# ESA Letter in Olathe, KS: Regarded As Is Not Enough

> K.S.A. 44-1002(k)(2) says no accommodation is owed to someone who qualifies only as 'regarded as' disabled. An Olathe request has to rest on more.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 149,035
- Households renting: 25.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $35-$75/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Fourth largest city in Kansas, seventeenth by renter share

Olathe has 13,357 renting households out of 53,072 occupied homes, **25.2
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate.
That is seven and a half points below the 32.8 percent Kansas figure, and
eighteenth of the state's twenty largest cities.

Median gross rent is $1,314, twenty-four percent above the $1,060 state
median. The 2024 Census estimate puts Olathe at 149,035 people, fourth in
Kansas, and the second largest of the Johnson County cities.

A city built largely of owner-occupied single-family housing has fewer
rentals, and the ones it has are run professionally. Which means requests
here meet a process, and a process that has read the Kansas act tends to
find the limit most states do not have.

## The exclusion Kansas wrote in

K.S.A. 44-1002(k)(2):

> "A reasonable accommodation or a reasonable modification to policies, practices or
> procedures **need not be provided to an individual who meets the definition of disability in
> K.S.A. 44-1002(j)(3)**, and amendments thereto."

And K.S.A. 44-1002(j):

> "'Disability' means, with respect to an individual: (1) A physical or mental impairment
> that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual;
> (2) a record of such an impairment; or **(3) being regarded as having such an
> impairment.**"

So Kansas has three routes into the definition of disability, and one of
them. The third, is expressly excluded from generating an accommodation
duty.

## What that actually does

The "regarded as" route is about somebody else's perception. K.S.A. 44-1002(l) defines it as
"the absence of a physical or mental impairment but regarding or treating an individual as
though such an impairment exists," and provides that a person meets it if they establish they
were subjected to a prohibited action "because of an actual or perceived physical or mental
impairment whether or not the impairment limits or is perceived to limit a major life
activity."

That is a real and useful route for a discrimination claim. If a landlord
refuses you because they believe you have a condition, the belief is the
discrimination and you do not have to prove the condition.

**But it does not compel an accommodation.** An accommodation is a positive obligation to do
something for you, and Kansas has decided that obligation attaches to an actual impairment or
a record of one, not to somebody else's misapprehension.

Which is not unreasonable, when you think about what the alternative would
look like. It is also a limit a well-advised Olathe management company can
point at.

## What is left, and it is the right thing to rely on anyway

Route **(j)(1)**, a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits
one or more major life activities. Or route **(j)(2)**, a record of such an
impairment.

Both are findings about you rather than about how anyone else sees you. Both
are established by clinical assessment.

That means the practical effect of 44-1002(k)(2) in Olathe is not to narrow
who can get an accommodation in any real case. It is to make the underlying
determination the whole of the case, because there is no procedural side
door.

## And the federal duty is separate

**42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B)** is a federal obligation with its own definitions and its own body
of interpretation, and it is not narrowed by K.S.A. 44-1002(k)(2).

Where an Olathe landlord relies on the Kansas exclusion, the federal
question is a separate one and has to be asked separately. Do not treat the
state answer as disposing of it.

## The definition that is written about employees

While you are in 44-1002, note that subsection (k)(1) defines "reasonable accommodation"
entirely in workplace vocabulary, "making existing facilities used by **employees** readily
accessible," "job restructuring; part-time or modified work schedules; reassignment to a vacant
position."

The housing duty does not depend on that definition. K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B) supplies its own
formula: "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."

So a landlord arguing that a no-pets waiver is not within the definition of
reasonable accommodation because it is not job restructuring has misread
which provision governs. Only subsection (k)(2)'s exclusion carries across;
(k)(1)'s content does not.

## What else is in play

Charges attached to the animal come off under **K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2)**, discrimination in "the
terms, conditions or privileges" of a rental because of disability. In an Olathe community
charging monthly pet rent, that is the operative provision, because K.S.A. 58-2550 is a deposit
statute and does not reach a monthly charge.

Where a deposit is charged, K.S.A. 58-2550(a)'s additional half-month is available only "if the
rental agreement permits the tenant to keep or maintain pets in the dwelling unit," and an
accommodation animal is not present on permission. The unfurnished cap is one month's periodic
rent, a substantial figure at $1,314.

**K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7)** preserves a refusal where the tenancy would be a direct threat to
health or safety or would cause substantial physical damage to the property of others,
individualised, not a breed rule.

And do not lead with **K.S.A. 39-1108**. It is the section a search puts first, and its extra-charge
bar belongs to a "service dog, specially selected, trained and tested for the purpose."

## Six months, with a door at 300 days

The Kansas window is six months under K.S.A. 44-1005(i), running from the
act or from the last act where a continuing pattern is alleged, before the
commission K.S.A. 44-1003 creates. Ten months after filing, a complaint with
no probable-cause finding must be dismissed on the complainant's written
request, and the dismissal is treated as exhausting administrative remedies.

## What "a record of such an impairment" covers

Because the regarded-as route is closed, the second route in K.S.A.
44-1002(j) is worth knowing.

Subsection (j)(2) recognises "a record of such an impairment": a history of a physical or mental
impairment that substantially limited a major life activity, whether or not it does so today with
treatment.

For a tenant whose condition is managed, that route can matter, because a
landlord's process sometimes treats "you seem fine" as an answer. It is not
one. What the statute asks about is the impairment and its effect, not the
impression a leasing office forms in a ten-minute conversation.

Whether a particular history satisfies (j)(2) is a clinical and legal
question, and it is another reason the determination has to come from
somebody who examined you.

## The determination is the case

Whoever already treats you is the place to start, history is worth more than
a first appointment, and there is no extra cost. Johnson County's answer is
a queue: two to four months for a new patient is the norm at the larger
practices, several of which will not write housing documentation whatever
the history.

Where nobody is treating you, a licensed evaluation runs the same enquiry on
purpose. A licensed clinician settles whether a disability exists and
whether this animal answers it, then writes the determination or explains
the refusal. The refusal is the part that proves the process was real.

Kansas has told you which of the three definitions will not do. The other
two are answered in an examination room.

## What Olathe 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 Olathe

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Olathe. 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 Olathe. (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 Olathe

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

## Frequently asked questions

### Is being treated as disabled enough to get an accommodation in Kansas?

No, and Kansas says so expressly. K.S.A. 44-1002(k)(2) provides that a reasonable accommodation or reasonable modification to policies, practices or procedures "need not be provided to an individual who meets the definition of disability in K.S.A. 44-1002(j)(3)", which is "being regarded as having such an impairment." The regarded-as route supports a discrimination claim; it does not compel an accommodation.

### What does that leave me needing to show?

One of the other two routes in K.S.A. 44-1002(j): "(1) A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual," or "(2) a record of such an impairment." Both are findings about you rather than about how someone else treats you, and both are established by clinical assessment rather than by assertion.

### Does the federal Fair Housing Act have the same exclusion?

No. The federal obligation in 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) stands on its own definitions and its own case law, and nothing in K.S.A. 44-1002(k)(2) cuts it down. An Olathe landlord invoking the Kansas exclusion has answered the state question only; the federal one remains open and has to be put separately.

### Why is K.S.A. 44-1002(k)(1) written about employees?

Because the Kansas definition of reasonable accommodation was drafted for the employment context. It speaks of facilities used by employees, job restructuring, modified work schedules and reassignment to a vacant position. The housing duty does not depend on it: K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B) supplies its own formula, "reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services." Only subsection (k)(2)'s exclusion carries across.

### Olathe has few rentals. Does that affect anything?

It affects the market rather than the law. At 25.2 percent, Olathe's renter share is seven and a half points below the Kansas figure and seventeenth of the state's twenty largest cities, so the stock is smaller and turns over less. The legal position under K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B) is identical to Wichita's.

### Can an Olathe landlord charge pet rent for an assistance animal?

Not for a required accommodation. K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2) makes it unlawful to discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of a rental, and a monthly charge attached to a required animal is such a term. Separately, the additional pet deposit K.S.A. 58-2550(a) authorises is conditioned on a rental agreement that permits pets, which an accommodation animal is not present under.

### How long do I have to file?

K.S.A. 44-1005(i) allows six months, counted from the act of discrimination or from the last act of a continuing practice, before the commission that K.S.A. 44-1003 sets up. Ten months after filing, a complaint carrying no probable-cause finding must be dismissed on the complainant's written request, and the dismissal is treated as exhausting administrative remedies.

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