# ESA Letter in Salina, KS: Direct Threat Is About You

> K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7) lets a landlord refuse where a tenancy is a direct threat or would cause substantial damage. It asks about this animal, not a breed.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 46,109
- Households renting: 35.9%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $25-$40/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Central Kansas's regional centre, renting cheaply

Salina has 7,000 renting households out of 19,474 occupied homes, 35.9
percent on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, three
points above the 32.8 percent Kansas figure and fourteenth of the state's
twenty largest cities.

Median gross rent is **$959**, a hundred and one dollars under the $1,060
Kansas median and cheaper than either Wichita ($975) or Topeka ($979). The
2024 Census estimate puts the city at 46,109, tenth in Kansas.

Sitting where I-70 crosses I-135, Salina is the service centre for a wide
stretch of central Kansas, with a rental market of mid-sized older buildings
and a lot of individually owned houses. Requests here are refused less often
on policy and more often on worry: about the animal, the neighbours, and the
carpet.

Kansas has a subsection for exactly that worry, and it is worth knowing
before it is quoted at you.

## The refusal Kansas does permit

K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7):

> "Nothing in this subsection (h) requires that residential real property be made available to
> an individual **whose tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of
> other individuals** or **whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to the
> property of others.**"

That is a real limit on the accommodation duty, not a formality. A page that
pretends otherwise is setting a tenant up to be surprised.

## What it is asking

Read the subject of both branches: "**an individual whose tenancy**."

It is a judgment about a particular tenancy. This person, this animal, this
building. Not a category, and not a rule about kinds of animal.

That distinction is what separates (h)(7) from a policy. A policy is precisely the thing an
accommodation is an exception to under K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B), which requires "reasonable
accommodations in **rules, policies, practices or services**." A landlord who invokes (h)(7)
by pointing to a category rather than to the tenancy in front of them has restated their
policy rather than made the assessment the subsection describes.

No Kansas case applying (h)(7) to a breed restriction was retrieved for this
material, so this page reports the structure of the words rather than a
holding.

## Two branches, with two qualifiers

**"Direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals."** The word *direct* is doing
work. It is not a general concern about liability, or a worry about how other tenants may
react.

**"Substantial physical damage to the property of others."** *Substantial*, and *of others*:
the property of other people, not the landlord's carpet wearing over two years. Ordinary wear
from an animal living somewhere is not what this branch describes.

Both branches are forward-looking, and both invite the same question in
reply: what about this tenancy, specifically.

## What usually resolves it in Salina

Where the objection is genuinely about behaviour rather than about animals
in general, answering the behaviour tends to work better than answering the
statute.

Nothing in K.S.A. 44-1016 requires a tenant to supply information about the
animal's conduct, vaccination or history, and this page is not suggesting
there is an obligation. It is observing that in a market of individual
owners, a concrete answer to a concrete worry closes more requests than a
correct citation does.

## And what the landlord keeps regardless

**Damage.** K.S.A. 58-2550(b) permits the deposit to be applied to accrued rent and to "the
amount of damages which the landlord has suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with
K.S.A. 58-2555 … and the rental agreement," itemised in a written notice.

Kansas says the same thing in the trained-dog context: K.S.A. 39-1108 makes even a specially
trained service dog's handler "liable for any damage done to the premises by such dog." An
accommodation is permission to keep the animal despite a rule; it is not indemnity.

Conceding that early is not a weakness. In Salina it is usually the sentence
that lowers the temperature.

## What comes off

Charges attached to the animal, where the accommodation is required.

**K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2)**, discrimination in "the terms, conditions or privileges" of a rental
because of disability. A pet deposit or monthly charge on a required animal is such a term.

**K.S.A. 58-2550(a)**. The additional half-month pet deposit is authorised 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 little under a thousand dollars at Salina's median.

And do not open with **K.S.A. 39-1108**'s extra-charge bar: it belongs to a "service dog,
specially selected, trained and tested for the purpose."

## The clock, and the exit at day 300

Six months, under K.S.A. 44-1005(i), from the act or from the last act of a
continuing practice, before the commission K.S.A. 44-1003 creates. If ten
months pass without a probable-cause finding, a written request forces a
dismissal that counts as exhausting administrative remedies and opens the
courthouse.

## Answering the worry rather than the statute

Where a Salina objection is really about the animal's behaviour, the
shortest route through is usually to address the behaviour.

That is not a legal obligation and this page is not suggesting one. K.S.A.
44-1016 requires no information about the animal at all, and a landlord is
not entitled to demand a history.

But (h)(7) asks about *this* tenancy, and a landlord who has a concrete
answer to a concrete worry rarely reaches for it. In a market of individual
owners, a sentence about how long the animal has lived in rented housing
without incident does more work than a paragraph about subsection numbering.

**And put the reassurance in writing.** An owner who has been told something concrete tends to
remember having been told it. A short written note also fixes the date of the request, which is what
the six-month clock in K.S.A. 44-1005(i) runs from.

## Getting past the worry

An existing treating relationship is worth more here than anywhere, because
it answers the statute from history rather than from a first meeting, and it
costs only the appointment. Central Kansas is thin: Salina carries a
regional load from a handful of practices, waits run into months, and many
of the counties it serves have no practising mental health clinician of any
kind.

If nobody is treating you, a licensed evaluation is that same enquiry,
arranged on purpose. A licensed clinician settles whether a disability
exists and whether this animal answers it, and then writes the determination
or declines with a reason. A provider incapable of the second outcome is not
assessing anything.

Against a Salina landlord whose objection is a worry rather than a rule, the
strongest thing in the room is a real assessment and a straight answer about
damage.

## What Salina 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 Salina

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

- [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)
- [Riley County](https://www.rileycountyks.gov/) (county government)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Salina landlord says my dog is a safety risk. Can they refuse on that basis?

Sometimes, and the statute says when. K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7) provides that nothing in the subsection requires residential real property to be made available to an individual "whose tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals or whose tenancy would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others." It is a genuine limit on the accommodation duty.

### Does that let them apply a breed restriction?

The subsection is written about "an individual whose tenancy" would pose the threat, a judgment about this tenancy rather than a category. A rule excluding a breed regardless of the animal in front of them is a policy, and a policy is the thing an accommodation is an exception to under K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B). No Kansas case applying (h)(7) to a breed rule was retrieved for this page.

### What is the difference between the two branches of (h)(7)?

The first is about people: a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals. The second is about property: substantial physical damage to the property of others. Both are forward-looking and both use qualifying words, "direct" and "substantial", that do work. Ordinary wear from an animal living somewhere is not substantial physical damage to the property of others.

### Should I offer information to address the concern?

Nothing in K.S.A. 44-1016 requires it, and it is often the fastest route through. Where the objection is genuinely about behaviour rather than about animals in general, addressing the behaviour directly tends to resolve more Salina requests than an argument about which subsection applies.

### Can they still charge me if they accept the animal?

No, not where the animal is genuinely required. A charge fixed to it is a term of the tenancy imposed because of the disability, and K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2) forbids exactly that. The half-month pet deposit in K.S.A. 58-2550(a) is unlocked by a lease that permits pets, and permission is the one thing an accommodation animal never had.

### Am I liable if the animal does cause damage?

Yes. K.S.A. 58-2550(b) permits the deposit to be applied to accrued rent and to damages suffered by reason of the tenant's noncompliance with K.S.A. 58-2555 and the rental agreement, itemised in a written notice. 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.

### How long do I have if the refusal stands?

K.S.A. 44-1005(i) gives six months, run from the act or from the last act of a continuing practice, before the commission K.S.A. 44-1003 creates. Should ten months pass with no probable-cause finding, a written request compels a dismissal that counts as exhausting administrative remedies and clears the way to court.

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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%2Fsalina