# ESA Letter in Gardner, KS: Three Tiers, Three Triggers

> K.S.A. 58-2550(a) sets one month, 1½ months and an extra half month — each with its own condition. An accommodation animal never unlocks the third.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/kansas-emotional-support-animal/gardner/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-09-05
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 25,836
- Households renting: 32.4%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $35-$60/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## New building, Kansas City metro rents

Gardner has 2,685 renting households out of 8,288 occupied homes, 32.4
percent on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate,
within half a point of the 32.8 percent Kansas figure and fifteenth of the
state's twenty largest cities.

Median gross rent is $1,306, twenty-three percent above the $1,060 Kansas
median. The 2024 Census estimate puts the city at 25,836, seventeenth in
Kansas, on the southwestern edge of the Kansas City metro where most of the
housing has gone up recently.

New stock and metro rents mean deposits here are large in absolute terms,
which is a reason to read the statute that caps them carefully. It has three
tiers, and each one is a conditional.

## K.S.A. 58-2550(a), taken apart

> "A landlord may not demand or receive a security deposit for an **unfurnished dwelling
> unit** in an amount or value in excess of **one month's periodic rent**. If the rental
> agreement **provides for the tenant to use furniture owned by the landlord**, the landlord
> may demand and receive a security deposit not to exceed **1½ months' rent**, and if the
> rental agreement **permits the tenant to keep or maintain pets** in the dwelling unit, the
> landlord may demand and receive an additional security deposit not to exceed **½ of one
> month's rent**."

Three ceilings:

| Tier | Amount | The condition that unlocks it |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 1 month's periodic rent | The unit is unfurnished, the default |
| Furnished | 1½ months' rent | The rental agreement **provides for** the tenant to use furniture **owned by the landlord** |
| Pets | + ½ month's rent | The rental agreement **permits** the tenant to keep or maintain pets |

None of the conditions is optional. Each is written as an "if."

## Tier two, and the lease that asks for it anyway

The 1½ month figure is not a general landlord option. It applies where the rental agreement
"provides for the tenant to use furniture **owned by the landlord**."

An unfurnished Gardner apartment let on a lease demanding one and a half
months' deposit is asking for something the subsection conditions on
furniture that is not there. At a $1,306 median, the difference between one
month and one and a half is close to $650.

That has nothing to do with assistance animals. It is worth knowing because
it is the same mistake in the same sentence.

## Tier three, and why it never applies to you

The additional half month is available "**if the rental agreement permits the tenant to keep or
maintain pets in the dwelling unit**."

Permission is the trigger. The landlord agreed a pet could be there, and in
exchange the statute allows an extra half month.

An assistance animal that is a required accommodation is not there on
permission. Typically the agreement **forbade** it, and the animal is
present because K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B) required an exception to that rule.
The lease did not permit; the law overrode.

So the condition tier three sets is not satisfied, and the deposit it
authorises does not become available. That is a textual argument. No Kansas
case applying it to an assistance animal was retrieved for this page, which
is why the second route matters:

**K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2)** makes it unlawful to discriminate "in the terms, conditions or
privileges" of a rental because of disability. Charging for a required accommodation is a term
applied because of the disability. That is the reliable argument; the "permits" point is the
elegant one. Make both.

## The fourth regime, for completeness

The same subsection contains a separate scheme for subsidised municipal housing. A municipal
housing authority created under K.S.A. 17-2337 et seq., wholly or partially federally
subsidised, letting under an agreement where rent is determined solely by the tenant's personal
income, may take a deposit "in accordance with a schedule established by the housing authority,
which is based on the bedroom unit size of the dwelling unit" — and must provide a deferred
payment plan letting the tenant pay in reasonable increments.

That is a different regime rather than an exception to the tiers, and it is worth knowing if you
are in that kind of tenancy.

## The provision underneath all three tiers

**K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B)**: discrimination includes "a refusal to make reasonable accommodations
in rules, policies, practices or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford
such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy residential real property." **42 U.S.C.
§ 3604(f)(3)(B)** says the same federally.

The landlord's own escape hatch is **K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7)**: no property need be made available
where this particular tenancy would put others' health or safety at direct risk, or would cause
serious physical harm to somebody else's property.

And do not open with **K.S.A. 39-1108**, whose freedom from "an extra charge" belongs to a
"service dog, specially selected, trained and tested for the purpose."

## When the charge is monthly

K.S.A. 58-2550 is a deposit statute. It does not reach monthly pet rent at
all: the tiers cap what a landlord may **hold**, not what they may charge
each month.

Where a Gardner community charges pet rent, the tier analysis is irrelevant
and K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2) is doing all the work.

## Recovering the deposit

Under K.S.A. 58-2550(b) the balance falls due fourteen days after the
landlord works out what to keep, and never later than thirty days after the
tenancy ends, possession changes hands and the tenant asks for it.
Subsection (c) prices a failure to comply at one and a half times whatever
was wrongly held back, and subsection (d) strips the deposit from any tenant
who tries to spend it on the final month's rent.

## Six months, and a door at 300 days

Six months is the Kansas window under K.S.A. 44-1005(i), measured from the
act or from the last act of a continuing practice, before the commission
K.S.A. 44-1003 creates. The same subsection adds a second date worth
diarising: once 300 days have passed with no probable-cause finding, a
written request obliges the commission to dismiss, and the dismissal counts
as exhaustion of administrative remedies.

## Checking the lease against the three tiers

Two minutes with the lease and a calculator settles most of it.

Add up everything the landlord will **hold**: deposit, pet deposit, any
charge described as refundable or as security.

Then ask which tiers are unlocked. Unfurnished with no landlord furniture:
one month. Landlord furniture provided for in the agreement: one and a half.
A lease permitting pets: half a month on top.

If the total exceeds what the unlocked tiers allow, the excess is not
authorised by K.S.A. 58-2550(a), and for an accommodation animal the pet
tier was never unlocked at all.

## Before the tiers matter at all

Someone already treating you is the best place to start: history rather than
a first meeting, and nothing to pay beyond the appointment. Johnson County
will make you wait for it, two to four months for a new patient is ordinary
at the larger practices, several of which decline housing documentation as
standing policy.

Otherwise, a licensed evaluation performs the same enquiry on purpose. A
licensed clinician determines whether a disability exists and whether this
animal answers it, then writes it down or gives the reason it cannot be
written.

Three tiers, three conditions. The one that matters to you is never met, and
the reason it is never met is that your animal is not a pet the lease
allowed.

## What Gardner landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it may be necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy residential real property: K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B).
- May not discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental, or in the services and facilities provided with it: K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2).
- May not take a security deposit above one month's rent for an unfurnished unit, or 1½ months' where the landlord supplies the furniture, K.S.A. 58-2550(a).

**Can:**
- May take the additional pet deposit of up to half a month's rent only where the rental agreement permits the tenant to keep pets, K.S.A. 58-2550(a). An accommodation animal is not there on permission, so the condition is not satisfied.
- Must return the balance of the deposit within fourteen days of determining charges and no more than thirty days after termination, possession and demand, or face damages of one and a half times the amount wrongfully withheld: K.S.A. 58-2550(b) and (c).
- May refuse where the tenancy would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others or would cause substantial physical damage to the property of others, K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7). This is an assessment of the individual animal and tenancy, not of a breed.
- May still hold the tenant liable for damage: K.S.A. 39-1108 makes even a trained service dog's handler liable for damage to the premises, and nothing in the accommodation duty says otherwise.
- Is not required to permit modifications at the landlord's expense, K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(A) puts reasonable modifications of existing premises at the cost of the person with the disability.
- Is exempt from the state act only within K.S.A. 44-1018(b): a four-family owner-occupied building, or an owner with an interest in no more than three single family houses renting without a broker. The federal Fair Housing Act runs its own, different exemptions.

## How to get an ESA letter in Gardner

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

- [Johnson County](https://www.jocogov.org/) (county government)
- [Kansas Legal Services](https://www.kansaslegalservices.org/) (legal aid)
- [Kansas Housing Resources Corporation](https://kshousingcorp.org/) (state housing authority)
- [Disability Rights Center of Kansas](https://www.drckansas.org/) (disability rights org)

## Frequently asked questions

### How much can a Gardner landlord hold as a security deposit?

One month's periodic rent for an unfurnished dwelling unit under K.S.A. 58-2550(a). The 1½ month figure applies only where "the rental agreement provides for the tenant to use furniture owned by the landlord," and the extra half month applies only where "the rental agreement permits the tenant to keep or maintain pets in the dwelling unit." Each tier has its own trigger and none of them is optional to satisfy.

### My unit is unfurnished but the lease asks for 1½ months. Is that lawful?

Not on the face of the subsection. The furnished tier is conditioned on the rental agreement providing for the tenant to use furniture owned by the landlord. Where no landlord-owned furniture is provided for, the applicable cap is one month's periodic rent, and at Gardner's $1,306 median gross rent the difference between the two figures is substantial.

### Can the pet tier apply to my assistance animal?

No, because its trigger is permission. The extra half month is available "if the rental agreement permits the tenant to keep or maintain pets in the dwelling unit." An accommodation animal is not in the unit on the agreement's permission. It is there because K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B) required an exception to a rule forbidding it, so the condition is never met.

### Is there an exception for subsidised housing?

There is a separate regime rather than an exception. K.S.A. 58-2550(a) permits a municipal housing authority created under K.S.A. 17-2337 et seq. and wholly or partially federally subsidised, letting under a rental agreement where rent is determined solely by the tenant's personal income, to take a deposit under a schedule based on bedroom size, with a deferred payment plan so the deposit can be paid in reasonable increments.

### What does "periodic rent" mean?

The subsection uses "one month's periodic rent" for the unfurnished tier and "1½ months' rent" for the furnished one. Neither phrase is separately defined in the section as retrieved for this page, so what can be said is the structure: the cap is expressed as a multiple of the rent for the period rather than as a fixed sum.

### What gives my animal the right to be there?

K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B), which makes discrimination include a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where they may be necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy residential real property, together with the federal Fair Housing Act at 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B). Charges attached to the animal come off under K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2).

### How long do I have to complain?

Six months under K.S.A. 44-1005(i), counted from the act complained of or from the last one where the practice is continuing, before the body K.S.A. 44-1003 sets up. A second date sits in the same subsection: after 300 days with no probable-cause finding, a written request forces a dismissal that clears the administrative-remedies hurdle.

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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=kansas-emotional-support-animal%2Fgardner