ESA Letters · South Dakota
Get an ESA Letter in South Dakota
South Dakota did what almost no legislature has done: it described the bad letter. SDCL 43-32-35 requires documentation from a licensed health care provider “who does not operate in this state solely to provide certification for service or assistance animals.”
Free to check · Takes about 5 minutes
- Licensed providers
- HIPAA compliant
- Most of Our Applicants Qualify
- Money-back guarantee
31.4%
Households renting
11
State statutes cited
on our full guide
$0
Pet fees with a letter
~5 min
Check time
What your South Dakota letter stops, and what stays
With a valid letter
- require documentation at all where the disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already known to them, SDCL 43-32-34, second sentence
- discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental, SDCL 20-13-20(2). A pet deposit or monthly pet charge on a required accommodation is caught here
- take a security deposit above one month's rent "however denominated", SDCL 43-32-6.1, so a pet fee cannot be stacked on top of a full deposit by renaming it
Still applies
- require reliable supporting documentation where a tenant asserts a disability requiring an assistance animal, SDCL 43-32-34. This is an express statutory right and arguing that a South Dakota landlord may not ask is simply wrong
- insist the documentation confirm both the disability and the relationship between the disability and the need for the animal, and that it come from a licensed health care provider who does not operate in South Dakota solely to certify animals, SDCL 43-32-35
- make good faith efforts to reasonably accommodate a person with a disability in housing, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship, SDCL 20-13-23.7, with punitive damages available under SDCL 20-13-35.1
- return the deposit or give written reasons within twenty-one days of termination, and forfeits all right to withhold anything by failing to, SDCL 43-32-24
- evict and claim a damage fee of up to one thousand dollars where a tenant knowingly makes a false claim of disability or knowingly supplies fraudulent documentation, SDCL 43-32-36
- not required by the chapter to modify the property, incur additional expenses or exercise a higher degree of care, SDCL 20-13-21.1. Waiving a no-pets rule asks for none of those things
The South Dakota rule: the statute disqualifies the seller
Other states list licence types. South Dakota disqualified a business model by describing it, and paired that with SDCL 43-32-33, which says the term service animal refers to an animal serving a role as an emotional support animal for the purposes of the rental documentation sections. Your animal is named in the code and the provider behind the paperwork is the thing the statute checks.
The law behind the letter
Every claim on this page traces to a primary source. The ones doing the work in South Dakota:
- SDCL 43-32-33
- SDCL 43-32-35
- SDCL 43-32-34
- SDCL 43-32-36
What pet charges actually look like in South Dakota
Typical figures from our 20 South Dakota city guides. Every one of these charges falls to $0 once a valid letter is on file.
| City | Monthly pet rent | Pet deposit |
|---|---|---|
| Sioux Falls | $25-$50/mo for pets | Barred as accommodation |
| Rapid City | $25-$50/mo for pets | Barred as accommodation |
| Aberdeen | $20-$40/mo for pets | Barred as accommodation |
| Brookings | $25-$50/mo for pets | Barred as accommodation |
| Watertown | $25-$40/mo for pets | Barred as accommodation |
Three steps to your South Dakota letter
Check that you qualify
Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in South Dakota. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front.
About 5 minutes: free
Connect with a licensed professional
You are matched with a provider licensed for South Dakota clients who reviews your situation in a telehealth evaluation.
Telehealth evaluation
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
Receive your signed letter
Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number: the documentation South Dakota landlords may lawfully request.
Typically within days of approval
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 South Dakota.
Protection under FHA + state law
About “ESA registration” in South Dakota
South Dakota has no registry of assistance animals, no certificate, no state identification card and no licensing body, SDCL chapters 20-13 and 43-32 were read section by section for this material and none of them creates one. What South Dakota has instead is a documentation standard, and it points in the opposite direction from a registry. SDCL 43-32-35 requires the documentation to originate from "a licensed health care provider who does not operate in this state solely to provide certification for service or assistance animals." A site whose entire South Dakota business is issuing certificates is described by that clause, not exempted from it. The state did not build a database; it wrote down what a real letter looks like and excluded the mills by name.
South Dakota ESA letter FAQs
What must a South Dakota letter actually establish?
Two things under SDCL 43-32-35: the disability, and the relationship between that disability and the need for the accommodation. A letter naming a condition and stopping there fails the second half on its face.
Can a Sioux Falls or Rapid City landlord ask for documents?
Yes — SDCL 43-32-34 gives them that right expressly, unless the disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already known to them. Disputing the question itself starts the conversation badly.
What happens if the documentation is fake?
SDCL 43-32-36 lets the lessor evict and claim a damage fee of up to one thousand dollars — but only on a finding that the claim or the document was knowingly false. A genuine request that fails is outside the section.
Is an online ESA letter valid in South Dakota?
Yes. South Dakota layers its own fair housing law on top of the federal Fair Housing Act, and neither requires an in-person visit, what both require is a real evaluation by a provider licensed for South Dakota. A telehealth evaluation that ends in a signed letter meets that standard; a questionnaire that ends in a PDF does not.
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