# ESA Letter in Macomb Township, MI: Renting on an Owner's Street

> Macomb Township rents 8.6% of its homes — the lowest share in the state's top twenty. What that means when you need an exception to a pet rule.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/michigan-emotional-support-animal/macomb-township/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-08-17
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 94,302
- Households renting: 8.6%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Capped: 1.5 months' 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)

## 2,735 renter households

Macomb Township has 31,878 occupied homes and **2,735** of them are rented.
At **8.6 percent**, that is the lowest renter share of any municipality in
Michigan's twenty largest, a third of the statewide figure of 26.8
percent.

Median gross rent is $1,379, which sets the deposit ceiling at roughly
**$2,069**.

The number tells you something about the market, not about your rights. But
it does explain the two features that make an accommodation request here
different: what you rent is usually a house or a condominium unit in a
subdivision built for owners, and the rules over it are often written by an
association rather than by your landlord.

## Two rulebooks, one duty

Michigan's disability act does not treat associations as outside the
system. MCL 37.1501(e) defines "real property" for the housing article to
include "a building, structure, mobile home, real estate, land, mobile home
park, trailer park, tenement, leasehold, or **an interest in a real estate
cooperative or condominium**."

So when a landlord says the subdivision or condominium association will not
allow the animal, they have identified which rule needs an exception. MCL
37.1506a(1)(b) is the provision that asks for it: it is unlawful in a real
estate transaction to "[r]efuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules,
policies, practices, or services, when the accommodations may be necessary
to afford the person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy
residential real property."

Write to both, the same day, in the same words. Keep both replies. Either
refusal is a refusal, and either one starts the 180-day clock.

## There is no township office to appeal to

Macomb Township is governed by a board of trustees and a supervisor. It
publishes no civil rights or human relations body, and there is no local
ordinance under which to complain.

That is a structural fact about townships rather than a gap in your
protection. The enforcement route is the **Michigan Department of Civil
Rights**, on 1-800-482-3604, by online portal, or through a Zoom
appointment via Virtual Intake: with 180 days from the refusal. The **Fair
Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit** covers Macomb County and
investigates independently.

## Being the only renter on the street

In a subdivision of owner-occupiers, a request about an animal has an
audience. Neighbours notice; boards hear about it; and complaints get
passed to a landlord as though they settled something.

They do not. What can limit an accommodation is narrow and specific:

- a **direct threat** to the health or safety of others, the limit
  preserved by 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(d), judged on what this animal has
  actually done; or
- an **undue hardship**, which MCL 37.1102(2) requires the housing provider
  to demonstrate. The accommodation is required "unless the person
  demonstrates" it.

A neighbour's dislike is neither. Practical advice all the same: deal with
genuine nuisance quickly and visibly, keep your own dated notes, and ask
for any complaint being relied on to be put in writing. A written complaint
can be answered, and often turns out to be one household rather than the
street. A rumour circulates, grows, and cannot be replied to at all.

## The owner-occupied exception is narrower than people think

Someone will tell you that small landlords are exempt. Read MCL 37.1503
before believing it: it excepts renting a housing accommodation in a
building containing accommodations for **not more than two families**,
where the owner or a member of their immediate family lives in one of them,
and renting a room in a dwelling the lessor occupies. "Immediate family" is
defined at MCL 37.1501(b) as a spouse, parent, child or sibling.

A single-family house let to a tenant, which is most of what is rented in
this township, is not inside that exception.

## Deposits, and the association's separate bill

Michigan caps everything a landlord holds at one and a half months' rent
(MCL 554.602) (about **$2,069** here), and MCL 554.601(d) pulls a
refundable pet deposit into that same total.

A condominium or subdivision association may separately bill the **owner**
for a pet under its governing documents. Treat that as part of the cost of
owning the unit, not as a sum that can be passed through to you on top of
the statutory ceiling: the cap in MCL 554.602 governs what a tenant hands
over, whatever the landlord's own outgoings look like.

And where the animal is an approved assistance animal, the pet component
comes off entirely, because MCL 37.1502(1)(b) forbids differences in the
terms, conditions or privileges of a real estate transaction that trace
back to a disability.

One more practical point in a market of individually owned houses: get the
final position in writing even when it is a yes. Owners here sell, and the
next owner inherits the tenancy without inheriting the conversation.

## What to send an individual owner

A short written request, plus a letter from a licensed professional who has
evaluated you, naming the condition and explaining what the animal does.

Michigan has appellate guidance on both ends of that standard. The Court of
Appeals in *Riverbrook v Fabode* would not accept a letter resting on one
telephone call, no records and no testing, for a condition that had not yet
been diagnosed. The Supreme Court's November 2022 order then rejected the
opposite extreme: no expert witness is demanded by the federal act or by
MCL 37.1506a(1)(b).

Nothing bought online counts. Michigan's only official identification
programme covers **trained service animals**, and the Department of Civil
Rights says it carries no legal privileges or protections and that a
landlord demanding it is something to complain about.

## If the atmosphere changes after you ask

This is the risk that matters most in a small rental market, and Michigan
addresses it directly.

**MCL 37.1602(a)** makes it unlawful to "[r]etaliate or discriminate
against a person because the person has opposed a violation of this act, or
because the person has made a charge, filed a complaint, testified,
assisted, or participated in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under
this act."

**MCL 37.1602(f)** goes further, prohibiting anyone from "[c]oerce,
intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any person in the exercise or
enjoyment of, or on account of his or her having aided or encouraged any
other person in the exercise or enjoyment of, any right granted or
protected by article 5", article 5 being the housing article.

So a lease that suddenly will not be renewed, a rent increase that arrives
the week after your request, or pressure through the association is its own
potential violation. Keep the dates. The sequence is the evidence.

## The numbers to keep

**180 days** to reach the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, measured
from the refusal. **One year** for HUD, set by 24 C.F.R. § 103.35. And
**three years** for a state court claim, which is where the department
directs complaints that arrive too late for it and carry no federal
jurisdiction.

**(313) 963-1274**, Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit, covering
Macomb County. **(888) 783-8190**, Lakeshore Legal Aid, for free civil
legal help.

Nothing in Michigan law requires a landlord or an association to answer you
by any date at all. That asymmetry is the reason to put the request in
writing on the day you decide to make it.

## What Macomb Township landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it may be necessary to give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy residential real property: MCL 37.1506a(1)(b), and 24 C.F.R. § 100.204(a) federally.
- Cannot rely on a no-pets policy to refuse an assistance animal: the Michigan Department of Civil Rights gives "[a]llowing a service or support animal in a no-pet complex" as its own example of an accommodation state and federal law require.
- Cannot treat the request as settled by the animal's breed or size where the animal is an approved assistance animal: the accommodation analysis is individual, and a blanket rule is not that analysis.
- Cannot demand that the tenant register the animal or produce a state identification card. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights runs a voluntary identification programme for trained service animals and tells anyone "required to obtain service animal identification or register a service animal by a landlord" to file a complaint.
- Cannot require expert-witness testimony or a particular kind of professional: the Michigan Supreme Court vacated any reading of Riverbrook to that effect, holding that neither 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) nor MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) contains such a requirement.
- Cannot ask about the existence, nature or severity of a disability as a general screening question, 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(c), which allows only defined inquiries made of every applicant.
- Cannot hold more than one and a half months' rent in deposits from any tenant, a refundable pet deposit included, because MCL 554.601(d) defines a security deposit to include any amount returnable on the condition the unit is returned as the lease requires, and MCL 554.602 caps the total.
- Cannot use a deposit for anything but actual damage beyond normal habitation and rent or utility arrears, MCL 554.607, and cannot contract out of the act at all, because MCL 554.606 says its requirements may not be waived.
- Cannot write a lease clause that discriminates in violation of the PWDCRA: MCL 554.633(1)(c) prohibits it, and MCL 554.636(1) lets the tenant void the lease and recover $250 or actual damages, whichever is greater, once written notice has gone unremedied for 20 days.
- Cannot refuse to rent, or discriminate in the terms, conditions or privileges of the tenancy, because of a disability: MCL 37.1502(1)(a) and (b).
- Cannot refuse a reasonable modification made at the tenant's expense, though it may require restoration of the interior on move-out where that is reasonable, MCL 37.1506a(1)(a).
- Cannot start a clock the law does not give it: no Michigan statute sets a deadline for a landlord's answer to an accommodation request, so a request left unanswered is a fact to record, and the tenant's own filing deadlines keep running while they wait.

**Can:**
- Must show undue hardship if it refuses: MCL 37.1102(2) requires accommodation "unless the person demonstrates that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship", which puts the demonstration on the housing provider.
- May ask for reliable disability-related information where the disability and the need are not obvious: the standard the Michigan Court of Appeals applied in Riverbrook v Fabode, drawn from the 2004 joint statement of HUD and the Department of Justice.
- Is not required to accept an animal whose tenancy would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others. 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(d), but that is a judgement about the individual animal's conduct, not about its breed.
- Is exempt only in narrow circumstances: MCL 37.1503 excepts renting in a building with no more than two families where the owner or their immediate family lives in one of them, or renting a room in a dwelling the lessor lives in. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights states the same exclusion as "[o]wner-occupied one or two family dwellings".

## How to get an ESA letter in Macomb Township

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

- [Michigan Department of Civil Rights](https://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/enforcement/fair-housing) (state agency)
- [Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit](https://www.fairhousingdetroit.org/) (fair housing)
- [Lakeshore Legal Aid](https://lakeshorelegalaid.org/) (legal aid)
- [Michigan Department of Civil Rights, service animals](https://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/divisions/ada-compliance/service-animals) (state agency)
- [Michigan Legal Help, housing](https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/housing) (legal aid)
- [Michigan Department of Civil Rights, how to file](https://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/enforcement/investigation/jurisdiction) (state agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### Only 8.6 percent of homes here are rented. Does the law still apply to my landlord?

Yes, in full. The Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act applies to a person engaging in a real estate transaction, not to markets of a particular size, and MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) requires reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices and services wherever the property is. The narrow exception at MCL 37.1503 covers a building with no more than two families where the owner or their immediate family lives in one of them, and renting a room in a dwelling the lessor occupies. A single-family house let to a tenant is not inside it.

### The subdivision association says no. Do I have to argue with the landlord or with them?

With both, and in writing to both. MCL 37.1501(e) defines "real property" for the housing article to include "an interest in a real estate cooperative or condominium", so an association's rules sit inside the same duty as your lease. Send identical requests to the owner and to the association or its management company on the same day. Whichever refuses, that refusal is the act you complain about, and the 180-day window at the Michigan Department of Civil Rights runs from it.

### My neighbours are owner-occupiers who have complained about the dog. What now?

Complaints from neighbours do not decide the question, and they do not create a hardship on their own. What can limit an accommodation is a direct threat to the health or safety of others under 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(d) (assessed on what this animal has actually done), or an undue hardship the housing provider demonstrates under MCL 37.1102(2). Keep your own record of any incident, deal with genuine nuisance quickly, and ask for any complaint that is being relied on to be put in writing so it can be answered rather than repeated.

### How much can a Macomb Township landlord hold in deposits?

One and a half months' rent in total under MCL 554.602 (about $2,069 at the township's $1,379 median gross rent), and a refundable pet deposit sits inside that ceiling because MCL 554.601(d) defines a security deposit to include any amount "returnable to the tenant on condition of return of the rental unit by the tenant in condition as required by the rental agreement". If an association charges the owner a pet-related fee under the governing documents, that is the owner's cost and does not add to what a tenant may be asked for.

### Is there a township office that handles this?

No. Macomb Township is governed by a board of trustees and a supervisor and publishes no civil rights or human relations body; there is no local ordinance to complain under. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is the enforcement route on 1-800-482-3604, within 180 days of a refusal, with an online portal and Zoom appointments through Virtual Intake. The Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit covers Macomb County and investigates independently, and Lakeshore Legal Aid takes applications for free civil legal help on (888) 783-8190.

### What documentation will an individual owner expect?

Usually less than tenants fear, and it needs to be real. A letter from a licensed professional who has evaluated you, naming the condition and explaining what the animal does about it, meets the standard. In Riverbrook v Fabode the Michigan Court of Appeals declined to accept a letter written after one telephone call with no records reviewed and no testing; the Michigan Supreme Court then held, on 29 November 2022, that neither the Fair Housing Act nor MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) requires expert-witness testimony. There is no registry, certificate or ID card that adds anything.

### What if the landlord decides not to renew my lease after I ask?

That is worth raising promptly, because retaliation is separately unlawful. MCL 37.1602(a) prohibits retaliating or discriminating against a person "because the person has opposed a violation of this act, or because the person has made a charge, filed a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under this act", and MCL 37.1602(f) prohibits coercing, intimidating, threatening or interfering with a person exercising a right protected by article 5: the housing article. Keep the dates: when you asked, and when the landlord's position changed.

---

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=michigan-emotional-support-animal%2Fmacomb-township