# ESA Letter in Boulder, CO: The City With Two Places to Complain

> Boulder rents more of its homes than any city in Colorado and enforces its own 1972 human rights ordinance. What that gives an assistance animal request.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/colorado-emotional-support-animal/boulder/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-08-07
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 106,803
- Households renting: 52.8%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Capped at $300
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Capped at $35/mo
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Boulder enforces its own civil rights law

Most Colorado renters have exactly one agency to go to. Boulder renters may
have two.

The City of Boulder Human Rights Ordinance was enacted by City Council in
1972. Inside city limits it prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of
physical disability, mental disability and source of income, and the city's
own Office of Human Rights enforces it. That is a local body, answerable to
the city, applying a city law, separate from anything the state does.

Nothing about it replaces state law. The assistance animal rules still come
from the Colorado Revised Statutes, and the Colorado Civil Rights Division
still takes housing charges from Boulder like it does from anywhere else. But
if a landlord inside the city refuses an accommodation, there is a second
office that has jurisdiction over the address. Knowing that before you pick a
route is worth more than any argument you could make afterwards.

## Two doors, and you must ask each one about its clock

Here is the part to get right. The state deadline is published and hard:
C.R.S. § 24-34-504(1) bars a housing charge one year after the unfair housing
practice, and the Civil Rights Division states plainly that it cannot extend
that deadline, not even for good cause.

No filing deadline for the city process appears on this page, because none
could be verified. So do not assume the two are the same, and do not assume
the city route pauses the state route. Call the Office of Human Rights, ask
what its own time limit is and what its process looks like, and ask the Civil
Rights Division the same. Then choose with both answers in front of you.

One trap sits on the state side regardless of which door you use. Intake
through the Division's CaseConnect system does not count as a filed charge;
the charge itself gets drafted and signed later, so an intake form started in
month eleven preserves nothing. Once it is filed, HUD certification of the
Division as a Fair Housing Assistance Program agency means most housing
matters carry two case numbers, one state and one federal.

## A city where renting is the norm, not the exception

Boulder rents out 23,455 of its 44,432 occupied homes. That 52.8% share, from
the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, is the highest of
any city in the state, Denver sits at 51.2%, and Colorado as a whole at
33.8%.

Two things follow. Landlords here have settled habits, which cuts both ways:
some have processed dozens of accommodation requests, and some have a house
rule nobody has ever challenged. And much of Boulder's rental stock is small:
converted houses, duplexes, garden-level units under an owner's own floor.
That is exactly where people assume the law stops.

It does not. Federal law exempts owner-occupied buildings of four units or
fewer; the Colorado accommodation duty at C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b) reaches
them. The lone small-property carve-out, C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1.5)(a), covers
three units or fewer and touches only the source-of-income rules. Disability
is left alone by it.

## What arrives on August 12, 2026

House Bill 26-1045 takes effect that day. Federal guidance that renters and
housing providers had leaned on for years was rescinded, and the bill's
legislative declaration gives its purpose as restoring that guidance by
codifying it in state law.

The vocabulary lands first. An assistance animal, per
C.R.S. § 24-34-301(2.5), is one that does work, performs tasks, assists, or
gives therapeutic emotional support to a person with a disability, and the
term takes in an emotional support animal and a service animal alike.

Then the presumptions. Let the animal stay, and
C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)(A) presumes you have made a reasonable
accommodation, so long as you were first given a chance at an interactive
accommodation process. Ban them all, and
C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)(B) presumes discrimination. The claim that any
animal is a hazard loses its footing too: under
C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1)(a)(III), mere presence is no direct threat and carries
no presumption of substantial damage. Documented, specific conduct is a
separate matter a provider may still raise.

## The condition buried in the presumption

That first presumption is conditional, and the condition is the interactive
process. Ask in writing, before the animal moves in, and leave the landlord a
real chance to answer. Move the animal in first and raise the statute
afterwards, and the strongest thing the new law offers is already gone.

In a small Boulder rental where the owner lives upstairs, "in writing" may be
nothing more than an email. Send it anyway. The record is the asset.

## Being asked for paperwork is not a refusal

Asking for paperwork is not by itself an unfair housing practice.
C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)(C) shields a provider who seeks reasonable
documentation of the disability, or of the disability-related need, and one
who runs a good faith interactive process, unless the disability or the need
is obvious anyway.

The wording draws its own boundary. Two subjects are on the table: the
disability, and why you need the animal. Breed is not. Weight is not.
Obedience training is not, and neither is a certificate bought online. No
register of assistance animals exists in Colorado or federally, so there is
nothing to sign up for.

## Who Colorado allows to write the finding

The licence held by the person signing changes the rules. Mental health
licensees (psychologists, licensed counsellors, social workers, marriage and
family therapists) sit under C.R.S. § 12-245-229(3)(a), which accepts no
finding unless the licensee met the patient in person, is sufficiently
familiar with the patient and the disability, and is legally and
professionally qualified. C.R.S. § 12-240-144(3)(a) covers physicians, for
whom a telemedicine visit will do. Either route produces two findings: one on
the disability, one on whether the need for the animal relates to it.

Video-only therapy is common, and a video-only therapist cannot make the
finding. A single in-person appointment closes the gap.

Currency and source also decide what a misrepresentation threat is worth.
Since March 1, 2022, C.R.S. § 18-13-107.3 has made it a class 2 civil
infraction to claim an entitlement you know you do not have in order to get a
housing accommodation, but only where a written or verbal warning came first.
A first offence costs twenty-five dollars, a second fifty to two hundred, a
third or later one hundred to five hundred. Your protection sits in the same
statute: a written finding under C.R.S. § 12-240-144(1)(a) or
§ 12-245-229(1)(a) is an affirmative defence, and going without one proves
nothing.

## What the animal may and may not cost you

Since January 1, 2024, C.R.S. § 38-12-106 has fixed two ceilings for any pet
in a Colorado rental. The additional pet deposit stops at three hundred
dollars and has to come back to you. Additional pet rent stops at thirty-five
dollars a month or one and one-half percent of rent, but *whichever is
greater*, a comparison worth reading twice, since it takes the larger figure
rather than the smaller.

Those ceilings price a pet. An assistance animal approved as an accommodation
sits outside them, because dropping the charge is itself an exception to a
policy within C.R.S. § 24-34-501(3.5).

Breed objections often arrive dressed as insurance. From the same date,
C.R.S. § 10-4-110.8(16) has barred a carrier from declining or surcharging a
homeowner's or dwelling fire policy over a dog's breed, and barred it from
asking about breed except to ask whether the dog has been declared dangerous.
A landlord blaming the insurer is describing something the insurer may not do.

Move-out falls to C.R.S. § 38-12-103 as rewritten from January 1, 2026. The
deposit comes back inside thirty days, or sixty where the lease says so. The
landlord carries the burden on both wrongfulness and amount. Keeping 125% or
more of the actual damages is presumed unreasonable. A written request compels
the photographs and invoices within fourteen days. Carpet not replaced with
new carpet in the previous ten years cannot be written off. And treble
damages, fees and costs follow wrongful retention, seven days after written
notice of intent to sue.

## Free help, close by

Colorado Legal Services staffs a Boulder office at 2935 Baseline Road,
Ste 301, on 303-449-7575. It covers Boulder county, and Broomfield county for
family law only, so a Broomfield housing problem belongs with a different
office. The City of Boulder publishes a Tenant Resource Guide, and Boulder
Housing Partners posts fair housing and equal opportunity information for its
properties and programs. Statewide, Colorado Housing Connects has run a
bilingual renter helpline since 2014 on 844-926-6632, and the Civil Rights
Division answers on 303-894-2997, with a Spanish line on 720-432-4294.

Colorado wrote the country's first statewide fair housing law in 1959. Boulder
added its own layer thirteen years later. The presumptions landing on
August 12, 2026 are the newest piece of a stack that, in this city, is two
governments deep.

## What Boulder landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot operate a complete prohibition on assistance animals, which C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)(B) presumes to be discriminatory from August 12, 2026
- Cannot treat the mere presence of an assistance animal as a direct threat to health or safety, or presume it will cause substantial physical damage to the property of others, under C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1)(a)(III)
- Cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, under C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)
- Cannot rely on the small-landlord and owner-occupied exemptions that exist under federal law, because Colorado's disability provisions carry no equivalent, the three-or-fewer-units carve-out at C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1.5)(a) applies only to the source-of-income rules
- Cannot charge a pet deposit or pet rent for an approved assistance animal, because waiving that charge is an exception to a policy within the definition of reasonable accommodation at C.R.S. § 24-34-501(3.5)
- Cannot take more than a three-hundred-dollar refundable pet deposit, or more than thirty-five dollars a month or one and one-half percent of rent, whichever is greater, for an ordinary pet under C.R.S. § 38-12-106
- Cannot justify a breed restriction by pointing at its insurer, since C.R.S. § 10-4-110.8(16) bars an insurer from pricing or refusing a policy on dog breed and from asking about breed at all
- Cannot keep any part of a deposit without a written statement of the exact reasons within thirty days, and cannot charge for carpet replacement across a unit where the carpet was not replaced within the previous ten years, under C.R.S. § 38-12-103
- Cannot place a lien on the animal itself for unpaid rent, under C.R.S. § 38-20-102(3)(a)

**Can:**
- May request reasonable documentation supporting the claim of disability or the disability-related need, and may run a good faith interactive process, without that being discrimination, unless the disability or the need is obvious, under C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)(C)
- May act on documented, specific conduct of the animal that poses a direct threat to health or safety or causes substantial physical damage to property
- May hold a tenant responsible for damage the animal actually causes, provided it exceeds normal wear and tear, did not preexist the tenancy, and is substantiated with the photographs, invoices or estimates C.R.S. § 38-12-103(8) requires on request
- May ask for a walk-through inspection at the end of the tenancy, as may the tenant, under C.R.S. § 38-12-103(1.5)

## How to get an ESA letter in Boulder

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Boulder. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes: free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional**, You are matched with a provider licensed for Colorado 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 Colorado 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 Boulder. (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 Boulder

- [City of Boulder Office of Human Rights, Human Rights Ordinance](https://bouldercolorado.gov/services/human-rights-ordinance) (city agency)
- [Colorado Civil Rights Division, Housing Discrimination](https://ccrd.colorado.gov/housing-discrimination) (state agency)
- [Colorado Legal Services, Boulder office](https://lawhelp.colorado.gov/node/19001) (legal aid)
- [Boulder Housing Partners, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity](https://boulderhousing.org/about/fair-housing-and-equal-opportunity/) (housing authority)
- [City of Boulder Tenant Resource Guide](https://bouldercolorado.gov/tenant-resource-guide) (tenant help)
- [Colorado Housing Connects](https://coloradohousingconnects.org/) (tenant help)

## Frequently asked questions

### Boulder has its own human rights ordinance. Does it cover my assistance animal?

It covers the ground your request stands on. The Human Rights Ordinance, enacted by Boulder City Council in 1972, prohibits housing discrimination within city limits on the basis of physical disability, mental disability and source of income, and the city's Office of Human Rights enforces it locally. The animal-specific rules come from state law: the accommodation duty in C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b), and from August 12, 2026 the presumption in C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b)(II)(A) that permitting an assistance animal is a reasonable accommodation. Ask the Office of Human Rights directly how it handles a refused accommodation, because the local process is its own.

### Should I complain to the City of Boulder or to the state?

Boulder renters have two possible doors, which is unusual in Colorado. The Colorado Civil Rights Division takes housing charges statewide, and C.R.S. § 24-34-504(1) bars the claim one year after the unfair housing practice; the Division says it cannot extend that for any reason. The City of Boulder Office of Human Rights enforces the local ordinance inside city limits. We do not publish a filing deadline for the city process, so call the Office of Human Rights and ask what its own time limit is before you decide, and do it early, because the state clock keeps running while you work that out.

### My Boulder landlord lives in the building and rents out three other units. Is he exempt?

Not on disability. Federal law leaves owner-occupied buildings of four units or fewer alone; Colorado law does not, and the accommodation duty in C.R.S. § 24-34-502.2(2)(b) reaches small owner-occupied rentals here. The one small-landlord carve-out in the statute, C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1.5)(a), covers buildings of three units or fewer and applies only to the source-of-income rules. It never touches disability. Boulder's older converted houses and basement units are exactly the housing this matters for, and there are a lot of them in a city where 52.8% of occupied homes are rented.

### A Boulder listing says it will not take my housing voucher. Is that legal?

Source of income is one of the categories Boulder's own Human Rights Ordinance names, alongside physical disability and mental disability, and the ordinance applies to housing within city limits. Under state law the picture is narrower: the carve-out at C.R.S. § 24-34-502(1.5)(a) exempts buildings of three units or fewer from the source-of-income rules only. Because the two regimes differ, the Office of Human Rights is the right place to ask how the city ordinance applies to your particular landlord. Boulder Housing Partners also publishes fair housing and equal opportunity information for its own properties and programs.

### Can a Boulder landlord charge pet rent or a pet deposit for an emotional support animal?

Not for an approved one. Dropping the charge is the kind of exception to a policy that C.R.S. § 24-34-501(3.5) describes, and an assistance animal is not a pet. The caps in C.R.S. § 38-12-106 are what govern actual pets: an additional deposit of no more than $300, which must be refundable, and additional rent of no more than $35 a month or 1.5% of the monthly rent, whichever is greater. Note the direction of that comparison: the statute takes the larger figure, so $35 is the floor on a pet lease, not the limit.

### My therapist only meets me by video. Will that letter hold up in Colorado?

It is the weaker document, and the reason is the licensee's own rulebook. C.R.S. § 12-245-229(3)(a) requires a mental health licensee (psychologist, licensed counsellor, social worker, or marriage and family therapist), to have met the patient in person before making a finding, on top of being sufficiently familiar with the patient and legally and professionally qualified. Physicians are held to a different standard at C.R.S. § 12-240-144(3)(a), which permits in person or telemedicine. Either way the professional must write a finding on disability and a separate finding on the disability-related need. Booking one in-person appointment with a Boulder-area provider fixes the gap.

### Where can a Boulder renter get free help?

Colorado Legal Services keeps a Boulder office at 2935 Baseline Road, Ste 301, on 303-449-7575. It serves Boulder county, and Broomfield county for family law matters only, so a Broomfield housing problem goes elsewhere. The City of Boulder publishes a Tenant Resource Guide, and Boulder Housing Partners posts fair housing and equal opportunity information. Colorado Housing Connects, the statewide bilingual renter helpline run by Brothers Redevelopment since 2014, answers on 844-926-6632. For the complaint itself, the Colorado Civil Rights Division is on 303-894-2997, with a Spanish line on 720-432-4294.

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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=colorado-emotional-support-animal%2Fboulder