# ESA Letter in Shawnee, KS: (A) Is Not (B)

> Kansas splits modifications from accommodations into two subparagraphs. Only one puts the cost on the tenant, and a no-pets waiver is not that one.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 69,724
- Households renting: 26.3%
- 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)

## A Johnson County market with a narrow rental corridor

Shawnee has 7,023 renting households out of 26,695 occupied homes, 26.3
percent on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, six
and a half points below the 32.8 percent Kansas figure and seventeenth of
the state's twenty largest cities.

Median gross rent is $1,322, twenty-five percent above the $1,060 Kansas
median and a shade ahead of Olathe next door. The 2024 Census estimate puts
the city at 69,724, seventh in Kansas.

Most of Shawnee is owner-occupied single-family housing; the apartment stock
is concentrated along a few corridors and is professionally run. Which is
where a particular misreading of the Kansas act tends to surface. One that
sounds technical, arrives politely, and costs a tenant money if it goes
unanswered.

## Two subparagraphs, side by side

K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3) says what discrimination "includes" in residential real property. Two of
the three items matter here, and they are next to each other:

> "(A) A refusal to permit, **at the expense of the person with a disability**, reasonable
> **modifications of existing premises** occupied or to be occupied by such person if such
> modifications may be necessary to afford such person full enjoyment of the premises;
>
> (B) 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"

Read the difference.

**(A) is about the building.** Physical changes to the premises: a ramp, a grab bar, a
lowered fixture. The statute permits them and puts the cost on the tenant.

**(B) is about the rules.** Changes to how the place is run, not to what it is made of. The
subparagraph contains **no expense clause at all.**

## The misreading

It goes like this: a leasing office receives an accommodation request, reads (h)(3) as one
provision about disability, notices "at the expense of the person with a disability," and
replies that any accommodation is at your cost, so the pet rent stands, or a fee applies.

That reading collapses two subparagraphs into one. The expense allocation
belongs to (A), and (A) is about **modifications of existing premises**.

Ask what a no-pets waiver actually changes. Not a wall, a door, a fixture or
a floor. It changes a **rule**. Nothing about the premises is modified, so
subparagraph (A) is not engaged, and its cost allocation has nothing to
attach to.

Your request is a (B) request, and (B) has no expense clause because a rules
change does not cost the landlord anything to make.

## Which is why the charges come off under a different subsection

The pet rent and the pet deposit are not answered by (h)(3) at all. They are answered by
**K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2)**, discrimination "in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or
rental of residential real property or in the provision of services or facilities in
connection with such real property" because of a disability.

A monthly charge attached to an animal you are required to have is a term of
the rental applied because of the disability. In a Shawnee community
charging pet rent monthly, (h)(2) is the operative provision, because K.S.A.
58-2550 is a deposit statute and does not reach monthly charges.

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 there on permission. The unfurnished cap is one month's
periodic rent, which at $1,322 is a substantial figure.

## When (A) genuinely does apply

It is not a trap; it is a real allocation, and it is worth knowing so as not
to over-claim.

If what you need is a physical change to the unit: something built, altered
or installed. That is squarely (A), and the Kansas act permits it **at your
expense**. A tenant asking for a modification and expecting the landlord to
fund it has misread the subparagraph in the other direction.

Federal law runs the same distinction: **42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(A)** for
modifications at the tenant's expense, **§ 3604(f)(3)(B)** for
accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services. Kansas's structure
mirrors it.

## What a Shawnee landlord can still refuse on

**K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7)**: nothing in the subsection requires property to be made available to
an individual whose tenancy "would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other
individuals" or would result in "substantial physical damage to the property of others."

That is an individualised judgment about this animal and this tenancy. A
policy applied to a breed, or to assistance animals as a class, is not the
assessment the subsection describes.

## And do not open with K.S.A. 39-1108

It is the section a Kansas search puts first, and its extra-charge bar in rental housing
belongs to a "service dog, specially selected, trained and tested for the purpose": pulling a
wheelchair, opening doors, picking up objects. An emotional support animal is outside all three
qualifiers, and a Johnson County management office will say so.

## Twenty-six weeks

K.S.A. 44-1005(i) allows six months from the act of discrimination, from the
last act where a continuing pattern is alleged (the relevant framing for a
recurring monthly charge), filed with the Kansas Human Rights Commission
created by K.S.A. 44-1003. Where no probable-cause finding issues within 300
days of filing, the Commission must dismiss on your written request, and
that dismissal is deemed to exhaust administrative remedies.

## Which subparagraph a request falls under

There is a one-question test, and it is quicker than reading the statute twice.

Ask what the landlord would physically have to change. If the answer is part
of the building (a fixture, a door, a surface), the request is a
**modification** under (h)(3)(A), and Kansas puts that at the tenant's
expense.

If the answer is "nothing; they stop applying a clause to this tenant," the request is an
**accommodation** under (h)(3)(B), and there is no expense clause in that subparagraph at all.

A no-pets waiver is always the second. Saying so in the request itself heads
off the reply before it is drafted.

**And say which one you are not asking for.** A sentence confirming that you are not requesting any
physical change to the unit removes the (h)(3)(A) reply before it is drafted, and costs one line.

## What (B) actually asks

The best opening move is a clinician who has been treating you, years of
notes beat one appointment, and there is nothing to pay beyond the visit. In
Johnson County the constraint is time: two to four months to be seen as a
new patient, with several large practices refusing housing documentation on
principle.

Failing that, a licensed evaluation does the same job on purpose. A licensed
clinician resolves whether a disability exists and whether this animal
answers it, then signs a determination or gives the reason they will not
sign one.

Getting the subparagraph right stops a Shawnee landlord charging you for a
rule. Getting the assessment right is what makes the rule change in the
first place.

## What Shawnee 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 Shawnee

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

- [City of Shawnee](https://www.cityofshawnee.org/) (city government)
- [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)

## Frequently asked questions

### My landlord says I would have to pay for any accommodation. Is that right?

They have mixed up two subparagraphs. K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(A) covers reasonable modifications of existing premises and puts them "at the expense of the person with a disability." Subparagraph (B) covers reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services and says nothing about expense at all. A no-pets waiver is a (B) request, and (A)'s cost allocation has nothing to attach to.

### What is the difference between a modification and an accommodation?

A modification changes the physical premises: a ramp, a grab bar, a widened doorway. An accommodation changes a rule, policy, practice or service. Kansas separates them into (h)(3)(A) and (h)(3)(B), and the separation carries a consequence: modifications are permitted at the tenant's cost, accommodations are simply required where they may be necessary.

### Can a Shawnee landlord condition a modification on restoring the unit?

K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(A) speaks to permitting modifications at the disabled person's expense and does not itself set out a restoration condition in the words retrieved for this page. Where a landlord raises restoration, that is a term to be discussed rather than assumed, and it belongs to modifications rather than to a rules-based accommodation.

### Does a pet fee count as an expense I have to bear?

No. A charge for keeping a required accommodation animal is caught by K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(2) as discrimination in the terms, conditions or privileges of a rental because of disability. The cost allocation in (h)(3)(A) is about physical alterations to the unit, not about the price of the tenancy.

### What can a Shawnee landlord refuse on?

K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(7) says nothing in the subsection requires 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." Both branches point at this tenancy and this animal. A rule about a breed, applied without looking at the animal in front of them, is a policy rather than the judgment the subsection contemplates.

### Shawnee has relatively few rentals. Does that change the law?

No. At 26.3 percent, Shawnee's renter share is six and a half points under the Kansas figure and sixteenth of the state's twenty largest cities, so the stock is smaller and mostly concentrated along a few corridors. K.S.A. 44-1016(h)(3)(B) applies identically whatever the market looks like.

### How long do I have to complain?

K.S.A. 44-1005(i) puts it at six months from the act, or from the last act where the practice is a continuing one, before the commission K.S.A. 44-1003 establishes. If ten months go by with no probable-cause finding, a written request forces a dismissal that is treated as exhausting administrative remedies and opens the courthouse.

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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%2Fshawnee