# ESA Letter in Minnetonka, MN: A Named Manager, One Filing Route

> Every Minnetonka rental has an appointed manager on file. What Minn. Stat. § 504B.113 strikes from the lease, and why no city office can take your complaint.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 52,651
- Households renting: 28.4%
- 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)

## Somebody is on the hook for answering you

Since 3 February 2024, Minnetonka has run a rental registration program, and
one line in it matters more to a tenant than the rest. The city requires owners
or property managers to "fill out an annual application to receive a
certificate of registration." It requires that "all residential rental units
are required to have an appointed rental manager." And it requires that "all
rental property managers are required to provide a copy of the certificate of
registration to the tenant of each unit."

Registration is free and brings no inspection.

The effect is useful. When you ask to keep a support animal here,
there is a person of record who should answer, and a document carrying that
person's name that you were entitled to receive. Requests stall because nobody
owns them. Here, somebody does.

Be precise about the limit. The ordinance identifies the manager. It says
nothing about animals, pet policies or fees, and no Minnetonka ordinance does.
State law governs the animal.

## The one section that does the real work

Minnesota wrote support animals into its landlord-tenant chapter by name.
Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 1(c) defines a support animal as one providing
emotional support that alleviates identified symptoms or effects of a person's
disability, an animal that "does not need to be trained to perform a specific
disability-related task."

Subd. 1(f) defines the accommodation as the waiver of a "no-pets **or pet-fee**
policy." Both halves. The ban and the price list.

Subd. 3(a) is where the money moves. 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." A pet deposit is a deposit. A
move-in pet fee is a fee. A monthly per-animal amount is a charge. All three
stop applying.

What continues is liability for damage the animal actually causes, settled at
the end on evidence rather than collected at the start on a guess. And
subd. 1(d) counts a prospective tenant as a tenant, so the protection runs
while you are still applying.

## What the manager may ask, and where the questions stop

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

Where it is requested, subd. 2(b) sets the content: a statement from a licensed
professional confirming the disability and its relationship to the need for the
animal. The same paragraph sets the ceiling. A 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."

Subd. 1(e) closes the list of who may sign. Chapter 148 covers nurses and
psychologists; 148B, mental health professionals; 148E, social workers; 148F,
counselors. A physician assistant under 147A qualifies, as does anyone licensed
by the Board of Medical Practice under chapter 147. One of those licensed in
another state counts, but only with an existing treatment relationship with
you. The last sentence shuts the loophole: a licensed professional "does not include
any person who operates primarily to provide certification for a service or
support animal."

## Ten commissions at city hall, and none of them is yours

Minnetonka's roster of boards and commissions lists ten bodies: the Charter
Commission, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission, the Economic
Development Authority, the Economic Development Advisory Commission, the Local
Board of Appeal and Equalization, the Park Board, the Planning Commission, the
Senior Advisory Board, the Sustainability Commission and the Youth Advisory
Board.

No human rights commission. No civil rights body of any kind.

The near miss is the DEI Commission, and a trap. Its published duty is to
advise, recommend and assist the council "in all matters related to
diversity, equity and inclusion, including civil rights and equal opportunity."
Read those last four words quickly and you would think you had found the filing
office. You have not. The page carries no complaint form, no intake number and
no deadline, and never mentions the state agency.

The state confirms it from its own side. Minnetonka does not appear on the
Minnesota Department of Human Rights' list of local human rights commissions,
and MDHR states that "currently, only the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department
and Saint Paul's Department of Human Rights & Equal Economic Opportunity are
authorized" to investigate and issue findings under their city ordinances.

## Which makes the route unusually simple

Minn. Stat. § 363A.07, subd. 3 provides that filing a charge with one agency
"shall preclude the option of filing the same charge with the other agency." In
the two cities named above that is a decision you can get wrong once. In
Minnetonka there is no second agency, so the choice never arises.

The substantive rules sit in Minn. Stat. § 363A.09. Subd. 1(1) covers refusing
to rent because of a disability, and subd. 1(2) covers discrimination "in the
terms, conditions or privileges of the … rental". The limb an animal charge is
challenged under. Subd. 6 covers what may happen after you ask: coercing,
intimidating, threatening or interfering with a person exercising these rights
is itself unlawful.

You have one year. Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3 allows a civil action or a
charge with the commissioner within it, and suspends the period during
voluntary arbitration, conciliation, mediation or a grievance process, and a
landlord who joins one of those without notifying the department cannot later
plead the deadline.

Filing a charge is optional. Minn. Stat. § 363A.33, subd. 1 lets a person go
"directly to district court" with no charge first, and subd. 6 gives either
side a jury. 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."

## Two statutes that sound close and land elsewhere

Both are real. Neither decides your request.

Minn. Stat. § 256C.025, subd. 4 is the convincing one: it mentions
housing and says a person "shall not be required to pay extra compensation."
But it reaches only a person who is totally or partially blind, deaf, or has a
physical disability, and only with a service dog. A renter with a mental-health
disability sits outside it; § 504B.113 is what reaches you.

Subd. 5, added in 2025, gives the same rights to a service dog in training
supervised by an organization accredited by Assistance Dogs International or
the International Guide Dog Federation, and there a landlord or a homeowners
association board may require written certification from that organization.
That is the only place Minnesota law lets a housing provider demand a
certificate from an outside body, and it has nothing to do with an emotional
support animal. Which answers every site selling cards, vests and directory
listings: the section governing your request excludes certificate sellers by
definition.

## The ordinary deposit is a separate question

Minnesota sets no dollar ceiling on a security deposit anywhere in chapter
504B. That is why § 504B.113's fee ban, rather than a cap, is what protects
you: the animal charge is removed, not limited.

The deposit you do pay runs on Minn. Stat. § 504B.178. It earns 1% simple,
non-compounded interest a year, and within three weeks of the tenancy ending
the landlord must return it with interest or state in writing the specific
reason for withholding. Subd. 3(c) puts the burden of proving that reason on
the landlord; subd. 10 voids any waiver.

## Getting a straight answer in Minnetonka

About 28.4 percent of Minnetonka homes are rented: 6,681 of 23,515 occupied
units on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, against
27.8 percent statewide, in a city of 52,651 people on the Census Bureau's 1
July 2024 estimate. That is a substantial minority in a market still built
around ownership, and it is about to shift: Opus Station on the METRO Green
Line Extension opens here in 2027.

Start with the appointed manager named on your certificate of registration. If
that certificate never reached you, the city's housing coordinator, Kendyl
Larson, can be reached at 952-939-8267.

Rental assistance here runs through Metro HRA at the Metropolitan Council, not
a city housing authority, and its fair housing page collects the numbers worth
having: the HUD Fair Housing Hotline at
1-800-669-9777, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights at 651-296-5663, the
Housing Equity Law Project at 651-222-5863, and the Housing Discrimination Law
Project at 612-827-3774. Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid covers Hennepin County and
takes housing intake at 1-877-696-6529.

Any of those beats another unanswered email.

## What Minnetonka 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 Minnetonka

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

- [City of Minnetonka, Renters and Landlords](https://www.minnetonkamn.gov/our-city/housing/renters-and-landlords) (city agency)
- [Minnesota Department of Human Rights](https://mn.gov/mdhr/) (state agency)
- [Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, Housing](https://mylegalaid.org/how-we-help/housing/) (legal aid)
- [Metro HRA, Fair Housing contacts](https://metrocouncil.org/Housing/Services/Metro-HRA-Rental-Assistance/Fair-Housing.aspx) (housing authority)

## Frequently asked questions

### Minnetonka makes landlords file paperwork for every rental. Does my support animal need paperwork too?

No, and the two things are unrelated. The city's requirement, effective February 3, 2024, falls on the property: an owner or manager files an annual application for a certificate of registration, and every residential rental unit must have an appointed rental manager. Nothing in it touches animals. Your side of the file is one document, the statement described in Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 2(b) from a licensed professional, confirming the disability and its relationship to your need for the animal. Anything sold as an animal certificate is outside the statute, because subd. 1(e) says a licensed professional "does not include any person who operates primarily to provide certification for a service or support animal."

### Who am I actually supposed to send the request to in Minnetonka?

The appointed rental manager. Minnetonka requires every residential rental unit to have one, and requires rental property managers "to provide a copy of the certificate of registration to the tenant of each unit", so the name should already be in your paperwork. Address the request there, in writing, and keep proof you sent it. If you were never given the certificate, the city's housing coordinator, Kendyl Larson, can be reached at 952-939-8267. This matters because a Minn. Stat. § 504B.113 request that nobody owns is the kind that quietly goes unanswered.

### Can Minnetonka's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Commission handle my complaint?

No, and it is an easy mistake because its stated duty includes the phrase "civil rights and equal opportunity." Read the rest of the sentence: the commission "advises, recommends and assists the council" on those matters. It advises the city council. Its page publishes no complaint form, no intake number and no filing deadline. Minnetonka has no human rights commission at all: the city's roster of ten boards and commissions does not include one, and Minnetonka is absent from the state's list of local human rights commissions. Your charge goes to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, or straight to district court.

### The pet fee was in the lease I already signed. Is it too late to do anything about it?

Not necessarily. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 3(b) puts a disclosure duty on any landlord whose lease carries pet fees: the lease itself has to say the fees do not apply to a service or support animal. Where nobody wrote that in, subd. 3(c) opens a route to recover fees, charges or deposits already paid under the pet policy, provided the tenant shows they would have requested an accommodation and "would likely have received" one had the disclosure been made. So a Minnetonka lease that is silent about the exemption is not just unhelpful to you; it is the fact the claim turns on.

### There is no local commission here. Does that leave a Minnetonka renter worse off?

It leaves you with a simpler decision, not a weaker case. Minn. Stat. § 363A.07, subd. 3 provides that filing a charge with one agency "shall preclude the option of filing the same charge with the other agency", a real trap in the two Minnesota cities whose own departments are authorized to investigate. Minnetonka is not one of them, so nothing here can be spent by mistake. You keep the full year in Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3, and Minn. Stat. § 363A.33, subd. 1 still lets you bring a civil action "directly to district court" without filing any charge first.

### My landlord is threatening to report me for faking the paperwork. What can actually happen?

Understand what the statute does and does not authorize. Minn. Stat. § 504B.113, subd. 4 and subd. 5 let a landlord deny the application or the animal request where a tenant knowingly misrepresents a disability or supplies fraudulent documentation, and they do not preclude an eviction for a lease breach. That is the whole of it: the consequence is civil, and the section carries no fine and no criminal charge. The separate misrepresentation crime at Minn. Stat. § 609.833 applies in a place of public accommodation, not in housing. If your documentation came from a professional who genuinely treats you, this threat has nothing behind it.

### I asked for the accommodation and now my manager is talking about not renewing. Is that allowed?

No. Minn. Stat. § 363A.09, subd. 6 makes it unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with a person exercising or enjoying rights granted under these provisions, which covers pressure applied because you asked. The underlying refusal is reached separately: subd. 1(1) covers refusing to rent because of disability, and subd. 1(2) covers discrimination "in the terms, conditions or privileges" of the rental, which is the limb an animal charge is challenged under. Write down what was said and when. Retaliation and the original refusal run on the same one-year clock in Minn. Stat. § 363A.28, subd. 3.

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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%2Fminnetonka