 is unusually specific about the contents, which makes it a
serviceable checklist:

- Your name, address, and telephone numbers where you can be reached
- The name and address of the persons, businesses, or organizations you
  believe discriminated against you
- The property's address and a physical description — the regulation's
  own examples are apartment, condominium, house, or vacant lot
- A brief description of how you were discriminated against in an
  activity related to housing, including the date it happened and why you
  believe it happened because of disability

Note what is absent. No form number is required, no notarization, no
attorney signature, and no medical evidence at the filing stage. The
description of the conduct is the substance.

## Where it goes

Section 103.30 allows filing "by mail or telephone with any of HUD's
Offices of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity or with any State or local
agency that HUD has certified to receive complaints," and adds that any
other HUD office will forward a filing to FHEO.

Those certified agencies are defined at § 103.9 as a "substantially
equivalent State or local agency," meaning one certified under 24 C.F.R.
part 115. In practice this is why most tenants end up at a state civil
rights body rather than a federal one, and why the state deadline is
frequently the one that binds.

| State agency | Deadline | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission | 180 days | Pa. Human Relations Act § 9(h) |
| Florida Commission on Human Relations | One year | Fla. Stat. § 760.34(1)-(2) |
| Texas Workforce Commission | One year | Tex. Prop. Code § 301.081 |
| New York Division of Human Rights | Three years for conduct on or after February 15, 2024 | N.Y. Exec. Law § 297(5) |

Pennsylvania's 180 days is the trap in that table. A tenant who spends
six months negotiating with a management company can lose the state forum
entirely while the federal year is still open — details on the
[Pennsylvania page](/blog/pennsylvania-emotional-support-animal/), with
the other three at
[Florida](/blog/florida-emotional-support-animal/),
[Texas](/blog/texas-emotional-support-animal/) and
[New York](/blog/new-york-emotional-support-animal/). California routes
FEHA housing claims through its Civil Rights Department; see the
[California guide](/blog/california-emotional-support-animal/).

## Name the conduct, not just the frustration

The description in § 103.25(d) is where a complaint is won or wasted.
Investigators work from allegations they can match to a rule, so it helps
to describe the act rather than the feeling. Four regulations cover
almost every assistance-animal complaint:

| What happened | Regulation |
|---|---|
| The request was refused, or answered with silence | 24 C.F.R. § 100.204 |
| A pet deposit, pet rent, or a different lease term was imposed | 24 C.F.R. § 100.65 |
| A diagnosis, medical records, or details of the condition were demanded | 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(c) |
| A fine, inspection, notice or non-renewal followed the request | 24 C.F.R. § 100.400 |

Section 100.7 is worth adding where an agent or a management company did
the act. It makes a person directly liable for failing to correct an
employee's or agent's discriminatory conduct, and vicariously liable for
an agent's conduct regardless of what the owner knew.

## Assemble the record before you file

Nothing in part 103 requires evidence up front, but the investigation
moves on documents, and the ones you need are the ones you may lose
access to after you move out:

1. The written accommodation request, with its date
2. The provider's documentation of the disability-related need
3. Every reply, including the ones that ask for more paperwork instead of
   answering
4. Ledger entries or receipts for any animal-related charge
5. Lease pages containing the pet policy being applied to you
6. Notices, fines, or inspection letters that arrived after the request
7. Names and dates for verbal conversations, written down the same day

Screenshots of a tenant portal count. So does a photograph of a notice
taped to a door. Export anything that lives in a portal you will lose
access to at move-out, and forward the key emails to a personal address
if the account you used belongs to an employer or a school.

Organize the file chronologically rather than by type. An investigator
reading a dated sequence — request, silence, charge, notice — can see the
shape of the claim in a minute, and that sequence is also what makes a
continuing-violation argument under § 103.35 visible on its face.

## What happens after filing

Conciliation is a defined part of the process, not a detour — § 103.9
describes a conciliation agreement as "a written agreement setting forth
the resolution of the issues in conciliation." Many accommodation
disputes end there, with the animal approved and the charges reversed,
because the underlying question is narrow.

If new facts surface, the complaint is not frozen. Section 103.40 permits
changes "at any time to add or remove people according to the law and the
facts," or to correct other items such as information found during the
investigation. Once you approve a change, it is treated as made on the
date of the original complaint — which means an amendment does not
restart or forfeit your timing.

## The mistakes that cost people their claims

- **Negotiating past the deadline.** Good-faith back-and-forth with a
  landlord does not pause § 103.35 or a shorter state clock.
- **Filing about the animal instead of the act.** The complaint is about a
  refusal, a charge, or a retaliatory notice.
- **Leaving out the management company.** Name every entity you dealt
  with; § 103.40 lets you remove parties later, and § 100.7 makes agent
  conduct relevant.
- **Volunteering a diagnosis.** Section 100.202(c) bars inquiry into the
  nature or severity of a disability, so there is no reason to place it in
  the file yourself.
- **Assuming a withdrawn guidance memo ended the duty.** It did not.
  Sections 100.204, 100.202, 100.65 and 100.400 are regulations, and the
  2026 withdrawal notice touched none of them.

If you are still deciding whether what happened was unlawful at all, our
breakdown of
[the narrow grounds for a lawful denial](/blog/articles/can-landlord-deny-emotional-support-animal/)
is the right place to check before the year runs out.

## Frequently asked questions

### How long do I have to file after a landlord denies my request?

The regulation at 24 C.F.R. § 103.35 gives one year. Where there is more than one act or the conduct is continuing, the agency must receive your information within one year of the last incident rather than the first.

### Can someone file the complaint for me?

Yes. Section 103.20 says you or anyone who acts for you may ask any HUD office, or an organization, individual or attorney, to help with the filing. Nothing requires a complainant to draft it alone.

### Do I have to sue instead of filing an agency complaint?

No. The two paths run separately. HUD's 2026 withdrawal notice restates that a complainant may bring a civil action in federal district court or state court within two years of the occurrence or termination of the practice.

### What if I left something out of my complaint?

Section 103.40 lets you change a filed complaint at any time to add or remove people, or to correct items and add information found during the investigation. Approved changes count as of the date of the original complaint.

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