# ESA Letter in Champaign, IL: Chapter 17 and Two Filing Clocks

> Champaign wrote its own accommodation duty into Chapter 17, then published two different filing deadlines. Here is the code text and how to protect your clock.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/illinois-emotional-support-animal/champaign/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-08-10
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 91,961
- Households renting: 56.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The sentence in Chapter 17 your request rests on

Champaign runs its own fair housing law. Chapter 17 of the Municipal Code is
the city's Human Rights Ordinance, and its Article V, sections 17-71 to
17-75.1, covers discrimination in housing and commercial space.

Section 17-71(13) makes it unlawful:

> To refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or
> services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a
> disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

Notice what is absent. No animal. No dog. No support animal of any kind. The
Illinois Human Rights Act is silent the same way at 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(2).
Champaign copied the state's sentence rather than improving it.

So the argument does not change: a no-pets clause is a rule, and your request
asks that the rule give way because of a disability. What changes is the room
you argue it in. Champaign gives you one in town, and section 17-3(11) adds
source of income as a protected basis, useful near campus.

## Two filing deadlines, and the City publishes the longer one

The City's own complaint page tells the public: "You must file within 300 days
of the incident."

The codified ordinance says otherwise. Section 17-101(c) reads that all
complaints of unlawful discrimination "shall be filed within one hundred eighty
(180) days of the occurrence of the alleged violation, or 180 days after the
discovery thereof, but in no event shall a complaint be filed more than one
year after the occurrence."

Both were checked on the same day, and we will not pick one for you. Work to
the 180-day date, and call the Equity and Engagement Department to confirm
before relying on any number, including the ones on this page. Day 250 might be
fine. It might also become an argument about which text governs, stacked on the
argument you came to have.

## The form asks how your landlord found out

Intake sits with the Equity and Engagement Department, in its Diversity, Equity
and Inclusion Division. The Human Relations Commission is the other half: nine
members appointed by the mayor to three-year terms, charged with enforcing the
ordinance and serving as the hearing board for complaints staff cannot
conciliate.

Filing costs nothing. There is an online housing discrimination form, and you
can walk in at 205 W. Park Ave. The acts must have happened inside the city.

Read that form before you need it. It has a protected-class checkbox reading
"Physical or Mental Disability," then a follow-up field: if you checked it,
explain how the respondent became aware of your disabilities. That is a hint
about what carries these cases. A counter conversation in August is hard to
reconstruct in April; a dated written request, carrying a letter from a
licensed professional who treats you, answers the question in a line.

## Renters are the majority here, and campus is why

Champaign has 36,815 occupied homes and 20,689 of them are rented: **56.2%**,
against 32.9% statewide, on the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 five-year estimates.

Champaign and Chicago are the only two of the twenty Illinois cities in this
series where renters outnumber owners, and Champaign's share is the higher of
the pair. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is the engine: a very
large student rental market, much of it held by people who own one house rather
than by management companies. The person you ask often has no policy manual and
has never been asked before, which is why the paper trail matters more here
than a friendly phone call.

## Your deposit cannot go up because of the animal

Two provisions, local and statewide, land in nearly the same words.

Champaign's section 17-71(12): "The landlord may not increase for disabled
persons any customarily required security deposit." The same subsection limits
a restoration escrow to the "actual costs incurred in the restoration." 775
ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(1) says it for every landlord in Illinois.

Neither is a cap, and the difference is worth holding onto. Illinois sets no
maximum on a security deposit, a pet deposit or pet rent, and Chapter 7 adds
nothing, so a landlord here may charge an ordinary pet owner whatever the
August market bears.

Your protection is a different kind of thing: once the animal is approved as an
accommodation, pricing it is refusing it.

## The 2024 change that reached the landlord with one house

The Security Deposit Return Act used to cover only buildings with five or more
units, which excused much of the housing near campus. Public Act 103-224 struck
that phrase effective January 1, 2024, so 765 ILCS 710/1 now binds every
Illinois residential landlord: including the couple renting out the house they
used to live in.

If the landlord keeps any of your deposit for damage, an itemised statement
with paid receipts attached is due within 30 days of the later of your moving
out or your right of possession ending. No statement, and the whole deposit is
due back within 45 days. Where a circuit court finds refusal to itemise or bad
faith, the award is twice the deposit plus costs and reasonable attorney's
fees. Damage your animal does is still yours; the Act governs how it is taken,
not whether you owe it.

## Chapter 7 counts no dogs, and bans a few animals

The good news is a silence. Champaign's animal chapter sets no numeric limit on
dogs or cats in a dwelling, no kennel threshold, and no pet fee of its own.
Several Illinois municipalities cap household animal numbers. Champaign does
not, so the only count binding you is the one in your lease.

One provision deserves attention if your animal is not a conventional dog or
cat. Section 7-5 bans a long list of exotic animals inside city limits,
wolf-hybrids among them, with no disability exception in the text. It says
nothing about assistance animals in either direction, so if that describes your
animal, get advice before you sign anything.

One more, because it gets misread. Section 7-14, on removing animal waste,
exempts support and guide dogs for blind, hearing impaired or otherwise
physically disabled people. That is a sidewalk rule, not lease authority.

## What not to put in the folder

Two things people bring here actively hurt them. The first is a printed
certificate from a site that sells them. No Champaign office and no Illinois
agency keeps any list of emotional support animals, so there is nothing to join
and no card that carries weight. A landlord may disregard the printout.

The second is the wrong statute. 775 ILCS 5/3-104.1 is titled for guide,
hearing and support dogs, and its subsection (C) even forbids an extra lease
charge beyond actual damage the dog does. It reads like it was written for you.
It protects "any blind or hearing impaired person or person with a physical
disability." If your disability is a mental health condition, quoting it hands
your landlord the words to refuse with. Cite 17-71(13) and 3-102.1(C)(2).

What belongs in the folder is short: a dated written request naming the rule
you want set aside, and a current letter from a licensed professional who knows
your condition and can say why the animal matters to it.

## Where the doors are, and where there are none

Champaign's ordinance reaches acts inside Champaign. Around the edges:

- **Champaign County has no human relations commission** taking housing
  discrimination complaints. Its only non-discrimination provision covers
  service by the county itself and routes to a grant-compliance channel.
- **Urbana is a separate municipality with its own human rights ordinance.** If
  your building is there, Chapter 17 is not your code; check Urbana's own rules
  rather than assume the two cities match.

State routes stay open wherever you are. The Illinois Department of Human
Rights takes a housing charge within one year of the violation being committed
or terminated, under 775 ILCS 5/7B-102(A)(1). Or go past it: 775 ILCS
5/10-102(A) allows a circuit court suit within two years, either party may
demand a jury, and paragraph (3) says you need not have filed a charge first.
If the landlord leans on you for asking, 775 ILCS 5/3-105.1 makes coercion a
separate violation.

A textual point, offered as a question. The exemptions at 775 ILCS 5/3-106:
including the owner-occupied building of four families or fewer, common around
campus, open with "Nothing contained in Section 3-102 shall prohibit." The
accommodation duty lives in Section 3-102.1, which 3-106 does not name. No
Illinois decision settling that turned up: an argument for a lawyer, not a
guarantee.

## Four places worth the phone call

The **Equity and Engagement Department** takes the complaint; the **Human
Relations Commission** hears it if staff cannot conciliate. **Land of Lincoln
Legal Aid** runs its Eastern Regional Office at 302 North First Street,
(217) 356-1351 or (800) 747-5523, and lists Champaign among the fifteen
counties it serves. The **Illinois Department of Human Rights** handles the
state charge and publishes a plain-language guide to housing rights.

## What Champaign landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services when it may be necessary to give a tenant with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, under 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(2), which is what a request to waive a no-pets rule for an assistance animal asks for
- Cannot treat a mental-health disability as outside the Act, because 775 ILCS 5/1-103(I)(1) defines disability as a determinable physical or mental characteristic and the housing article adds only that it be unrelated to the person's ability to acquire, rent or maintain a housing accommodation
- Cannot demand that the animal be trained, certified, registered or of a particular species, none of which appears anywhere in the Illinois Human Rights Act. The word "animal" does not appear in the Act at all
- Cannot refuse to rent because of the disability of a person who will live in the unit or of anyone associated with the renter, not only the person signing the lease, under 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(A)
- Cannot alter the terms, conditions or privileges of a tenancy, or the services and facilities that come with it, because of a disability, under 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(B)
- Cannot increase for a person with a disability any customarily required security deposit, in the express words of 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(1)
- Cannot coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with a tenant who asks for an accommodation, or who helped someone else ask, under 775 ILCS 5/3-105.1, a separate civil rights violation from refusing the request
- Cannot keep any part of a security deposit for damage without sending an itemised statement with paid receipts within 30 days, or must return the whole deposit within 45 days, under 765 ILCS 710/1: a duty that reaches every Illinois landlord since Public Act 103-224 removed the five-unit threshold on January 1, 2024
- Cannot rely on 775 ILCS 5/3-104.1 to justify a charge, because that section is written for blind, hearing impaired and physically disabled tenants and grants a landlord nothing in any event

**Can:**
- May ask for information establishing the disability and the disability-related need for the animal where neither is obvious, the enquiry 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(c) leaves open
- May refuse an accommodation that is not reasonable. One imposing an undue financial or administrative burden, or requiring a fundamental alteration of the landlord's operations
- May hold a tenant liable for damage the animal actually causes, and may recover it from the deposit through the itemised statement 765 ILCS 710/1 requires
- May enforce the ordinary terms of the tenancy against a tenant with an assistance animal: rent, noise, cleanliness and lease conduct rules apply the same way they apply to everyone else
- May set a security deposit at any amount, Illinois capping none, and may charge pet fees and pet rent to tenants generally, since no Illinois statute regulates them, which is exactly why the accommodation, rather than a ceiling, is what removes the charge for an assistance animal

## How to get an ESA letter in Champaign

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

- [Champaign Human Rights Ordinance complaints (Equity and Engagement Department)](https://champaignil.gov/equity-and-engagement-department/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-division/human-rights-ordinance-complaints/) (municipal agency)
- [Champaign Human Relations Commission](https://champaignil.gov/boards/human-relations-commission/) (municipal agency)
- [Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, Eastern Regional Office (Champaign)](https://lincolnlegal.org/locations/) (legal aid)
- [Illinois Department of Human Rights, Housing Rights](https://dhr.illinois.gov/rights/housing-rights.html) (state agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does Champaign have its own rule covering emotional support animals?

Champaign has its own accommodation duty, but not its own animal rule. Municipal Code section 17-71(13) makes it unlawful to refuse reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services when necessary to give a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. The word animal never appears, exactly as it never appears in 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(2). What Champaign adds is a local forum, not a stronger sentence.

### How many days do I have to file a housing complaint with the City of Champaign?

Two published numbers disagree, and you should know that before you plan around either. The City's complaint page tells the public to file within 300 days of the incident. The codified ordinance at section 17-101(c) says 180 days from the occurrence or from discovery, and never more than one year after the occurrence. Treat 180 days as your working deadline, file early, and confirm the date with the Equity and Engagement Department before relying on any number.

### Can a Champaign landlord charge a pet deposit for my emotional support animal?

Not as the price of the accommodation. Section 17-71(12) of the Champaign code says a landlord may not increase for disabled persons any customarily required security deposit, and 775 ILCS 5/3-102.1(C)(1) says the same for the whole state. Note what that is not: neither is a cap. Illinois sets no maximum on a deposit, a pet deposit or pet rent, and Champaign's code sets none either, so the protection comes from the accommodation analysis rather than a ceiling.

### Does Champaign limit how many dogs or cats I can keep in a rental?

No. Chapter 7 of the Municipal Code sets no numeric limit on dogs or cats per dwelling and no kennel threshold, so the only count that binds you is the one in your lease. One provision still matters if your animal is unconventional: section 7-5 bans a list of exotic animals in the city, wolf-hybrids included, and the text says nothing about assistance animals in either direction. If that describes your animal, get legal advice before signing rather than assuming an outcome.

### My landlord near campus owns one house. Do the deposit rules still apply?

Yes, since January 1, 2024. The Security Deposit Return Act used to reach only buildings with five or more units; Public Act 103-224 struck that phrase, so 765 ILCS 710/1 now covers every Illinois residential landlord. In a student rental market full of one-house and two-flat owners, that change did real work. Your landlord owes an itemised statement with paid receipts within 30 days, or the full deposit back within 45.

### Can I take a housing discrimination complaint to Champaign County instead?

No. Champaign County has no human relations commission that accepts housing discrimination complaints; its only non-discrimination provision covers service by the county itself and routes to a grant-compliance channel. If the building is inside Champaign city limits you can use the city's process, and either way the Illinois Department of Human Rights takes a housing charge within one year and the circuit court within two.

### What if my apartment is in Urbana rather than Champaign?

Urbana is a separate municipality with its own human rights ordinance, so Champaign's Chapter 17 is not your code and the Champaign process covers acts occurring within the City of Champaign. Check Urbana's own rules directly rather than assuming the two cities match. The state routes are open wherever you live: a charge with the Illinois Department of Human Rights within one year, or a circuit court suit within two years with a jury on demand.

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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=illinois-emotional-support-animal%2Fchampaign