# ESA Letter in Gaithersburg, MD: The Commission That Cannot Help You

> Gaithersburg has a Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs, and an emotional support animal denial is not its business. Here is where the complaint really goes.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 69,825
- Households renting: 49.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Capped: 1 month's rent
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## A commission with the right name and the wrong subject

Search "Gaithersburg" and "landlord" and you will quickly find the **Commission
on Landlord-Tenant Affairs**, created by Article II of Chapter 13 of the City
Code. It is a real body. Section 13-22 lets a tenant complain about a "defective
tenancy" once the landlord has had written notice and a week to fix the problem.

If your building has refused your emotional support animal, that is not the
commission you want, and that is worth knowing early. Chapter 13 was read through
for the words *animal*, *pet*, *discriminat*
and *disabil*. It carries none of them. The chapter has no discrimination
provision, no disability provision and no animal provision at all.

So an ESA refusal is not a Chapter 13 matter. Filing one there costs you time on
a clock that is running somewhere else.

## The City sends its own residents to the county

Gaithersburg counts roughly 69,825 residents in the 2020–2024 five-year American
Community Survey. It has a mayor, a council and a code of ordinances of its own.
What it has no trace of is a human relations commission or a fair housing
ordinance.

That is not a guess. The complete table of contents of the city code (Supplement
52, Update 1, dated 20 July 2026) was pulled and searched for "human relation,"
"human right," "civil right," "discrimin" and "fair housing." Nothing came back.

The City says as much in its own way. Its Impediments to Fair Housing
Choice page hands a housing complaint straight to the **county's human rights
office in Rockville**, or to HUD's Philadelphia office. No city body is named,
because there is none to name.

An incorporated city that hands its residents to the county is unusual. Most of
Maryland's large places are unincorporated and have no choice. Gaithersburg has
a city hall and still points down the road to Rockville.

## Where the complaint actually goes

Complaints belong with the county's Office of Human Rights, in Suite 330 at
21 Maryland Avenue, Rockville; the phone is 240-777-8450, TTY 240-777-8480. It
enforces Article I of Chapter 27 of the County Code. Its published jurisdiction
covers "real estate transactions (both housing and commercial real estate)," and
**disability** is one of the bases on which it takes them.

Its deadline, in the county's own sentence: "A signed complaint must be filed
within one year after an alleged discriminatory act or practice occurred."

One caution. HUD's partner roster carries a single Maryland entry, the state
commission. No locality here runs a certified Fair Housing Assistance Program.
The county office is a genuine front door, but not a federal one.

## What state law says about your animal, and what it does not

Maryland's fair housing law uses the phrase emotional support exactly once in all
of Title 20, and uses it to push your animal outside a definition. A "service
dog," says § 20-706(a)(3)(ii), excludes a dog that "provides only emotional
support, well-being, comfort, or companionship to an individual."

Your protection sits a little further down, in § 20-706(b)(4). It is unlawful to "refuse
to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when
the accommodations may be necessary to afford an individual with a disability
equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling."

Read what that provision governs: **rules**. It never says animal, never says
dog, never asks about training. A pet ban is a rule. A weight cap is one too, and
so is the pet-rent line on the ledger.

## The two sentences that will be quoted at you

Section 20-706(d) lifts a service-dog handler clear of any lease term forbidding
dogs, and bars charging that handler "any additional rent or fee." Housing
subtitle, plain words, precisely the thing a tenant hopes to find. It also runs
on the definition seven lines above, the one that writes your animal out.

Human Services § 7-704(c) reads better still at a glance — housing
accommodations on equal terms, no "extra compensation for the service animal."
Then § 7-701(g) builds its definition around individual training for work or tasks,
and that door shuts too.

Both are real law; neither is your argument. Use § 20-706(b)(4), on fees it
gets you the same result.

## The booklet your landlord has to offer you

Here is the document worth more than either statute in Gaithersburg.
Montgomery County's Landlord-Tenant Handbook (a hard copy of which the
landlord must offer every tenant at lease signing), addresses your situation
by name on page 7:

> Landlords should allow emotional support animals as a reasonable accommodation
> unless they can prove that the presence of the animal poses an undue hardship.
> The landlord is entitled to request verification from a doctor/therapist or
> other licensed or professional person who can document a tenant's need for such
> an animal. The landlord is not entitled to ask a person's particular
> disability.

That same passage calls such an animal "not a pet" and one that "cannot be
charged pet fees," while leaving responsibility for damage with the tenant. The
no-fee position draws on federal accommodation law and, separately, on the
County's own prohibition of non-refundable charges, page 11 of the handbook
lists "pet fees or deposits" among the fees a landlord may not impose, subject to
a caveat worth carrying: certain condominium communities permit them in their
by-laws.

## Money at the door, under state law

A Maryland deposit stops at one month's rent, Real Property § 8-203(b)(1), no
matter how many tenants sign. Since § 8-203(a)(3) fixes what counts as a deposit
by function, money standing behind rent arrears or damage, a refundable pet
deposit belongs inside that single month, not stacked on it. Section 8-208(d)(11)
shuts the remaining gap: to start the lease and take possession, nothing beyond
that deposit plus a single month's rent may be demanded.

Charges collected before a tenancy exists run on a separate track. Under
§ 8-213(b), a non-deposit fee above $25 has to come back to you, with double
damages if it does not. Section 8-213(c) then carves out any landlord offering no
more than four units at one address, plus seasonal and condominium lettings.

The pet policy itself has to be visible in advance. Section 8-210(c) makes a
landlord post it as a website link and drop the policy, or a summary, into the
application packet: restrictions by breed and weight, a cap on how many animals,
vaccination and liability-insurance terms, and every charge attached.

## Half the city rents

Gaithersburg has 25,772 occupied homes and 12,684 of them are rented: a 49.2%
renter share on the same 2020–2024 survey, against 32.4% across Maryland. It is
a hair short of majority-renter and one of the most rented places in the state.

Most of that stock is professionally managed and priced by policy, and policy is
exactly what an accommodation request adjusts.

## If you are 60 or older

One Maryland statute exists for this county alone, and it reaches a Gaithersburg
tenancy for no reason other than the county line. Real Property § 8-214 says that
a landlord with more than three dwelling units at a single location, or on a
single parcel, cannot stop a tenant of 60 or over from keeping a household pet,
unless a written prohibition was already in place when occupancy started.

Nothing in it turns on disability. It is a **pet** right triggered by a birthday
and an address; it sits alongside an accommodation request and substitutes for
nothing. Subsection (d) keeps you answerable for damage; subsection (e) leaves the
landlord free to regulate species, size, headcount, waste and behaviour.

## Your clocks, and how to start

At the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights the window is a full year under §
20-1021(a)(2), matching the county. Intake there is 410-767-8600, and a file
opens with a Preliminary Questionnaire. A local filing inside that year also
counts as a timely state filing, COMAR 14.03.04.10D(3), so going to
Rockville first spends nothing. That six-month deadline repeated all over
the internet is a non-housing rule, COMAR 14.03.01.03C(1) puts housing
outside it.

Further back sit a 100-day probable-cause target in § 20-1022(a)(2), a 20-day
window in § 20-1026(b) to swap an administrative hearing for a courtroom, and a
two-year limit on suing under § 20-1035.

One step comes before all of that: write to your landlord. Frame it as a
reasonable accommodation to the pet policy, tie the animal to a disability,
and attach a recent letter from a clinician who has genuinely worked with
you. Maryland registers nothing here: no agency issues an ESA credential, no
statute creates one, and a bought certificate answers neither question the
law asks. Maryland Legal Aid's Montgomery County office, at 600 Jefferson
Plaza in Rockville, covers the Gaithersburg ZIP codes on (240) 314-0373.

## What Gaithersburg landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make a reasonable accommodation in a rule, policy, practice or service where it may be necessary for a tenant with a disability to have equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling: Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-706(b)(4). A no-pets policy is a rule.
- Cannot rely on § 20-706(d)'s "no additional rent or fee" language to decide an emotional support animal request, in either direction: that subsection is written for a "service dog" as defined in § 20-706(a)(3), which expressly excludes an animal providing only emotional support.
- Cannot treat the owner-occupied exemption as covering a disability complaint: § 20-704(a)(2) is limited to sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, military status and voucher income, and disability is not among them.
- Cannot impose a security deposit greater than one month's rent per dwelling unit regardless of how many tenants sign, outside the narrow utility-assistance case, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(b)(1). Exceeding it exposes the landlord to three times the excess plus fees.
- Cannot use a lease requiring a tenant to pay more than that deposit plus the first month's rent to commence the lease and take occupancy, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(d)(11).
- Cannot enforce a lease provision prohibited by § 8-208, and owes actual damages plus reasonable attorney's fees for tendering one or making known an intent to enforce it, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(g).
- Cannot advertise or offer a rental in terms indicating a preference or limitation based on disability, Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-705(3).
- Cannot keep any part of a security deposit for damages if it failed to honour a tenant's certified-mail request to be present at the move-out inspection, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(f)(1)(vii).
- Cannot hold a security deposit past 45 days after the end of the tenancy without a reasonable basis, and owes interest at the one-year Treasury yield curve rate or 1.5%, whichever is greater, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-203(e).
- Cannot omit the pet policy from the rental application or the property website, and the policy must itemise breed and weight limits, pet limits, vaccination and insurance requirements, and every up-front fee, deposit and monthly charge: Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-210(c).
- Cannot write a lease clause having the tenant waive or forgo any right or remedy provided by law, or waive a jury trial, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(d)(2), (d)(4).
- Cannot charge a late fee above 5% of the rent unpaid for the period in question, Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-208(d)(3).
- In Montgomery County only, and only where more than three units are offered on one parcel or at one location, cannot prohibit a tenant aged 60 or older from keeping a household pet unless the prohibition was in writing at the time occupancy took place: Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-214.
- Cannot keep a fee over $25 taken from a prospective tenant that is not a security deposit, beyond what was actually spent on the credit check or other application expenses, and owes twice the amount in damages if it does: Md. Code, Real Prop. § 8-213(b). Landlords with four or fewer units on one parcel, and seasonal and condominium rentals, are outside this section.

**Can:**
- May still refuse where the tenancy would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others or would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others, Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-703(5), but that turns on the tenancy, not on the species or the label.
- May hold the tenant liable for damage the animal actually does; an accommodation removes the charge for having the animal, not the cost of repairing what it breaks.

## How to get an ESA letter in Gaithersburg

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

- [Montgomery County Office of Human Rights](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/office-human-rights) (county agency)
- [City of Gaithersburg, Impediments to Fair Housing Choice](https://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/services/housing-services/impediments-to-fair-housing-choice) (city agency)
- [Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, intake process](https://mccr.maryland.gov/complaint-investigative-process/intake-process) (state agency)
- [Maryland Legal Aid](https://www.mdlab.org/contact-us/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### Gaithersburg has a Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs. Can it hear my ESA complaint?

No, and the name is genuinely misleading. Article II of Chapter 13 of the City Code creates that commission, and § 13-22 lets a tenant complain about a "defective tenancy" after giving the landlord written notice and a week to cure. But Chapter 13 was searched for "animal," "pet," "discriminat" and "disabil" and contains none of them, no discrimination provision, no disability provision, no animal provision. A refused emotional support animal is a fair housing matter, and it belongs with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights or the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights instead.

### Does Gaithersburg have its own fair housing law or human relations commission?

It does not. The full table of contents of the city code, Supplement 52 Update 1 dated 20 July 2026, was retrieved and searched for "human relation," "human right," "civil right," "discrimin" and "fair housing," and returned nothing. The City's own Impediments to Fair Housing Choice page confirms the practical effect: it directs residents to the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights at 21 Maryland Avenue in Rockville, 240-777-8450, and to HUD's Philadelphia office, and names no city body. Gaithersburg is an incorporated city that sends its own residents to the county for this.

### How long do I have to file after my Gaithersburg landlord refuses my animal?

One year. Montgomery County's Office of Human Rights puts it in its own words: "A signed complaint must be filed within one year after an alleged discriminatory act or practice occurred." The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights runs the same one-year limit for housing under § 20-1021(a)(2), and COMAR 14.03.04.10D(3) treats a complaint filed with a local commission inside that year as a timely state filing. The six-month figure you may see belongs to non-housing complaints, COMAR 14.03.01.03C(1) expressly excepts housing discrimination from it.

### My landlord says Maryland law only protects trained service dogs. Is that right?

Half right, and the half that is wrong is the half that matters. Md. State Gov't § 20-706(a)(3)(ii) does exclude from "service dog" an animal that provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort or companionship, and Human Services § 7-701(g) limits its "service animal" to one individually trained to do work or perform tasks. Neither of those is your route. Section 20-706(b)(4) is: it forbids refusing reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services needed for equal use and enjoyment of a dwelling. It never mentions animals or training, and a no-pets clause is a rule.

### Can a Gaithersburg building charge me pet rent or a pet deposit for an ESA?

The Montgomery County Landlord-Tenant Handbook says no. Page 7 states that an emotional support animal, like a service animal, "is not a pet and cannot be charged pet fees," and page 11 lists "pet fees or deposits" among non-refundable charges a landlord may not impose, with the caveat that certain condominium communities permit them in their by-laws. That position rests on federal fair housing accommodation law together with the County's own fee ban, not on any Maryland service-animal statute. You remain fully responsible for damage your animal actually causes.

### What documentation can a Gaithersburg landlord ask me for?

The county handbook draws the line clearly, and a landlord here is required to offer every tenant a hard copy of it at lease signing. It says the landlord "is entitled to request verification from a doctor/therapist or other licensed or professional person who can document a tenant's need for such an animal," and that the landlord "is not entitled to ask a person's particular disability." So expect to be asked for a letter, and expect not to be asked for a diagnosis. Nothing in Maryland is registered or certified, no agency issues an ESA credential and no statute creates one.

### I am 68 and rent in a large Gaithersburg complex. Do I get a pet right on top of this?

You may, and it is worth keeping the two claims apart. Real Property § 8-214 gives an older tenant a pet right, not a disability right: it asks how old you are and where you live, and never asks what your condition is. Gaithersburg sits in Montgomery County, the only county the section reaches. Where the building holds more than three rented units at one site and the tenant is at least 60, a no-pets policy gives way unless the landlord put the prohibition in writing when the tenancy began. The landlord keeps reasonable rules on type, size, number, waste and conduct, and you answer for any damage. If you need a particular animal because of a disability, that is a separate request under § 20-706(b)(4), and you can make both.

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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=maryland-emotional-support-animal%2Fgaithersburg