# ESA Letter in Severn, MD: The Deposit Cap Does Most of the Work

> Severn rents at 29.0% and has no town hall of its own. So Maryland's one-month deposit ceiling and a single county desk carry an ESA letter request here.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 58,402
- Households renting: 29%
- 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 renters, no town hall, one county desk

Severn has 21,748 occupied homes, and 6,306 of them are rented. That works out
to 29.0%, under Maryland's 32.4%. Both numbers are five-year estimates covering
2020 to 2024, from a Census Bureau survey that also sizes the place at 58,402
people.

There is no local government here to lean on. Anne Arundel County contains
exactly two municipalities, Annapolis and Highland Beach, and Severn is
neither. It is a census-designated place: a name on a census map, and nothing
more. No council to petition, no municipal ordinance to read.

And what protects an animal here is mostly statewide: a deposit ceiling in the
Real Property Article, an accommodation duty in the State Government Article,
with one county office in Annapolis sitting on top of both.

## One month, and pet money counts against it

For a Severn tenant, the ceiling settles more than any argument about labels.

One month's rent per dwelling unit is the whole allowance a landlord gets under
Real Property § 8-203(b)(1), and the subsection presses the point: that limit
holds "regardless of the number of tenants." Then § 8-203(a)(3) explains what
counts as one: money handed over to cover unpaid rent, a breach of the lease, or
harm to the unit. That test is about **function**, not vocabulary. A refundable pet deposit performs exactly
that job whatever heading the lease files it under, so it has to fit inside the
single month instead of sitting beside it. And § 8-208(d)(11) forbids a lease
from demanding, as the price of moving in, anything beyond that deposit and one
month's rent.

An overcharge is recoverable at three times the excess plus attorney's fees
under § 8-203(b)(3). Section 8-208(g) goes further: a landlord who so much as
**tenders** a lease carrying a banned clause owes actual damages and fees. The
demand sets that off, not your payment.

## Maryland uses the phrase once, to say no

Title 20 of the State Government Article carries Maryland's fair housing rules across every section of it that has text. Somewhere in
there, exactly once, sits the phrase "emotional support" — and its job is to
shut a door. Under § 20-706(a)(3)(ii)2 the label "service dog" will not stretch
to cover one that "provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort, or
companionship to an individual." Hunt through for "assistance animal," or for
"support animal," and nothing comes back at all. None of this is accidental: the
service-dog scheme, its exclusion included, arrived on 1 October 2023 through
Chapters 211 and 212 of that year's Acts.

## The subsection that does reach you

Your right sits a little further up the same section. Section 20-706(b)(4) bars
anyone from a "refus[al] 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."

Everything the sentence omits is worth noticing. No animal. No dog. No training.
Its subject is **rules**. A no-pets clause qualifies; so does a weight ceiling,
and so does a schedule of pet charges.

Which leaves your landlord two clinical questions. Does your condition meet the
§ 20-701(b) definition, an impairment substantially limiting some major life
activity? And without this animal, would your own home be harder to enjoy than a
neighbor's is? Those are answered by a recent letter from a licensed
professional who examined you. An ID card ordered off a website answers neither,
and no Maryland agency hands one out.

## Two provisions a landlord may read at you

Both are real law. Neither belongs to you.

Under § 20-706(d), a lease clause banning dogs does not bind a service-dog
handler, and the dog's presence cannot be billed as extra rent or a fee. It
sits in the housing subtitle and reads like the whole argument. But the
definition printed a few lines above insists on individual training, then
rules emotional support out by name.

The Human Services Article is blunter. Its § 7-704(c) gives equal access to
housing accommodations and forbids extra compensation for the animal, and
§ 7-701(g) closes it to you, because the service animal it means has to be
"individually trained to do work or perform tasks."

Know them well enough to answer them, then rest your case on § 20-706(b)(4),
which lands in the same place on money. Maryland has no crime of misrepresenting
an animal either, not in its criminal law, human services, business regulation,
real property or civil rights articles.

## What Anne Arundel's own code leaves out

Bill 21-24, effective 8 June 2024, rebuilt the county's human relations law.
Article 1, Title 9 of the County Code stopped being "Fair Housing" and became
"Equity and Human Rights," housing prohibitions now at §§ 1-9-201 to -203,
procedure in Article 3, Title 5A.

Worth knowing what that rewrite did not do. It added a reasonable-accommodation
duty for **employment**, at § 1-9-401. It added no
housing accommodation clause, and the word "animal" does not occur in the bill
once. So the county supplies a forum and a penalty, not a separate right. The
duty behind your request is state law, § 20-706(b)(4), with 24 C.F.R.
§ 100.204 behind it at the federal level. What the county adds is weight: civil
penalties in housing cases reach $50,000.

## The county clock, and the document not to trust

The Anne Arundel County Human Relations Commission has thirteen voting members
and is supported by the Office of Equity and Human Rights, at the Heritage
Complex, 2660 Riva Road, Annapolis. Commission intake is (410) 222-1234; the
Office is on (410) 222-1821. Housing and disability are both squarely inside its
subject matter.

Its filing deadline is not one number. Under § 3-5A-203(b) as Bill 21-24 amended
it, you get whichever is **later**: 300 days after the violation, or six months
after you discovered it. So a problem found late can still be in time.

Mind the source, though. The Rules of Procedure posted by the County as a PDF
carry an "As of 9/1/22" stamp and still show the pre-2024 wording. Argue any
deadline from the bill.

## Choose your first door on purpose

One local rule cuts against the advice most tenants get. Rule IV.2(a) of the
Commission's Rules of Procedure has the Human Relations Officer dismiss a
complaint when the same facts are already pending at a State or federal agency.
Going to the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights or to HUD ahead of the county
can therefore spend the county option instead of adding to it. Fifteen days are
allowed to seek reconsideration. Want the county route? Start there.

## The state track, and the deadline that is not yours

**One year** is the state limit, fixed by § 20-1021(a)(2), and the Maryland
Commission on Civil Rights runs that track. Ring 410-767-8600 and the process
starts with a Preliminary Questionnaire.

You will see six months quoted for MCCR. That is § 20-1004(c)(1)(i), from the
non-housing side of the statute. COMAR 14.03.01.03C(1) applies the six-month
rule to complaints "except those involving allegations of housing
discrimination," and COMAR 14.03.04.10D(1)–(2) confirms the year. Subsection
D(3) treats a complaint lodged at a local or federal agency within the year as
timely for State purposes: the mirror image of the county's dismissal rule,
which is why the sequencing above matters.

Afterwards, § 20-1022(a)(2)–(3) aims to finish the investigation and reach
probable cause inside 100 days. When a charge does issue, § 20-1026(b) gives
each side 20 days to pick court over an administrative hearing. A State-court
suit has two years to run under § 20-1035, with time spent at the Commission not
counted, and cannot start until 130 days after filing.

## Read the pet policy first

Section 8-210 was rewritten by Chapter 489 of the Acts of 2025 and has bound
every residential landlord since 1 October 2025. The property's pet policy must
be linked from its website and supplied, whole or in summary, with the rental
application. Required contents: breed and weight restrictions, any cap on how
many animals are allowed, vaccination and liability-insurance terms, and the
money: nonrefundable pet fees charged up front, refundable pet deposits, and
pet fees billed monthly. So the policy you intend to seek an exception from is
in your hands before you commit to anything.

## Where to take it

Ask in writing. Identify the policy you want adjusted, tie the animal to a
disability, and enclose your clinician's letter.

If that fails, the county commission is on (410) 222-1234. Maryland Legal Aid's
Anne Arundel and Howard office, at 2024 West Street, Suite 204 in Annapolis,
(410) 972-2700, lists Severn's 21144 among the ZIP codes it serves. The Fair
Housing Action Center of Maryland takes intake calls on 410-709-8429 and names
emotional support animals among the accommodations tenants commonly ask for.

## What Severn 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 Severn

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

- [Anne Arundel County Human Relations Commission, Fair Housing](https://www.aacounty.org/human-relations-commission/fair-housing) (county agency)
- [Anne Arundel County Office of Equity and Human Rights](https://www.aacounty.org/county-executive/oehr) (county agency)
- [Maryland Legal Aid, office directory](https://www.mdlab.org/contact-us/) (legal aid)
- [Fair Housing Action Center of Maryland](https://econaction.org/our-work/fair-housing/) (nonprofit)

## Frequently asked questions

### Severn has no city government, so who handles a housing discrimination complaint here?

Anne Arundel County does. Severn is an unincorporated census-designated place with no mayor, no council and no municipal code, and the county's only two municipalities are Annapolis and Highland Beach. The local forum is the Anne Arundel County Human Relations Commission, thirteen voting commissioners supported by the county's Office of Equity and Human Rights, at the Heritage Complex, 2660 Riva Road, Annapolis. Commission intake is (410) 222-1234 and the Office is on (410) 222-1821. Above that sits the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights on 410-767-8600.

### How long do I have to file with Anne Arundel County?

The county deadline is whichever of two periods ends later: 300 days after the violation, or six months after you discovered it. That is § 3-5A-203(b) of the County Code as amended by Bill 21-24, which took effect on 8 June 2024. Watch your source, though: the Rules of Procedure the County posts as a PDF are stamped "As of 9/1/22" and still carry the older wording, so work from the bill itself. The separate state deadline at the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights is one year under § 20-1021(a)(2).

### Should I file with the state or HUD at the same time as the county?

Not if the county route matters to you. Rule IV.2(a) of the Commission's Rules of Procedure directs the Human Relations Officer to dismiss a complaint whose facts are already pending before a State or federal agency, so a filing with the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights or with HUD can close the county door rather than open a second one. There are 15 days to seek reconsideration. Choose the first forum on purpose; the state runs the other way, because COMAR 14.03.04.10D(3) treats a local filing made inside the one-year window as timely for the State.

### Does Anne Arundel County's own code give my emotional support animal a right?

No, and it is useful to know that before you argue from it. Bill 21-24 renamed County Code Article 1, Title 9 from "Fair Housing" to "Equity and Human Rights" and put the housing prohibitions at §§ 1-9-201 to -203, but the reasonable-accommodation duty it added applies to employment only, at § 1-9-401. There is no housing accommodation clause in it, and the word "animal" does not appear in the bill at all. What the county provides is a forum and enforcement, civil penalties in housing reach $50,000. The underlying duty comes from Md. Code, State Gov't § 20-706(b)(4) and 24 C.F.R. § 100.204.

### Can a Severn landlord charge a pet deposit on top of my security deposit?

Not on top of it. Real Property § 8-203(b)(1) limits the security deposit to one month's rent per dwelling unit "regardless of the number of tenants," and § 8-203(a)(3) defines a security deposit by what the money is for (protection against unpaid rent, breach of the lease or damage), not by what the lease calls it. A refundable pet deposit does that job, so it counts inside the one month. Section 8-208(d)(11) also bars a lease from requiring more than the deposit plus first month's rent to move in. Money taken over the cap is recoverable at three times the excess plus attorney's fees. And for an animal approved as an accommodation, the pet charge should not be there at all.

### A leasing agent told me only trained service dogs count in Maryland. Is that true?

It is true of two statutes and false as a description of your rights. Maryland does have provisions that stop at trained animals: § 20-706(a)(3)(ii)2 puts a dog that "provides only emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship" outside the definition of a service dog, and Human Services § 7-701(g) reaches only an animal "individually trained to do work or perform tasks." Neither is the provision that governs an accommodation request. That is § 20-706(b)(4), which says nothing about animals at all. It addresses rules, policies, practices and services, and a no-pets clause in an Anne Arundel County lease is a rule. Ask the agent which section they are quoting; the answer is almost always one of the two that does not apply.

### Is there anything in Maryland I have to sign my ESA up with?

No. Maryland has no register, no certificate, no tag and no ID card for an emotional support animal, and no statute creates one. The sites selling them are selling nothing. Section 20-706(b)(4) asks two clinical questions instead: whether you have a disability as § 20-701(b) defines it, meaning an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, and whether the animal is necessary for equal use and enjoyment of your home. A current letter from a licensed professional who has actually assessed you answers both. Maryland also has no service-animal misrepresentation offence, so nobody in Severn is at risk of prosecution for asking.

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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%2Fsevern