# ESA Letter in Eagan, MN: A Priced Pet Addendum and How It Empties

> Eagan rents 32.3% of its homes and hosts Dakota County's housing authority. What Minn. Stat. § 504B.113 strikes from a pet addendum, and who takes a complaint.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 67,240
- Households renting: 32.3%
- 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)

## The agency that runs Dakota County's vouchers has an Eagan address

Most renters never find out where their county's housing authority sits. In
Eagan you could walk to it.

The Dakota County Community Development Agency works out of 1228 Town Centre
Drive, Eagan, MN 55123, weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on a main line
of (651) 675-4400. The agency says that since 1975 it has "been dedicated to
providing local, state and federal rental assistance programs to residents of
Dakota County," and it administers Housing Choice Vouchers for over 2,700
households. Dakota County runs its own agency rather than buying into a
regional one.

That helps in one way and misleads in another. The CDA publishes a fair
housing page of numbers worth saving. But a housing authority administers
subsidy; it does not decide whether a landlord broke the law. The last two
sections say who does.

## Nine thousand rented homes, above the state line

The Census Bureau put Eagan's population at 67,240 on 1 July 2024. The city
has 28,264 occupied homes, and 9,125 of them are rented, 32.3 percent on the
2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate.

Minnesota as a whole sits at 27.8 percent on the same table. Eagan is one of
eleven cities among the state's twenty largest that sit above that line.

Thirty-two percent is no majority. But nine thousand households is a market of
real size, and the statute below reaches every one of them alike.

## The subdivisions that empty a priced pet addendum

Minnesota did something unusual: it wrote the support animal into the chapter
your lease already answers to. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113 is headed "Service and
Support Animal Documentation."

Subd. 1(c) closes the training argument before anyone opens it. A support
animal provides "emotional support that alleviates one or more identified
symptoms or effects of a person's disability" and "does not need to be trained
to perform a specific disability-related task."

Subd. 1(f) then defines the accommodation as waiving a "no-pets **or pet-fee**
policy." Both halves are named, the prohibition and the price.

Subd. 3(a) does the money: a landlord "must not require a tenant with a
reasonable accommodation under this section to pay an additional fee, charge,
or deposit for the service or support animal." Set that against a typical
addendum and three lines stop applying. A one-time pet fee is a fee. A
refundable pet deposit is a deposit. Monthly pet rent is a charge, and it
stays a charge however the office bills it.

What survives is liability for damage the animal actually causes, settled at
the end on evidence, rather than collected up front on a guess.

Your ordinary security deposit survives too. Minnesota caps its size at
nothing, which is exactly why a fee ban rather than a dollar limit protects
you here. Under Minn. Stat. § 504B.178 that deposit earns 1 percent simple
non-compounded interest a year, and must be returned, with that interest, or
with a written statement giving the specific reason for any withholding,
inside three weeks of the tenancy's end. Ordinary wear and tear is excepted,
the landlord carries the burden of proving the reason, and any waiver clause
is void.

## Who signs, and the sentence that ends the certificate market

Subd. 1(e) does not leave the question open. It names seven professions and
pins each to its licensing chapter: the Board of Medical Practice at chapter
147, physician assistants at 147A, nurses and psychologists at 148, mental
health professionals at 148B, social workers at 148E, counselors at 148F. A
clinician in one of those professions licensed by another state qualifies too,
but only where an existing treatment relationship with you is already in
place.

Then comes the sentence that ends a market: "A licensed professional does not
include any person who operates primarily to provide certification for a
service or support animal." Notice the mechanism. The exclusion turns on the
vendor's line of business, not on how the paperwork is worded or how official
it looks. Buying its document cannot help an Eagan application, because the
statute has already read the seller out.

## What a landlord may ask, and where the questions stop

Subd. 2(a) permits a documentation request, but forbids one where the
disability or the disability-related need is "readily apparent or already
known" to the landlord.

Subd. 2(b) fixes the ceiling. The documentation confirms the disability and
the relationship between it and the need for the animal. Nothing more. The
landlord "must not require the tenant to disclose or provide access to medical
records or medical providers or provide any other information or documentation
of a person's physical or mental disability."

The disability itself comes from the Human Rights Act. Minn. Stat. § 363A.03,
subd. 12 asks whether an impairment "materially limits" a major life activity
— wording broader than the federal "substantially limits" — and expressly
reaches an impairment that is "episodic or in remission" and would materially
limit an activity when active.

## Statutes that mention animals but do not reach this request

Minn. Stat. § 256C.025, subd. 4 catches people out. It mentions housing and
says a person "shall not be required to pay extra compensation." It also
confines itself to a person "totally or partially blind, or person who is
deaf, or person with a physical disability" who has a service dog. A tenant
whose disability is a mental health condition is outside it, so a landlord
quoting it is quoting real law that does not govern the question.

The next subdivision, added in 2025, deals with a service dog still in
training under the supervision of a group accredited by Assistance Dogs
International or by the International Guide Dog Federation. For that dog, and
only that dog, a landlord or a homeowners association board may demand written
certification from the accrediting group. That is the only corner of Minnesota
law allowing such a demand, and an emotional support animal is nowhere near
it.

Minn. Stat. § 609.833 makes misrepresenting a service animal a petty
misdemeanor, and a misdemeanor on repeat, in a place of public accommodation,
not in housing. The housing consequence lives in § 504B.113, subd. 4 and 5: a
landlord may deny the application or the animal request where a tenant
knowingly gives false information or supplies fraudulent documentation, and
may still sue to evict for a lease breach. Civil, contained, no fine.

## One year, and the office that investigates almost every Minnesota charge

Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3 sets one deadline of a year. Inside it you may
bring a civil action, file a charge with a local commission, or take the
charge to the commissioner. The year is suspended while voluntary arbitration,
conciliation, mediation or a grievance process is running.

On where a charge is actually investigated, the Minnesota Department of Human
Rights is explicit: "Currently, only the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department
and Saint Paul's Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity are
authorized" to conduct investigations and issue findings under their city
ordinances. For nearly every Minnesota renter the state department is the
door. To learn whether the City of Eagan offers any local avenue alongside it,
call the City and ask; its official website carries the current contact
details.

The conduct is reached by Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 1(1) for a refusal to
rent because of disability, subd. 1(2) for a fee left in place on the "terms,
conditions or privileges" of the rental, and subd. 6 for pressure applied
after you ask.

You need not file anything at all. Minn. Stat. § 363A.33, subd. 1 lets you
bring a civil action "directly to district court," with no charge and no
exhaustion first. Subd. 6 gives either side a jury, and subd. 8(a) says the
court "shall order" compensatory damages "including mental anguish or
suffering, in an amount up to three times the actual damages sustained."

## Numbers an Eagan renter can use today

Start with the CDA's fair housing page. It publishes four numbers: the
Minnesota Department of Human Rights on 651-296-5663, the HUD Fair Housing
Hotline on 1-800-669-9777, the Housing Equity Law Project on 651-222-5863, and
the Housing Discrimination Law Project on 612-827-3774.

Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services covers the 33 counties of southern
Minnesota, Dakota among them, across "a full range of civil matters." Its
intake line is 877-696-6529. HOME Line answers Minnesota tenants' questions at
no charge, and is the fastest first call when you cannot yet tell whether the
problem is a statute or a misunderstanding.

Most of these disputes never travel that far. They end with a manager reading
one subdivision and deleting one line from an addendum.

## What Eagan landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- A landlord may not charge an additional fee, charge or deposit for an approved service or support animal (Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 3(a)). Pet rent, pet deposits and one-time pet fees all fall away; liability for actual damage the animal causes does not.
- A landlord may not require a tenant to hand over medical records, give access to medical providers, or supply any other documentation of the disability itself (§ 504B.113, subd. 2(b)). The letter confirms the disability and the need for the animal; it does not open the file.
- Cannot rely on a certificate bought from a registry website. Anyone "who operates primarily to provide certification for a service or support animal" is excluded from the statutory list by name (§ 504B.113, subd. 1(e)), so such a certificate is not documentation from a licensed professional.
- A support animal does not have to be trained to do any task (§ 504B.113, subd. 1(c)(2)). A landlord may not refuse the accommodation for want of training records.
- A landlord may not make declawing or devocalization a condition of keeping an animal, advertise to discourage applicants who refuse, or write the requirement into a lease; such a clause is void and unenforceable (Minn. Stat. § 504B.114).
- Cannot charge for the animal or refuse the accommodation without exposure to a claim of discrimination in the terms, conditions or privileges of a rental under Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 1(2).
- A landlord may not coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with a tenant for asking (Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 6).

**Can:**
- A landlord may ask for supporting documentation, but not where the disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already known to the landlord (§ 504B.113, subd. 2(a)).
- The letter must come from a licensed professional on the statutory list: a physician, physician assistant, nurse, psychologist, mental health professional, social worker or counselor licensed in Minnesota, or the same professions licensed in another state where there is an existing treatment relationship (§ 504B.113, subd. 1(e)).
- The protection covers a prospective tenant as well as a current one, because "tenant" is defined to include both (§ 504B.113, subd. 1(d)). The request can be made during the application.
- A landlord that charges pet fees at all must disclose in the lease that they cannot be charged for a service or support animal (§ 504B.113, subd. 3(b)), and a tenant who paid because that disclosure was missing may sue to get the money back (subd. 3(c)).
- A security deposit must be returned with one percent annual interest, or a written statement of the specific reason for withholding it furnished, within three weeks of the tenancy ending, and the landlord carries the burden of proving the reason (Minn. Stat. § 504B.178, subds. 2, 3).
- May set an ordinary security deposit at any amount, because Minnesota caps none. That is precisely why the fee ban rather than a dollar ceiling is what protects a tenant with a support animal.
- A tenant who knowingly misrepresents a disability or supplies fraudulent documentation can have the application or the animal request denied, and can face eviction for a lease breach (§ 504B.113, subds. 4-5).

## How to get an ESA letter in Eagan

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

- [Dakota County CDA, Fair Housing referral numbers](https://www.dakotacda.org/fair-housing/) (housing authority)
- [Minnesota Department of Human Rights, consultation and inquiry form](https://mn.gov/mdhr/intake/consultationinquiryform/) (state agency)
- [Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, serves Dakota County, intake 877-696-6529](https://www.smrls.org/how-we-can-help) (legal aid)
- [HOME Line, Minnesota tenant hotline](https://homelinemn.org/) (tenant org)

## Frequently asked questions

### The Dakota County CDA is based in Eagan. Can it rule on my discrimination complaint?

No, and it is worth being clear about the division of labour. The Dakota County Community Development Agency, at 1228 Town Centre Drive in Eagan and open weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., administers rental assistance. It says it has provided local, state and federal rental assistance programs to Dakota County residents since 1975, and it runs Housing Choice Vouchers for over 2,700 households. Running a subsidy program is not the same as deciding whether a landlord broke the law. A discrimination claim goes to the Commissioner of Human Rights or to district court within one year under Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3. What the CDA does publish, usefully, is a fair housing page of referral numbers.

### My Eagan lease charges pet rent every month, not a one-time fee. Is that still covered?

Yes. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 3(a) says a landlord "must not require a tenant with a reasonable accommodation under this section to pay an additional fee, charge, or deposit for the service or support animal." The word "charge" is doing deliberate work there — it catches a recurring monthly amount as squarely as it catches a fee at signing. Subd. 1(f) reinforces the point by defining the accommodation as waiving a "no-pets or pet-fee policy," so the pricing and the prohibition fall together. Ask for the monthly line to be struck when the accommodation is granted.

### I have applied for an Eagan apartment but have not signed anything. Do these protections start yet?

They do. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 1(d) defines "tenant" to include a prospective tenant, so the section is live while you are still an applicant. That is reinforced on the discrimination side by Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 1(1), which reaches a refusal to rent because of disability, and subd. 1(3), which reaches discriminatory advertisements, application forms and inquiries. Raising the request before signing is usually easier than renegotiating an addendum you have already initialled.

### My condition is not constant. Does an episodic disability count in Minnesota?

Yes. Minn. Stat. § 363A.03, subd. 12 defines a person with a disability by reference to an impairment that "materially limits" one or more major life activities, and it expressly includes an impairment that is "episodic or in remission" and would materially limit a major life activity when active. It also covers having a record of such an impairment and being regarded as having one. Minnesota's "materially limits" wording is broader than the federal "substantially limits" formulation. Nothing in Minn. Stat. § 504B.113 requires symptoms to be present on the day you ask.

### A website wants to sell me a certificate for my animal. Will an Eagan landlord need it?

No, and the statute disqualifies the seller by name. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 1(e) sets out who may write your documentation: Board of Medical Practice licensees, physician assistants, nurses, psychologists, mental health professionals, social workers and counselors, each under the licensing chapter the statute names, and closes with the sentence that "a licensed professional does not include any person who operates primarily to provide certification for a service or support animal." The one place Minnesota does let a housing provider demand outside certification is Minn. Stat. § 256C.025, subd. 5, for a service dog in training supervised by an Assistance Dogs International or International Guide Dog Federation accredited organization. That is a different animal, a different subdivision, and nothing to do with an emotional support animal.

### Where does an Eagan renter actually file, and how long is the window?

One year, under Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3, which allows the claim to be brought as a civil action, filed as a charge with a local commission, or filed as a charge with the commissioner. The period is suspended while voluntary arbitration, conciliation, mediation or a grievance process is running. In practice almost every Minnesota complaint goes to the state department: the Minnesota Department of Human Rights states that "currently, only the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department and Saint Paul's Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity are authorized" to conduct investigations and issue findings under their city ordinances. If you want to know whether the City of Eagan itself offers any local avenue, call the City and ask. Its official website is the place to find the current number.

### My lease says nothing about support animals being exempt from pet fees. Does that omission matter?

It can be worth money. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 3(b) puts a duty on any landlord who charges pet fees: the lease itself has to say those fees cannot be applied to a service or support animal. When that sentence is absent, subd. 3(c) opens a claim: the tenant may sue for the return of fees, charges or deposits the pet policy has already collected, provided they show they would have requested an accommodation and, in the statute's words, "would likely have received" one had the disclosure been there. So read the pet addendum of an Eagan lease for that line before assuming money already paid is gone.

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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=minnesota-emotional-support-animal%2Feagan