# ESA Letter in Springfield, MA: The Statute Nobody Reads

> A Springfield pet deposit is unlawful for every tenant, disability or not. The deposit statute, the accommodation duty, and the office on Dwight Street.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/massachusetts-emotional-support-animal/springfield/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-08-11
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 154,888
- Households renting: 50.4%
- 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)

## Half of Springfield rents, and the paperwork shows it

Of 57,772 occupied homes in Springfield, 29,093 are rented. The renter share
is 50.4% where the Massachusetts figure is 37.5%, on the 2020-2024 American
Community Survey five-year estimate.

That is a city where the lease is the dominant housing document, and where
lease templates travel. Clauses arrive from other states, from national
property managers, and from forms that were old when the current tenant's
parents signed one. Several of those clauses are unenforceable here, and the
most common of them is about money rather than animals.

## The charge a landlord may not ask any tenant for

Start with the part of Massachusetts law that requires no disability
analysis at all.

M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(b) lists what a landlord may require of a tenant at
or prior to the start of a tenancy. There are four items: the first month's
rent, the last month's rent, a security deposit that does not exceed one
month's rent, and the cost of a key and lock. The list is closed.

A pet deposit is not on it. Neither is a pet fee, a pet move-in charge, or
whatever the portal calls it this year. For every tenant in Springfield:
with an animal, without one, disabled or not. An up-front pet charge is
outside the statute.

Two cautions, because overstating this is how a good argument gets lost.
The statute governs money collected at or before the tenancy begins, so it
does not decide monthly pet rent. And the treble damages at § 15B(7) attach
to different clauses than the one an unlawful move-in charge trips, so
getting the money back is not automatically a tripled claim.

## Where the animal itself comes into the law

Massachusetts has no emotional support animal statute. Not a narrow one, not
an old one. The phrases do not appear in the General Laws.

What does exist is M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7A)(2), which makes it discrimination
to refuse

> "reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when
> such accommodations may be necessary to afford a handicapped person equal
> opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling."

The bridge from that sentence to an animal was built by the Massachusetts
Commission Against Discrimination, the state's fair housing enforcement
agency, not by a court. Its Full Commission held in 2024 that assistance
animals include animals "whether such animals are trained or untrained", and
that an emotional support animal "is just one kind of assistance animal".

So a Springfield renter arguing about a no-pets clause is not arguing about
pets. They are asking for an exception to a rule, under a statute that makes
refusing such an exception unlawful where the exception may be necessary.

## The monthly charge, answered a different way

Because § 15B stops at the start of the tenancy, a recurring pet rent needs a
different answer, and it has one.

The Massachusetts Office on Disability states that assistance animals "are
not considered pets, so housing providers cannot impose breed/weight
restrictions or pet-fees/deposits/insurance requirements". Read alongside the
accommodation duty, a monthly charge levied on an approved assistance animal
is a fee imposed on something the state does not treat as a pet.

Keep the two arguments separate when you write to a landlord. The deposit is
unlawful under the deposit statute. The monthly charge falls under the
accommodation duty. Mixing them invites a reply that answers neither.

## Dwight Street, and why western Massachusetts does not file in Boston

MCAD keeps an office at 436 Dwight Street, Room 220, on (413) 739-2145. A
Springfield renter does not have to take a claim across the state.

The deadline is the same wherever it is filed. Under 804 CMR 1.04(3) a
complaint must be filed "within 300 days after the alleged unlawful
conduct", and the period "commences on the date that the Complainant knew or
should have known of the claim of discrimination". That discovery rule is
worth remembering if a landlord's real reason surfaced months after the
refusal.

HUD is an alternative on a one-year clock. And M.G.L. c. 151B § 9 sets the
court timetable: three years if you filed with MCAD first, one year if you
did not. Nobody is required to go through the agency in a housing case,
which is precisely how a tenant can lose two years of their own deadline
without ever being warned.

## What the landlord may ask, and what is theatre

Where the disability or the need is not obvious, a housing provider may seek
reliable documentation of the disability-related need. That is the whole of
the enquiry.

Everything else offered as a requirement is theatre, and the state says so.
The Office on Disability: "a letter or certificate bought from a website
after a short interview is not considered sufficient documentation." There is
no Massachusetts registry, so there is no registration number to supply. A
vest proves nothing. An ID card proves nothing.

The document that works is unglamorous: a letter from a professional who
actually treats you, tying your condition to what the animal does. And when
a leasing office simply stops replying, remember MCAD's own words: "it is the
initial request for an accommodation which triggers the obligation to
participate in the interactive process."

## Public housing has one more document in the chain

If your home is a state-aided development, name the right paperwork in the
request.

760 CMR 6.03 defines a Pet for state-aided public housing and carves out only
"a service animal which is specially trained to assist an individual with a
disability in specific activities of daily living". Standing alone, that
would treat an untrained emotional support animal as a pet.

Public Housing Notice 2023-01 is what closes the gap. It directs local
housing authorities to handle assistance animals, including untrained
animals providing emotional support, through the reasonable accommodation
process rather than the pet policy. Get the order right: the regulation
first, then the notice that qualifies it.

## Two statutes that look relevant and are not

Search Massachusetts law for animals and disability and two provisions come
back quickly. Neither one helps a tenant.

M.G.L. c. 272 § 98A sits in the crimes title and concerns dog guides in
places of public accommodation, carrying a $300 fine. It is about restaurants
and shops, not about your apartment. M.G.L. c. 272 § 85B is the only place
the words assistance animal appear in Massachusetts statute, and it is a
theft-and-attack provision limited to a physically impaired person and a
**trained** animal.

A landlord who cites either one against an emotional support animal in
housing has picked up the wrong book. The same is true of § 4(7)(a)'s dog
guide clause, which is keyed to training and to blindness or hearing
impairment. Having any other handicap is an independent protected basis, and
the accommodation duty at § 4(7A)(2) is what does the work.

## Free help in Hampden County, before the deadline gets close

Community Legal Aid is the civil legal aid provider for the five counties of
central and western Massachusetts, Hampden among them. The Massachusetts Fair
Housing Center covers the same region and works on housing discrimination
specifically.

Both are free. Both would rather look at a refusal letter in week two than in
month nine, and the 300-day clock is the reason that preference is not
politeness.

## What Springfield landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it may be necessary to afford a handicapped person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling: M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7A)(2).
- Cannot refuse to rent to someone because they will need an accommodation, which makes the rejection of an applicant who discloses an animal unlawful in its own right, M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7A)(3).
- Cannot demand a pet deposit or an up-front pet fee from any tenant, disabled or not: M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(b) closes the list of move-in charges to "rent for the first full month of occupancy", "rent for the last full month of occupancy calculated at the same rate as the first month", "a security deposit equal to the first month's rent" and "the purchase and installation cost for a key and lock".
- Cannot take a security deposit larger than one month's rent, whatever the animal is, M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(b)(iii).
- Cannot insist the animal be trained. MCAD's Full Commission adopted "assistance animal" as covering animals "whether such animals are trained or untrained", and upheld a claim where the hearing officer expressly found the dog was not a trained service animal.
- Cannot deny a request solely because the animal does not meet the federal ADA definition of a service animal, MCAD's press statement of 31 July 2026 says such a denial "may be in violation of Massachusetts law".
- Cannot treat HUD's withdrawal of its federal assistance-animal guidance as shrinking state protection; MCAD states the federal changes "do not modify or limit the protections provided under Massachusetts law".
- Cannot require magic words. MCAD applies the rule that a request need only be made "in a manner that a reasonable person could understand it to be a request for an exception, change, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice or service because of a disability".
- Cannot skip the interactive process: MCAD holds that "it is the initial request for an accommodation which triggers the obligation to participate", and found a landlord liable who never asked what help the animal gave or for any documentation.
- Cannot charge for an assistance animal by another name: the Massachusetts Office on Disability states that assistance animals "are not considered pets, so housing providers cannot impose breed/weight restrictions or pet-fees/deposits/insurance requirements".
- Cannot rely on a species or weight cap as an answer in itself; MCAD's test asks only whether the animal's presence is reasonably necessary to afford the tenant an equal opportunity to use or enjoy the premises.

**Can:**
- May ask for supporting documentation from a medical provider who treats the tenant, where the disability or the disability-related need is not obvious.
- May refuse where the animal would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others, where the accommodation would be a fundamental alteration of operations, or where it would impose an undue burden.
- May enforce lease terms unrelated to the accommodation, and may hold a tenant liable for actual damage the animal causes.
- May decline entirely in an owner-occupied two-family dwelling, since M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7) does not reach it, but 804 CMR 2.01(4) takes that exemption away where the tenant receives public assistance or a rental subsidy, where a real estate professional is used, or where the advertising is discriminatory.
- May, in state-aided public housing, apply pet policies to actual pets, but EOHLC's PHN 2023-01 directs local housing authorities to handle assistance animals through the reasonable accommodation process instead.

## How to get an ESA letter in Springfield

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

- [Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, Springfield office](https://www.mass.gov/info-details/guide-to-the-mcad-case-process) (state agency)
- [Community Legal Aid](https://communitylegal.org/about/) (legal aid)
- [Massachusetts Fair Housing Center](https://massfairhousing.org/) (fair housing)
- [Springfield Housing Authority](https://www.springfieldhousingauthority.org/) (housing authority)

## Frequently asked questions

### Where does a Springfield renter file a housing discrimination complaint?

With the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, which keeps an office in the city at 436 Dwight Street, Room 220, reachable on (413) 739-2145. That matters practically: western Massachusetts renters are not required to file in Boston. The filing deadline is set by 804 CMR 1.04(3) at 300 days after the alleged unlawful conduct, measured from when you "knew or should have known of the claim of discrimination". HUD is a second route on a one-year clock, and the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center serves Hampden County if you want help before you file.

### Is a pet deposit legal in Springfield if the lease includes one?

No, and the lease clause does not change it. M.G.L. c. 186 § 15B(1)(b) states what a landlord may require at or prior to the beginning of a tenancy, and the list has four entries: "rent for the first full month of occupancy", "rent for the last full month of occupancy calculated at the same rate as the first month", "a security deposit equal to the first month's rent" and "the purchase and installation cost for a key and lock". An up-front pet charge is outside the statute for every tenant in the Commonwealth. Be careful with one detail: the treble damages provision at § 15B(7) applies to other clauses, not to the one this trips, so a refund claim is not automatically tripled.

### Does Massachusetts law say anything specific about emotional support animals?

It says nothing at all, and that is the honest answer. The phrases emotional support animal, assistance animal and comfort animal appear nowhere in the Massachusetts General Laws. The protection comes from a general duty, M.G.L. c. 151B § 4(7A)(2) on reasonable accommodations in rules and practices, plus the state agency that applies it. In 2024 the MCAD Full Commission held that assistance animals include untrained animals and that an emotional support animal "is just one kind of assistance animal". Anyone quoting you a Massachusetts ESA statute is quoting something that does not exist.

### My building manager wants a certificate or registration number. What do I send?

Send documentation from a professional who treats you, and nothing bought online. The Massachusetts Office on Disability puts the limit plainly: "a letter or certificate bought from a website after a short interview is not considered sufficient documentation." No Massachusetts agency registers assistance animals, so there is no number to produce. The proper enquiry, where the need is not obvious, is reliable documentation of the disability-related need for the animal, not proof of training, not a certificate, and not your diagnosis.

### The landlord stopped replying after I asked. Does that count as a refusal?

Silence is not a safe harbour for a housing provider. MCAD has held that "it is the initial request for an accommodation which triggers the obligation to participate in the interactive process", so ignoring a request is itself a failure to engage rather than a neutral non-answer. Practically, put the request in writing, keep the date, follow up once in writing, and treat a continuing silence as a refusal for the purpose of your 300-day deadline. The discovery rule in 804 CMR 1.04(3) helps where you learned the real reason late, but it is not a reason to wait.

### Are there breed or weight limits I have to satisfy in Springfield?

Not for an approved assistance animal. The Office on Disability states that assistance animals "are not considered pets, so housing providers cannot impose breed/weight restrictions or pet-fees/deposits/insurance requirements", and MCAD's test asks whether the animal is reasonably necessary for you to use and enjoy the home rather than what the animal weighs. A landlord can still act on what a particular animal actually does: a direct threat to others or real property damage is assessed on the individual animal's conduct, never on its breed.

### I rent from the Springfield Housing Authority. Does the same analysis apply?

Yes, with one extra document to name. State-aided public housing is governed by 760 CMR 6.03, which defines a Pet and exempts only "a service animal which is specially trained to assist an individual with a disability in specific activities of daily living". Read by itself that regulation would push an untrained emotional support animal into the pet rules. Public Housing Notice 2023-01 from the state housing agency instructs local housing authorities to run assistance animals, including untrained ones, through the reasonable accommodation process instead. Cite the notice in the written request.

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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=massachusetts-emotional-support-animal%2Fspringfield