# ESA Letter in Roswell, GA: Small Landlords, HOAs, and Exemptions

> Only 28.1% of Roswell households rent, and who owns the house can decide whether Georgia's fair housing duty reaches your assistance animal request at all.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 92,227
- Households renting: 28.1%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Start with who owns the house, not with what the law says

In most Georgia cities the first question a tenant asks about an
assistance animal is what the landlord is required to do. In Roswell the
better first question is whether the landlord is required to do anything.

About 28.1% of Roswell households rent rather than own, on the 2020-2024
American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is well under
Georgia's statewide 34.3%, and roughly half the share in the city of
Atlanta. What gets rented in a north Fulton suburb is largely
single-family houses inside homeowners' association neighbourhoods, and
a good number of them belong to individuals with one or two properties
rather than to a company with a compliance department.

Georgia's fair housing rules carry exemptions that turn on exactly that.
So before you write anything, work out which side of them your landlord
falls on.

## The two exemptions that decide the question

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(1)(c)3-4 lifts the rules, everything
except the prohibitions on discriminatory advertising, from two kinds
of housing provider.

The first is a building with rooms or units for no more than four
families living independently, where the owner actually maintains and
occupies one of them. The second is the one that matters in Roswell: a
single-family dwelling let by an owner holding an interest in three or
fewer at a time, where no broker, agent or salesperson is used.

Two features of that second exemption decide most cases. It counts
properties, not tenants: an owner with four rental houses is outside it.
And it fails the moment a licensed agent or property manager handles the
letting, which in practice is how a large share of suburban single-family
rentals are advertised and leased.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs sets out the same limits in
its Landlord-Tenant Handbook, noting that both the federal and Georgia
Acts carry them. Georgia's version, unlike Colorado's, is not confined to
protected classes other than disability. It reaches disability too, which
is why the identity of your landlord can end the analysis before it
starts.

## Your association is a housing provider, and it is a separate one

A homeowners' association is a housing provider for fair housing
purposes, and the accommodation duty at r. 186-2-.02(4)(e) is written
broadly enough to reach its rules: it covers rules, policies, practices
or services necessary to afford a person with a handicap equal
opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit, *including public and
common use areas*. Those last words are the ones that matter when the
restriction lives in the covenants rather than the lease.

But the exemptions above turn on the letting, not on the association.
That cuts both ways, and both are worth understanding. An owner who
qualifies for the single-family exemption does not thereby make the
association exempt. And an association that is plainly covered does not
pull an exempt letting back inside the duty. They are separate providers
and each is assessed on its own facts.

Where covenants restrict breeds or sizes, the answer is not the list but
the animal. Rule 186-2-.02(4)(c)4 sets a high bar for refusal: the
tenancy must pose a direct threat to health or safety, or threaten
substantial physical damage to other people's property. Nothing in
Georgia law says, as Colorado's does, that an animal's mere presence
cannot amount to that threat, so what you get is the ordinary
individualised assessment, turning on this animal's actual record.

## There is no Roswell fair housing office

Roswell has no verified city fair housing office and no civil-rights
commission of its own. That leaves one enforcement route, the state's:
the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity's Fair Housing Division,
which polices disability discrimination in residential real estate
transactions under the Georgia Fair Housing Law.

One thing to be clear about, because Roswell sits inside metro Atlanta
and the mistake is easy. The City of Atlanta's Human Relations
Commission handles discrimination within Atlanta city limits. It is not
a Fulton County body and is not available to a tenant in Roswell.

## Which law your request actually runs on

Georgia rewrote its service dog law on July 1, 2026. HB 668 redefined a
service dog at O.C.G.A. § 30-4-1(5) as a dog individually trained to do a
specific job or task, and excluded any dog that solely provides comfort,
companionship, or emotional support, regardless of the handler's
disability status. Because the Title 30 housing section is written in
terms of service dogs, that puts emotional support animals outside
Chapter 4 of Title 30 altogether.

It does not touch your request, which never lived there. An assistance
animal request in housing runs on the Georgia Fair Housing Law at
O.C.G.A. § 8-3-200 et seq. and on r. 186-2-.02(4)(e), and HB 668 amended
neither.

The practical consequence is about vocabulary. Since July 2026,
O.C.G.A. § 30-4-4(b) has made it a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated
nature (up to $2,000.00, up to 30 days, or both), to deliberately
misrepresent yourself as qualified to use a service dog for the purpose
of securing rights under that chapter. Asking a neighbour's HOA board or
a small landlord for a "service dog exception" when you mean an emotional
support animal is both inaccurate and unnecessary. Ask for a reasonable
accommodation for an assistance animal.

## Writing to an owner who has never seen a request like this

A small Roswell landlord may genuinely never have received one, which
makes the letter you send do more work than it would at a leasing
office. Say what you need, not what you have been diagnosed with. The
regulation defines handicap at r. 186-2-.02(4)(b)14 to include emotional
or mental illness, and the question is a disability and a
disability-related need for the animal, established by someone who knows
your condition.

Note the sequencing rule as well. Rule 186-2-.02(4)(c)3 makes it
unlawful to ask an applicant whether they have a handicap or about its
nature or severity, with only four listed inquiries permitted and only
where they are put to every applicant. That governs screening. Once you
have asked for an accommodation, a conversation about disability and
need is a different conversation and is allowed.

## Pet charges on a rented house

Georgia does not regulate pet fees at any amount, so nothing in the
statute book caps a pet deposit or monthly pet rent on a Roswell rental.
The security deposit itself is capped at two months' rent by O.C.G.A.
§ 44-7-30.1, but only on leases entered into or renewed on or after
July 1, 2024, check the date before relying on it, because long tenancies
in a stable suburb often predate it.

Where the duty applies, what removes a pet charge for an approved
assistance animal is the accommodation itself: waiving it is an exception
to a policy. Separately, r. 186-2-.02(4)(d)1 bars a landlord from
increasing a customarily required deposit because a tenant has a
handicap.

## Deposit rules that split at ten units

Georgia divides landlords by size, and in Roswell that split often falls
the other way from Atlanta. One duty is universal: the deposit comes back
inside 30 days, measured from the later of the lease ending and your
moving out, and anything held back for damage must be put to you in
writing.

The stronger protections: holding the deposit in escrow or posting a
bond, formal move-in and move-out inspections, and treble damages plus
attorney fees for wrongful withholding: apply only to landlords owning
more than ten rental units, counting a spouse's and children's, or using
a management agent. An owner with two houses and no manager is outside
all of it. Where the inspection regime does apply, the landlord itemises
damage within three business days and you have five to inspect and to
dispute items in writing.

If a request is followed by an eviction filing, a rent increase or a cut
in services within three months, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24 presumes retaliation
unless the landlord shows a lawful reason.

## Deadlines, and where Fulton County tenants get help

You have one year from the discriminatory practice occurring or
terminating to file with the Commission on Equal Opportunity, under
r. 186-2-.03(2)(b), and two years to bring a civil action under
O.C.G.A. § 8-3-217, excluding time an administrative proceeding was
pending. The Commission must open an investigation within 30 days and
aims to complete it within 100. Within 20 days of a charge either side
may elect court instead, and the Attorney General then brings the action
in Superior Court.

Roswell is in Fulton County, which falls inside the five counties Atlanta
Legal Aid Society serves: Fulton, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett,
as a free civil legal aid provider for low-income Georgians.

## What Roswell landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services where necessary to afford a person with a handicap equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit, including public and common use areas, under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(4)(e)
- Cannot apply a no-pets rule to an approved assistance animal, waiving one being the worked example the Georgia Department of Community Affairs gives of a reasonable accommodation
- Cannot ask an applicant whether they have a handicap, or ask about its nature or severity, outside the four inquiries listed at Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(4)(c)3 and only where those are put to every applicant
- Cannot increase a customarily required security deposit because a tenant has a handicap, under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(4)(d)1
- Cannot demand or receive a security deposit exceeding two months' rent on any lease entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2024, under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-30.1
- Cannot impose different terms, conditions or privileges of rental, or deny services or facilities in connection with a dwelling, because of handicap, under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(4)(c)2
- Cannot keep any part of a deposit without returning it within 30 days of the lease ending or the tenant leaving, whichever is later, together with written notice of the damage claimed
- Cannot retaliate for a repair request, a tenant organisation, a good faith code complaint or an attempt to enforce a lease right, with retaliation presumed if the landlord acts within three months under O.C.G.A. § 44-7-24
- Cannot rely on O.C.G.A. § 30-4-3 to refuse an emotional support animal, because that section governs task-trained service dogs and says nothing about what fair housing law requires

**Can:**
- May decline where the specific animal's tenancy would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others or would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others, under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(4)(c)4
- May ask for information establishing the disability and the disability-related need for the animal where neither is obvious, the accommodation analysis being the one Georgia's regulator imports from 24 C.F.R. § 100.204(b)
- May hold the tenant liable for damage the animal actually causes, and may deduct it from the deposit with the itemisation the deposit rules require
- May be outside the duty altogether if the letting is an owner-occupied building of no more than four units, or a single-family dwelling let without a broker by an owner who has an interest in no more than three, under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(1)(c)3-4
- May be required to hold the deposit in escrow or post a bond, to run formal move-in and move-out inspections, and to face treble damages for wrongful withholding, but only where the landlord owns more than ten rental units or uses a management agent

## How to get an ESA letter in Roswell

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

- [Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, Fair Housing Division](https://gceo.georgia.gov/fair-housing-division) (state agency)
- [Georgia Landlord-Tenant Handbook](https://dca.georgia.gov/document/manuals/georgia-landlord-tenant-handbook/download) (state guide)
- [Atlanta Legal Aid Society](https://atlantalegalaid.org/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a fair housing office in Roswell?

No. Roswell has no verified city fair housing office or civil-rights commission of its own, so a Roswell tenant's route is the state one: the Fair Housing Division of the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, which enforces the Georgia Fair Housing Law against disability discrimination in residential real estate transactions. Atlanta's Human Relations Commission reaches only conduct inside Atlanta city limits and does not cover Roswell.

### My Roswell landlord owns two rental houses and uses no agent. Does fair housing law apply?

Possibly not. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(1)(c)4 lifts the rules, except the advertising prohibitions, from a single-family dwelling rented without a broker, agent or salesperson by an owner with an interest in no more than three at one time. Georgia's exemptions reach disability, not only the other protected classes. The state Landlord-Tenant Handbook states both the federal and Georgia Acts carry it.

### Can my Roswell homeowners' association refuse my emotional support animal?

An HOA is a housing provider for fair housing purposes, so the accommodation duty at r. 186-2-.02(4)(e) can reach its rules, and that provision names public and common use areas expressly. What decides whether an exemption applies is the letting, not the association. An exempt owner does not make the association exempt, and covenants do not pull an exempt letting back inside the duty.

### The neighbourhood covenants ban my dog's breed. Is that allowed?

Where the duty applies, the question is not the breed list but the animal. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 186-2-.02(4)(c)4 lets a provider refuse only on a showing that the tenancy directly threatens the health or safety of other people, or would substantially damage their property. Georgia, unlike Colorado, has not legislated that mere presence cannot be a threat.

### Did Georgia's 2026 service dog law change my request in Roswell?

Not the housing part. HB 668 took effect July 1, 2026 and rewrote the service dog definition at O.C.G.A. § 30-4-1(5) so that it no longer reaches a dog whose only function is comfort, companionship or emotional support, which leaves emotional support animals outside Chapter 4 of Title 30 entirely. Your request never ran on that chapter. It runs on the Georgia Fair Housing Law at O.C.G.A. § 8-3-200 et seq., which HB 668 left untouched.

### My Roswell house comes with monthly pet rent. Does that apply to an assistance animal?

Not once the accommodation is granted, though not because a price rule strikes it out. Georgia does not regulate pet fees at any amount, so no statute caps pet rent on a rented house. What removes the charge is r. 186-2-.02(4)(e): waiving it is an exception to a policy, and refusing a necessary exception is the violation. Get the waiver in writing before the first ledger posts.

### My landlord owns fewer than ten rental units. Does that change my deposit?

It changes the protections, not the deadline. Every Georgia landlord owes the deposit back inside 30 days, counted from whichever comes later, the lease ending or your departure, together with a written statement of any damage charged. But escrow or a bond, formal move-in and move-out inspections, and treble damages plus attorney fees bind only landlords owning more than ten rental units or using a management agent.

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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=georgia-emotional-support-animal%2Froswell