Get an ESA Letter in Massachusetts

With a valid letter

• ✓refuse to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it may be necessary to afford a handicapped person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling: M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7A)(2)
• ✓refuse to rent to someone because they will need an accommodation, which makes the rejection of an applicant who discloses an animal unlawful in its own right, M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7A)(3)
• ✓demand a pet deposit or an up-front pet fee from any tenant, disabled or not: M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(b) closes the list of move-in charges to "rent for the first full month of occupancy", "rent for the last full month of occupancy calculated at the same rate as the first month", "a security deposit equal to the first month's rent" and "the purchase and installation cost for a key and lock"
• ✓take a security deposit larger than one month's rent, whatever the animal is, M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(b)(iii)
• ✓insist the animal be trained. MCAD's Full Commission adopted "assistance animal" as covering animals "whether such animals are trained or untrained", and upheld a claim where the hearing officer expressly found the dog was not a trained service animal
• ✓deny a request solely because the animal does not meet the federal ADA definition of a service animal, MCAD's press statement of 31 July 2026 says such a denial "may be in violation of Massachusetts law"
• ✓treat HUD's withdrawal of its federal assistance-animal guidance as shrinking state protection; MCAD states the federal changes "do not modify or limit the protections provided under Massachusetts law"
• ✓require magic words. MCAD applies the rule that a request need only be made "in a manner that a reasonable person could understand it to be a request for an exception, change, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice or service because of a disability"
• ✓skip the interactive process: MCAD holds that "it is the initial request for an accommodation which triggers the obligation to participate", and found a landlord liable who never asked what help the animal gave or for any documentation
• ✓charge for an assistance animal by another name: the Massachusetts Office on Disability states that assistance animals "are not considered pets, so housing providers cannot impose breed/weight restrictions or pet-fees/deposits/insurance requirements"
• ✓rely on a species or weight cap as an answer in itself; MCAD's test asks only whether the animal's presence is reasonably necessary to afford the tenant an equal opportunity to use or enjoy the premises

Still applies

• ·ask for supporting documentation from a medical provider who treats the tenant, where the disability or the disability-related need is not obvious
• ·refuse where the animal would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others, where the accommodation would be a fundamental alteration of operations, or where it would impose an undue burden
• ·enforce lease terms unrelated to the accommodation, and may hold a tenant liable for actual damage the animal causes
• ·decline entirely in an owner-occupied two-family dwelling, since M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7) does not reach it, but 804 CMR 2.01(4) takes that exemption away where the tenant receives public assistance or a rental subsidy, where a real estate professional is used, or where the advertising is discriminatory
• ·May, in state-aided public housing, apply pet policies to actual pets, but EOHLC's PHN 2023-01 directs local housing authorities to handle assistance animals through the reasonable accommodation process instead