# ESA Letter in Potomac, MD: When Your Landlord Is One Person

> Only 15.2% of Potomac homes are rented, and most of those are houses let by individual owners. That changes which fair housing rules reach an ESA letter request.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 45,902
- Households renting: 15.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- 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)

## Fewer than 2,500 rented homes

Potomac has 16,316 occupied homes and 2,481 of them are rented. That is **15.2%**:
the smallest renter share of any of Maryland's twenty largest places on the Census
Bureau's 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey five-year estimates, against 32.4%
statewide. Silver Spring, in this county and under this same commission, is 61.7%.

A small renter share is not a small problem. It is a differently shaped one. With
little apartment stock, the ordinary Potomac rental is a **house** let by an
individual rather than a company, and Maryland rules turn on exactly that. One of
them can switch the accommodation duty off.

## The exemption that actually reaches disability

Most fair housing exemptions leave a disability claim untouched. The
live-in-landlord rule at § 20-704(a)(2) never reaches disability, so the
duty survives a landlord living downstairs.

Section 20-704(a)(1) is different. A **single-family** dwelling that its
owner rents out is exempt, and that exemption is not carved down to other
protected classes. Where it applies, Md. Code, State Government § 20-706
does not, which in a place of detached rentals is the first thing worth
checking.

## Three conditions, and a federal backstop

That exemption is narrow, and it collapses easily: it holds only where the owner used
no broker, no agent and no other person "in the business of selling or renting
dwellings," and published no discriminatory advertisement.

Section 20-701(g) defines "in the business" generously: **three** sales or
rentals in twelve months as a principal, **two** as an agent, or owning an
interest in any dwelling designed for **five or more** families. An owner
who handed the house to a realty office used an agent; one who moved three
properties last year is in the business without hiring anyone.

And this is a Maryland exemption in a Maryland statute. The federal Fair Housing Act
has its own reach and may still cover the tenancy, so an owner who announces "I am
exempt" has answered one question of two.

## The phrase Maryland's law uses once

Title 20 of the State Government Article is Maryland's fair housing law. Across every section of it that carries text, "emotional support" turns up exactly once, and its job there is to keep an animal out. Section 20-706(a)(3)(ii)
excludes from "service dog" any dog that "provides only emotional support, well-being,
comfort, or companionship to an individual." "Assistance animal" and "support animal"
appear nowhere in the title.

Your route is § 20-706(b)(4): a person may not "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." It never mentions animals or training. It regulates **rules** — and
a handwritten "no pets" line in a private lease is a rule. Two questions settle the
matter: are you within the disability definition at § 20-701(b), and is this animal
what makes equal enjoyment of the home possible.

## Two provisions that sound like the answer

Take § 20-706(d) first. Someone handling a service dog is "exempt from any provision
in a lease or rental agreement prohibiting the keeping of dogs" and "may not be
required to pay any additional rent or fee." Perfect words, wrong animal: the
definition three clauses earlier already shuts an emotional support animal out, and
the General Assembly wrote that exclusion in deliberately in 2023.

Then Human Services § 7-704(c), blunter again: "full and equal access to housing
accommodations" for a service animal handler, with no "extra compensation" charged for
the animal. Individual training is required there too, by § 7-701(g), so that door is
closed as well.

## The book the county wrote, houses included

Montgomery County publishes a 77-page Landlord-Tenant Handbook that a landlord must offer every tenant at signing. 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."

It adds that such an animal is not a pet and cannot be charged pet fees, though damage
stays the tenant's.

Two things support that line, and neither is a Maryland service-dog section: the
federal accommodation rule, 24 C.F.R. § 100.204, together with this County's ban on
non-refundable charges. Page 11 sets the ban out, listing "pet fees or deposits" among
charges a landlord may not impose — with an exception worth carrying: "In certain
condominium communities, these fees are allowed in the by-laws."

## Which money rules a one-house landlord cannot escape

A security deposit reaches no higher than "the equivalent of 1 month's rent per
dwelling unit, regardless of the number of tenants." Real Property § 8-203(b)(1) sets
that ceiling. What counts as a deposit turns on the job the money does, not the
line-item name: § 8-203(a)(3) reaches any payment shielding an owner from unpaid rent
or damage, so a refundable pet deposit sits under the ceiling rather than above it. To
start the tenancy, § 8-208(d)(11) permits nothing past the deposit and one month's
rent, and exceeding the cap costs three times the excess plus fees.

Two rules earn their keep in a house. Under § 8-203(e) the money returns
inside **45 days**, with interest. Under § 8-203(f), a tenant who gives
certified-mail notice **15 days** ahead of moving may attend the inspection,
and an owner who skips that step loses the right to keep any of the deposit
for damage.

Thresholds do appear elsewhere: § 8-213(b)'s $25 application-fee rule stops
short of an owner offering four units or fewer at one location.

## The county-only pet right a house usually misses

One Maryland statute, Real Property § 8-214, is written for this county alone. It
protects a household pet kept by a tenant of 60 or over, "unless specifically
prohibited in writing at the time occupancy took place."

Read the trigger. It speaks to a landlord who offers **more than 3**
dwelling units at one location or on a single parcel. Let a detached house
on its own and that is one unit, so across a neighbourhood of single-family
rentals the protection will often never switch on. Where it does, damage
remains the tenant's bill and the owner keeps sensible pet rules. And it is
a **pet** entitlement keyed to age and address, not a disability right, and
no substitute for a request.

## Filing, and why neither door closes the other

Complaints go to the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, 21 Maryland Avenue,
Suite 330, Rockville: 240-777-8450. Its authority is Chapter 27 of the County Code,
Article I, and disability is a listed ground in real estate cases. You have one year,
and § 27-7(d) adds the line worth remembering: "Filing with any federal or state
agency charged with civil rights enforcement constitutes a filing under this article."
COMAR 14.03.04.10D(3) runs it the other way. Both gates swing.

The State track is the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. Its clock is
also a year, set by § 20-1021(a)(2). Intake runs on 410-767-8600; the
opening document is a Preliminary Questionnaire. Probable cause is meant to
be decided inside 100 days, and 20 days are allowed after a charge to elect
court instead. A State suit under § 20-1035 runs two years and can bring
actual and punitive damages. Any six-month deadline you read about is a
non-housing rule, and COMAR 14.03.01.03C(1) says as much.

## Which Potomac, and who meets at the library

Four Maryland places carry this name. Potomac CDP here is not North Potomac
CDP next door, not Potomac Heights in Charles County, nor Potomac Park in
Allegany. Pick the wrong one and your complaint goes astray. The county is
the government here: Potomac is unincorporated, with no mayor, council or
code of its own. The nearest thing to a civic voice is the West Montgomery
County Citizens Association, which meets at Potomac Library and speaks of
the "Potomac subregion." It is a neighbourhood association, not a housing
forum.

## What to put in front of an individual owner

Nothing registers an emotional support animal in Maryland: no certificate,
tag or ID card has legal force, and no statute creates one. There is no
misrepresentation offence either, which is not permission to be casual. A
purchased document answers nothing the law asks.

The questions § 20-706(b)(4) asks are clinical: is there a disability under
§ 20-701(b), and does this animal make the home usable on equal terms. Put
the request in writing, ask for an exception to the no-pets term, and attach
a letter that is current and written by a professional who assessed you
personally. Keep a copy. With an individual owner, that letter is often the
whole conversation.

## What Potomac 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 Potomac

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

- [Montgomery County Office of Human Rights](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/office-human-rights) (county agency)
- [Montgomery County Landlord-Tenant Affairs Handbook](https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/department-housing-community-affairs/information-renters/office-landlord-tenant-affairs/landlord-tenant-affairs-handbook) (county agency)
- [Maryland Legal Aid](https://www.mdlab.org/contact-us/) (legal aid)
- [Maryland Commission on Civil Rights, Housing](https://mccr.maryland.gov/know-your-rights/housing) (state agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Potomac landlord owns one house and says fair housing law does not apply to him. Is that right?

It might be partly right, and it matters more here than almost anywhere else in Maryland, because only 2,481 homes in Potomac are rented and most of them are houses. Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-704(a)(1) exempts a single-family dwelling sold or rented by its owner, and unlike the live-in-landlord exemption beside it, that one is not limited to other protected classes. But it holds only where the owner used no broker, no agent and no other person in the business of selling or renting dwellings, and published no discriminatory advertisement. Even where it holds, it is an exemption from Maryland's statute only. The federal Fair Housing Act is separate law and may still cover the tenancy.

### What makes someone "in the business of renting dwellings" in Maryland?

Section 20-701(g) sets it out, and the bar is low. A person is in the business after three sales or rentals of dwellings in any twelve months as a principal, after two as an agent or for another person's benefit, or simply by owning or having an interest in any dwelling designed for occupancy by five or more families. So an owner who listed the Potomac house through a real estate agent has used a person in the business, and an owner who moved three properties in a year is in it personally. Either way the single-family exemption in § 20-704(a)(1) fails and the accommodation duty in § 20-706(b)(4) applies in full.

### I am over 60 and rent a house in Potomac. Does Maryland's elderly pet right help me?

Probably not, and it is better to know that before you rely on it. Real Property § 8-214 applies in Montgomery County and nowhere else in Maryland, but it is triggered only where the landlord offers more than three dwelling units on one parcel or at one location. A detached house rented on its own is a single unit, so in a neighbourhood of single-family rentals the section frequently never engages. Where it does apply, a tenant aged 60 or older may not be barred from keeping a household pet unless the ban was in writing when occupancy began, the tenant still owes for damage, and the landlord keeps reasonable rules on type, size, number, waste and conduct. It is a pet right tied to age and address, not a disability right.

### Can a Potomac landlord charge me a pet deposit or pet rent for an emotional support animal?

Not for an animal approved as a reasonable accommodation. Montgomery County's Landlord-Tenant Handbook states that an emotional support animal, like a service animal, is not a pet and cannot be charged pet fees, while the tenant remains fully responsible for damage the animal causes. That result comes from federal fair housing law: the accommodation regulation at 24 C.F.R. § 100.204, plus the County's own ban on non-refundable charges, which page 11 of the handbook lists with one caveat: in certain condominium communities such fees are allowed in the by-laws. It does not come from Maryland's service-dog sections, which are closed to an emotional support animal.

### My landlord quoted a Maryland law saying no extra fee can be charged for an animal. Does that help me?

No, and it is worth understanding why before the argument starts. Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-706(d) exempts a service-dog handler from a lease clause banning dogs and says no additional rent or fee may be required, but § 20-706(a)(3)(ii) defines a service dog to exclude any dog that provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort or companionship. Human Services § 7-704(c) reads the same way and is shut for the same reason, because § 7-701(g) requires individual training. Your argument is § 20-706(b)(4) instead, the duty to make reasonable accommodations in rules, and it reaches the same place on fees.

### Where does a Potomac accommodation complaint actually go?

To a county or state office, because Potomac is an unincorporated census-designated place with no mayor, council or municipal code. The Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, at 21 Maryland Avenue, Suite 330 in Rockville, 240-777-8450, enforces Chapter 27, Article I of the County Code and takes real estate complaints on grounds including disability, within one year. The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights takes housing complaints within one year under § 20-1021(a)(2) on 410-767-8600. Neither choice costs you the other: § 27-7(d) treats a filing with any federal or state civil rights agency as a filing under the county article, and COMAR 14.03.04.10D(3) treats a timely local filing as timely for the State.

### Is the West Montgomery County Citizens Association somewhere I can take a landlord dispute?

No. The association meets at Potomac Library and speaks for what it calls the Potomac subregion, but it is a neighbourhood group, not a housing forum, and it cannot investigate a refused accommodation or order a landlord to do anything. Use it for what it is. A discrimination complaint belongs with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights, the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights or HUD, and Maryland Legal Aid can advise. Check the place name too: Potomac CDP is not North Potomac CDP, Potomac Heights in Charles County or Potomac Park in Allegany County, and picking the wrong one sends you to the wrong county office.

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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%2Fpotomac