# ESA Letter in Troy, MI: Moving a Corporate Pet Policy

> Troy's renters mostly live in managed complexes with written pet rules. Written rules are exactly what Michigan's accommodation duty is built to move.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 89,209
- Households renting: 26.7%
- 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)

## A city whose rentals are mostly complexes

Troy has 33,372 occupied homes and 8,926 of them are rented: 26.7 percent.
Most of that is apartment communities rather than houses, which is visible
in how the city regulates: Troy runs a **Multiple Family Rental Inspection
Program** covering multiple-family dwellings occupied by three or more
families in individual units, with apartment complexes the most common
property in scope. The city publishes the inspection checklist and even a
list of the apartment complexes in Troy.

Median gross rent is $1,602: the third highest among Michigan's twenty
largest municipalities, behind Ann Arbor and Rochester Hills.

Both facts point the same way. Your landlord is an organisation, your pet
rule is written down, and the person who first says no is usually not the
person who can say yes.

## Written rules are the easy case

MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) makes it 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."

A community handbook that says "no dogs over 30 pounds; breed restrictions
apply; $300 pet fee; $50 per month" has published the rule the statute is
asking to bend, saved you the trouble of proving it exists, and dated it.

So the first move in Troy is administrative rather than argumentative: ask,
in writing, **who reviews accommodation requests**, and send the request to
that person. Getting the name is worth the extra day. It fixes when you
asked, identifies who decided, and forecloses "nobody passed it on".

## What the request contains

Three short paragraphs: that you have a disability, that you are asking for
an exception to the pet policy for an assistance animal, and that a letter
from a licensed professional who has evaluated you is attached.

The letter is where Michigan's own case law bites. In *Riverbrook v Fabode*
the Court of Appeals refused to treat a letter as automatically sufficient
where the counsellor had spoken to the tenant once by telephone, reviewed
no medical records, run no diagnostic testing and provided no counselling,
and where the letter named a condition that had not been diagnosed and said
nothing about the animal's role.

Then the Supreme Court's order of 29 November 2022 fixed the other edge:
neither 42 USC 3604(f)(3)(B) nor MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) requires
expert-witness testimony, because "[t]he statutes contain no such
requirement."

Between the two is an ordinary, honest clinical letter. Nothing more
elaborate, and nothing bought.

One detail worth attending to in a corporate setting: make sure the letter
is on the clinician's own letterhead and carries their licence details.
Compliance staff are not assessing your condition. They are checking that
the document is what it claims to be, and a letter that answers that
question on its face moves through the process considerably faster than one
that invites a follow-up email.

## "$300 fee, $50 a month" is not a compromise

Troy's rents mean pet charges here are quoted rather than negotiated, and a
leasing office will often present them as the accommodating answer.

For a pet, they are prices, and Michigan regulates neither. For an
**approved assistance animal**, they are the refusal in a different form.
The animal is not a pet, so the pet tariff has nothing to attach to, and a
charge demanded because of the animal is demanded because of the
disability, which MCL 37.1502(1)(b) forbids in the "terms, conditions, or
privileges" of a real estate transaction.

Ask, in the same letter, for the fee and the monthly charge to be removed
as part of the accommodation. A refusal to remove them is a refusal to
accommodate, and it starts the same clock.

It is worth saying explicitly what you are not asking for, because that
tends to shorten the exchange: you are not asking to be excused from
damage. Any harm the animal causes remains chargeable against the deposit
in the ordinary way, and saying so in the request removes the objection a
manager is most likely to reach for.

## Where the deposit cap sits in Troy

Michigan caps total deposits at one and a half months' rent: MCL 554.602:
about **$2,403** here, with any refundable pet deposit counted inside it by
MCL 554.601(d).

At these rents that ceiling is generous. A community can take a full
month's deposit plus a pet deposit and stay under it, so the arithmetic
that wins arguments in Flint or Kalamazoo will usually not win one in Troy.
Use it as a check on the total, not as the argument.

What still applies: MCL 554.607 limits what the deposit may be spent on:
damage from "conduct not reasonably expected in the normal course of
habitation", unpaid rent, unpaid utilities, and MCL 554.606 stops the
lease from waiving any of the act's protections.

## "Can we meet the dog first?"

Common in managed communities, and worth handling carefully rather than
combatively.

Nothing in the accommodation framework entitles a provider to inspect the
animal before deciding. Verification runs to the disability, the
accommodation and the connection between them. But nothing stops you
agreeing to a short meeting if you want to, and in practice it often
settles a nervous manager faster than a letter.

The line to watch is what the decision then rests on. If the refusal
follows a declined meeting rather than any finding of undue hardship under
MCL 37.1102(2) or a direct threat under 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(d), that
refusal is the thing to complain about, and it is worth getting the reason
in writing before you do.

## Undue hardship is a demonstration, not a mood

MCL 37.1102(2) requires the accommodation "unless the person demonstrates
that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship."

In a corporate setting that word matters. "Our policy does not allow
exceptions" is not a demonstration. Neither is "the owner prefers not to".
A demonstration is specific: a cost, a structural problem, an actual
conflict with something the community is required to do.

So when a refusal arrives, one written question does a lot of work: what
hardship, precisely, would this accommodation impose? Either the answer
addresses something you can solve, or it is an answer that will not stand
up to an investigator.

Keep the reply, whatever it is. Investigators at the state department and
at the fair housing centre both work from documents rather than from
recollection, and a single paragraph in which a management company explains
its reasoning is usually more useful to them than a long account of the
conversations that preceded it.

## Filing, and the deadline that governs everything

**Michigan Department of Civil Rights**: 1-800-482-3604, online portal, or
Virtual Intake by Zoom appointment. **180 days** from the refusal, and no
part of a community's internal escalation process pauses it.

**HUD**. One year, under 24 C.F.R. § 103.35.

**State court**, where MDCR's window has closed and no federal
jurisdiction applies, the department points to a three-year limit, with MCL
37.1606(2) placing venue in Oakland County or wherever the landlord's
principal place of business sits.

**Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit**, (313) 963-1274, covering
Oakland County and naming Troy in its service area. Because Troy's
landlords operate several buildings each, this is a place where testing can
show a pattern that one tenant's file never could.

## What Troy 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 Troy

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

- [City of Troy Multiple Family Rental Inspection Program](https://troymi.gov/departments/code_enforcement/rental_program.php) (city agency)
- [City of Troy Code Enforcement](https://troymi.gov/departments/code_enforcement/index.php) (city agency)
- [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)
- [Legal Aid and Defender Association](https://www.ladadetroit.org/) (legal aid)
- [Michigan Department of Civil Rights, service animals](https://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/divisions/ada-compliance/service-animals) (state agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does the city inspect my apartment building in Troy?

If it houses three or more families in individual dwelling units, yes. Troy runs a Multiple Family Rental Inspection Program covering multiple-family dwellings of that description (apartment complexes being the most common property in scope), for the health and safety of occupants and the public, and it publishes an inspection checklist along with a list of apartment complexes in the city. That programme is about the building. Whether a pet policy has to give way for an assistance animal is decided by MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) and 24 C.F.R. § 100.204(a), which are about rules rather than premises.

### Who do I send an accommodation request to in a Troy complex?

The person with authority to decide, which is rarely the agent at the desk. Ask in writing who reviews accommodation requests, then send the request there: your disability, the accommodation you need, and a letter from a licensed professional who has evaluated you. Getting the name in writing is worth the extra day. It fixes the date you asked, identifies the decision-maker, and prevents the answer "nobody told us" later. If it is refused, MCL 37.1102(2) requires the accommodation "unless the person demonstrates that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship".

### The community charges $50 a month per pet. Do I have to pay it?

Not for an approved assistance animal. Such an animal is not a pet, so a pet tariff has nothing to attach to, and a recurring charge demanded because of the animal is a charge demanded because of the disability, which MCL 37.1502(1)(b) prohibits in the terms, conditions or privileges of a real estate transaction. Ask for the pet rent and any pet fee to be removed as part of the accommodation, in writing. For an ordinary pet, monthly pet rent is unregulated in Michigan, so it is a price rather than a legal question.

### How much can a Troy landlord hold in deposits?

One and a half months' rent in total, MCL 554.602, which is roughly $2,403 at the city's $1,602 median gross rent, and MCL 554.601(d) sweeps a refundable pet deposit into that same total. Be realistic about how much that helps in Troy: the ceiling is high enough that most communities sit under it even after adding a pet deposit. The stronger argument for an assistance animal is that the pet deposit should not be charged at all, not that the total is too large.

### Can a Troy community insist on meeting the animal first?

Asking to meet an animal is not one of the things the law entitles a provider to require, and it is not how the request is assessed, verification runs to the disability, the accommodation and the connection between them. That said, a short meeting is often the quickest way past a nervous manager, and nothing prevents you agreeing to one voluntarily. What matters is that the decision is not made to depend on it: if a refusal follows a declined meeting rather than any finding about undue hardship or a direct threat under 24 C.F.R. § 100.202(d), that is the refusal to complain about.

### What is the standard for the letter itself?

Michigan has two appellate markers. In Riverbrook v Fabode the Court of Appeals refused to treat a letter as automatically sufficient where the writer had spoken to the tenant once by telephone, reviewed no medical records, conducted no diagnostic testing and provided no counselling. On 29 November 2022 the Michigan Supreme Court vacated any reading of that decision requiring expert-witness testimony, holding that neither the Fair Housing Act nor MCL 37.1506a(1)(b) contains such a requirement. A clinician who is licensed, has evaluated you, names the condition and explains the animal's role sits between the two.

### Where does a Troy complaint go, and how quickly?

To the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, on 1-800-482-3604, within 180 days of the refusal. The department also takes complaints through an online portal and by Zoom appointment through Virtual Intake. Beyond 180 days, where no federal jurisdiction applies, MDCR points to state court on a three-year limit, with venue under MCL 37.1606(2) in Oakland County or wherever the landlord's principal place of business sits. HUD allows one year under 24 C.F.R. § 103.35. The Fair Housing Center of Metropolitan Detroit covers Oakland County and investigates independently on (313) 963-1274.

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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=michigan-emotional-support-animal%2Ftroy