# ESA Letter in Paterson, NJ: The Regulation Your Request Rests On

> Paterson has 36,441 renter households and no local civil rights office. What N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.4(f)(2) requires, what the 2024 Supreme Court added, and where to file.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 160,463
- Households renting: 73.1%
- 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)

## Renting is the ordinary case here

Paterson is New Jersey's third-largest city, with an estimated 160,463
residents on 1 July 2024. Of its 49,865 occupied homes, 36,441 are rented,
73.1 percent, measured against 36.2 percent for the state as a whole on the
2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate.

That gap changes what an animal request looks like in practice. Paterson grew
up as a mill city around the Great Falls of the Passaic River, and it kept the
housing stock that came with that: block after block of small and mid-sized
multifamily buildings, many of them owned by someone who owns one or two.

There is often no compliance department to write to. No standing form, no
portal, no manager who has processed a request like yours before. So the work
of knowing the rule tends to land on the tenant. Here is the rule.

## The duty comes from a regulation, not from the statute

New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination makes it unlawful to discriminate
against a person because of disability "in the terms, conditions, or privileges
of the sale, rental, or lease of any real property." That is N.J.S.A.
10:5-12(g)(2), and it is worth reading closely for what it leaves out. There is
no accommodation duty in it. The words "dog" and "animal" appear in that
section zero times.

The duty sits one level down, in a rule the Division on Civil Rights wrote.
N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.4(f)(2) makes it unlawful to "[r]efuse to make reasonable
accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services, or reasonable
structural modifications, when such accommodations or modifications may be
necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and
enjoy a dwelling, including public and common areas."

That single sentence is what your request stands on. The chapter holding it was
readopted effective 13 October 2025 and now runs to 13 October 2032; subchapter
3, where this rule lives, was left unchanged.

Naming the regulation rather than the statute is not pedantry. A landlord who
looks up 10:5-12 and finds nothing about animals may conclude there is no duty
at all.

## What the state's highest court settled in March 2024

New Jersey is unusual: its Supreme Court has ruled on exactly this question.
*Players Place II Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. K.P.*, 256 N.J. 472 (2024), was
decided on 13 March 2024, unanimously, with Chief Justice Rabner writing.

The line to remember is one sentence: **"Whether the animal has been trained is
not a relevant consideration."**

The Court then set out how these requests get judged. A resident "must show
that they have a disability under the LAD and demonstrate that the requested
accommodation may be necessary to afford them an 'equal opportunity to use and
enjoy a dwelling.'" After that, "[h]ousing providers then have the burden to
prove the requested accommodation is unreasonable," and "both sides should
engage in a good-faith, interactive dialogue." Unreasonable has a definition:
whether allowing the animal would "fundamentally alter" the provider's
operations or impose an "undue financial or administrative burden."

Be clear about the limit. DCR's own guidance says that "unlike service or guide
animals, ESAs are not automatically exempt from a housing provider's no-pet
policies." This is a balancing test with the weight on the landlord's side of
the scale, not an automatic pass.

The Court also gave advice worth taking literally: residents "who act on their
own run the risk of losing the animal if they cannot make the required showing
later," and "[w]hen possible, it is preferable to engage in a collaborative
conversation in advance." Ask before the animal moves in, if you can.

## Money, and a trap shaped like a Paterson two-family

DCR's fact sheet on emotional support animals is direct about charges: "Your
housing provider cannot require you to pay an additional security deposit or
pet fee, or obtain additional renter's insurance, in exchange for allowing you
to keep an ESA. However, your housing provider may require you to pay for any
actual damage the animal causes."

Where that protection comes from matters, because there is a decoy. N.J.S.A.
10:5-29.2 is headed "Housing accommodations." It says a person with a
disability "shall not be required to pay extra compensation," and it voids
no-pets clauses in leases. It reads like the answer. It is not. It reaches
only "a service or guide dog," each defined by training, so an emotional
support animal falls outside it. For an ESA the no-fee result rests on the DCR
guidance that the Supreme Court adopted, and that is how to cite it.

Your ordinary security deposit is capped by statute. N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.2: "An
owner or lessee may not require more than a sum equal to 1 1/2 times 1 month's
rental." Additional security collected later in the tenancy cannot exceed 10
percent of the current deposit in any year.

Now the Paterson-specific part. Under N.J.S.A. 46:8-26, the Security Deposit
Act does not reach an owner-occupied building of two or fewer units unless the
tenant gives the owner 30 days' written notice invoking it. An owner living
downstairs from a single rented flat is one of the most common arrangements in
this city. If that is your building, the cap and the return rules are not
automatic, the notice turns them on.

## Paterson has no civil rights office. That is the answer, not a gap.

The city publishes its complete roster of boards and commissions, and it runs
to sixteen bodies: a Rent Leveling Board, a Council on the Disabled, a
Planning Board, a Historic Preservation Commission, and so on. None of them is
a civil rights or human relations commission. Passaic County lists none either
across both of its alphabetical commission pages.

New Jersey law explains why that is unremarkable. N.J.S.A. 10:5-10 lets mayors
appoint local commissions on civil rights and then enumerates what they may do:
foster "good will, cooperation and conciliation," make recommendations to the
governing body, run education programs. Investigating a complaint is not on the
list. The Division on Civil Rights holds that power instead.

So the route is short. File with DCR online at bias.njcivilrights.gov, or call
1-833-NJDCR4U (833-653-2748). The nearest regional office is in Newark, at 31
Clinton Street, 973-648-2700. Northeast New Jersey Legal Services covers
Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties and lists landlord-tenant work among its
housing services.

## Two clocks, and the shorter one is the state's

N.J.S.A. 10:5-18 is blunt: "Any complaint filed in the division or in any
municipal office pursuant to this act must be so filed within 180 days after
the alleged act of discrimination." That is roughly six months, and New Jersey
does not offer a longer housing-specific version of it.

HUD is a second door with a longer deadline. One year under 42 U.S.C.
§ 3610(a)(1)(A)(i), with intake specialists at 1-800-669-9777. New Jersey's own
statute wires the two together: N.J.S.A. 10:5-9.2 says the LAD is meant to let
DCR "qualify as a 'certified agency' within the meaning of the Federal Fair
Housing Amendments Act." If the 180 days have run, the federal year may not
have.

There is one more clock, and it is not yours. Under N.J.S.A. 10:5-16, once DCR
finds probable cause, "in a housing discrimination complaint only, any party"
may elect to move the case into Superior Court instead, and that election must
be made "not later than 20 days after receipt of the finding of probable
cause." *Any party* includes your landlord. Winning the probable cause stage
can therefore mean 20 days to decide how you want to be represented in court.

## The paperwork question, answered by the agency

DCR's fact sheet is the best sentence in the state on internet documentation:
"Documentation obtained from the Internet that does not come from a treating
healthcare professional generally will not be sufficiently reliable to support
the need for an ESA."

Set that beside the Supreme Court's holding that training is irrelevant and you
have both halves of the honest picture. Nobody has to train the animal. Nobody
can buy the paperwork. What carries weight is a current letter from a health
care professional who actually treats you.

The same fact sheet limits what a landlord may demand in return: your provider
"cannot require that your request be in writing or that you submit
documentation in a specific format." Putting it in writing is still smart,
because it dates the request, but a manager cannot refuse to hear you because
you used the wrong form.

## What Paterson landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- A landlord may not refuse because the animal is untrained. The Supreme Court's words are "[w]hether the animal has been trained is not a relevant consideration."
- A landlord may not condition the accommodation on a doctor's order for the animal. The Court held that the LAD "does not require that an ESA be prescribed by a mental health professional."
- Cannot demand that the animal cure or eliminate the disability. The necessity test is symptom-level: "the question is whether the accommodation will alleviate at least one symptom of the disability, not whether the accommodation will cure or eliminate the disability" (Players Place II).
- Cannot treat a weight limit, size limit or breed rule as a trump card. The pet policy is the thing the accommodation is an exception to. The association in Players Place II had a thirty-pound cap and the resident’s dog weighed sixty-three pounds.
- A landlord may not charge an additional security deposit or a pet fee, and may not require additional renter's insurance, in exchange for allowing an ESA, Division on Civil Rights guidance, adopted by the Supreme Court. The same guidance preserves the landlord's right to charge "for any actual damage the animal causes."
- A landlord may not make any written or oral inquiry or record about the disability of a prospective tenant or occupant, unless a government agency requires the information and the landlord says so clearly (N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.3).
- A landlord may not take reprisals against a tenant for opposing a practice forbidden by the LAD, for seeking legal advice about it, or for filing a complaint (N.J.S.A. 10:5-12(d)).
- Total security may not exceed one and a half months' rent (N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.2), and any additional security collected during the tenancy is capped at 10 percent of the current deposit per year. A refundable pet deposit sits inside that ceiling.

**Can:**
- A landlord or condominium association must assess an emotional support animal request under N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.4(f)(2), and once the tenant shows a disability and that the animal may be necessary for an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling, the burden shifts: the housing provider has "the burden to prove the requested accommodation is unreasonable" (Players Place II, 256 N.J. 472 (2024)).
- Must "engage in a good-faith, interactive dialogue" while the request is considered, as both sides are expected to. A landlord who simply stops responding is not following the framework the Court set out.
- A landlord may deny only on an individualised assessment. The test is "whether allowing an ESA would fundamentally alter the housing provider's operations or impose an undue financial or administrative burden" (Players Place II; DCR ESA fact sheet, point 4).
- May still apply a no-pets policy where the accommodation analysis does not support an exception. An ESA is not automatically admitted. DCR says "unlike service or guide animals, ESAs are not automatically exempt from a housing provider’s no-pet policies." The categorical no-pets override at N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.4(c) and the statutory fee exemption at N.J.S.A. 10:5-29.2 are for trained guide and service dogs.
- Where the disability or the need for the animal is not obvious or already known, a landlord may request reliable documentation from the tenant's treating health care professional, but "cannot require that your request be in writing or that you submit documentation in a specific format" (DCR ESA fact sheet, point 3).
- The deposit must come back within 30 days of the tenancy ending, itemised, with the tenant's share of interest; a wrongly withheld deposit is recoverable at double, with costs and possible fees (N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.1).
- May charge pet rent and pet fees to tenants generally, because no New Jersey statute caps or bans them for anyone. The protection for an assistance animal comes from N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.4(e) and from DCR guidance the Supreme Court adopted, not from a fee statute.
- Is outside the Law Against Discrimination when renting one unit in an owner-occupied two-family house, or a room in the owner’s own one-family home (N.J.S.A. 10:5-5(n)), unless the housing is publicly assisted, which includes any building financed by a federally insured or guaranteed loan (10:5-5(m)).

## How to get an ESA letter in Paterson

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

- [Northeast New Jersey Legal Services (Bergen, Hudson, Passaic)](https://www.nnjls.org/) (legal aid)
- [NJ Division on Civil Rights, how to file a complaint](https://www.njoag.gov/about/divisions-and-offices/division-on-civil-rights-home/learn-how-to-file-a-complaint/) (state agency)
- [DCR fact sheet: Emotional Support Animals in Housing](https://www.njoag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Fact_ESA.pdf) (guidance)
- [HUD, report housing discrimination](https://www.hud.gov/reporthousingdiscrimination) (federal agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there anywhere in Paterson to file a housing discrimination complaint?

No. Paterson publishes a complete roster of sixteen boards and commissions (Rent Leveling Board, Council on the Disabled, Planning Board, Historic Preservation Commission and the rest), and not one is a civil rights or human relations commission. Passaic County lists none across either of its commission pages. That is normal in New Jersey rather than a local failure: N.J.S.A. 10:5-10 lets a mayor appoint a local civil rights commission but limits it to conciliation, recommendations and education, while N.J.S.A. 10:5-8(c) puts the power to "receive, investigate, and act upon complaints" in the Division on Civil Rights. File with DCR at bias.njcivilrights.gov or 1-833-NJDCR4U, or with HUD at 1-800-669-9777.

### My Paterson lease says no animals of any kind. Does that settle it?

No. N.J.A.C. 13:13-3.4(f)(2) makes it unlawful to refuse a reasonable accommodation in "rules, policies, practices or services" where one may be necessary to give a person with a disability "equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling," and a no-pet clause is a rule. In Players Place II Condominium Ass'n, Inc. v. K.P., 256 N.J. 472 (2024), the New Jersey Supreme Court held that once you show a disability and that the animal may be necessary, "[h]ousing providers then have the burden to prove the requested accommodation is unreasonable." Be realistic about the limit, though: DCR says that "unlike service or guide animals, ESAs are not automatically exempt from a housing provider's no-pet policies."

### Can a Paterson landlord charge me a pet deposit for an emotional support animal?

Not for the animal. DCR's fact sheet states that a housing provider "cannot require you to pay an additional security deposit or pet fee, or obtain additional renter's insurance, in exchange for allowing you to keep an ESA," while remaining free to charge for "any actual damage the animal causes." Do not cite N.J.S.A. 10:5-29.2 for this, even though it is headed "Housing accommodations" and bars "extra compensation". It reaches only a service or guide dog, both defined by training, so an ESA sits outside it. The correct authority is DCR's guidance, which the Supreme Court adopted.

### The owner lives in the other half of my two-family house. Does the security deposit law still protect me?

Only if you switch it on. N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.2 caps a residential security deposit at "1 1/2 times 1 month's rental," and N.J.S.A. 46:8-19 requires the money to be held in trust as the tenant's property. But under N.J.S.A. 46:8-26 the Security Deposit Act does not apply to an owner-occupied building of two or fewer units unless the tenant gives the owner 30 days' written notice invoking it. Owner-occupied two-families are everywhere in Paterson, so this is a live step rather than a technicality. The accommodation rules under the Law Against Discrimination are separate and do not depend on that notice.

### Does my animal need training, or paperwork I can buy online?

Neither. The New Jersey Supreme Court wrote in 2024 that "[w]hether the animal has been trained is not a relevant consideration" for an emotional support animal in housing. On the paperwork side, DCR's fact sheet warns that "[d]ocumentation obtained from the Internet that does not come from a treating healthcare professional generally will not be sufficiently reliable to support the need for an ESA." No training requirement and no purchased certificate, what carries weight is a current letter from a health care professional who actually treats you. The same fact sheet also says a provider "cannot require that your request be in writing or that you submit documentation in a specific format."

### I found out about my rights more than 180 days after the refusal. Is it over?

Not necessarily. N.J.S.A. 10:5-18 requires a complaint to the Division to be filed "within 180 days after the alleged act of discrimination," and New Jersey has no longer housing-specific version of that clock. HUD is a separate door with a longer one: 42 U.S.C. § 3610(a)(1)(A)(i) allows a complaint up to one year after the practice occurred or ended, and HUD's intake line is 1-800-669-9777. New Jersey wires itself into that federal system by statute, N.J.S.A. 10:5-9.2 says the LAD is meant to let DCR qualify as a "certified agency" under the Fair Housing Amendments Act. Check the federal clock before you give up.

### If DCR finds probable cause, can my landlord move the case out of the agency?

Yes, and quickly. N.J.S.A. 10:5-16 provides that after a finding of probable cause, "in a housing discrimination complaint only, any party" may elect to have the claim adjudicated in Superior Court instead of before the agency, and that election "shall be made not later than 20 days after receipt of the finding of probable cause." Any party includes the housing provider. New Jersey is unusual in giving both sides that switch, so treat a probable cause finding as the start of a short decision window, not the finish line. Note too that a housing claim does not carry three-fold damages: N.J.S.A. 10:5-17 reserves those for the economic-discrimination and employment subsections. Emotional distress damages under the same section, and attorney fees under N.J.S.A. 10:5-27.1, remain on the table.

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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=new-jersey-emotional-support-animal%2Fpaterson