# ESA Letter in Artesia, NM: A Definition That Never Leaves Work

> New Mexico defines 'reasonable accommodation' for employment purposes only. An Artesia tenancy runs on the duty that was never written with a job in it.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/new-mexico-emotional-support-animal/artesia/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-09-05
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 12,550
- Households renting: 35.4%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): No NM statute either way
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $25-$50/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The rent figure here arrives with a warning attached

Artesia has 1,677 renting households out of 4,737 occupied homes: **35.4
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate,
above the 30.0 percent New Mexico records across all 837,414 of its occupied
units. The 2024 Census estimate puts the city at **12,550** people,
sixteenth in the state.

Then there is the rent, and it has to be handled carefully. The ACS
five-year estimate puts median gross rent in Artesia at **$1,288**, with a
margin of error of **±$408**. The interval that describes runs from under
$900 to nearly $1,700, wide enough to swallow most of New Mexico in one
gulp. It is the best estimate anyone has for Artesia, and it is not a number
to rank the city by or to plan a budget around. The statewide median gross
rent, **$1,067**, is the steadier reference for a tenant here working out
what a monthly pet charge would really cost.

Eddy County, which Artesia shares with Carlsbad, runs its offices from 101 W Greene Street in
Carlsbad; Artesia's own city hall is at 511 W Texas Avenue. A renter in either place who goes
looking for New Mexico's rule on assistance animals finds the words "reasonable accommodation"
almost immediately. They are right there in the Human Rights Act, in its definitions section.

The definition is the problem.

## Read it to the end

**NMSA 1978, § 28-1-2(V)**, in the section that opens "As used in the Human Rights Act":

> "'reasonable accommodation' means modification or adaptation of the **work environment, work
> schedule, work rules or job responsibilities**, and reached through good faith efforts to explore
> less restrictive or less expensive alternatives **to enable an employee to perform the essential
> functions of the job** and that does not impose an undue hardship on the **employer**;"

Count the nouns. Work environment. Work schedule. Work rules. Job
responsibilities. Employee. Job. Employer. There is no dwelling in the
sentence, no tenant, no landlord and no rule about animals. The term exists
in New Mexico law, and it is a term about a workplace.

## The Bureau built the same fence into its own rule

If the statutory definition were an accident of drafting, the agency that
administers the Act would be the one to say so. It says the opposite.
**9.1.1.7(X) NMAC**, in rules issued by the Human Rights Bureau of the Labor
Relations Division at the Department of Workforce Solutions:

> "**'Reasonable accommodation' means, for employment purposes,** such modifications or adaptations
> of the work environment, work schedule, work rules or job responsibilities, and reached through
> good faith efforts to explore less restrictive or less expensive alternatives to enable an
> **employee** to perform the essential functions of the **job** and which do not impose an undue
> hardship on the **employer**."

Two drafters, decades apart, arriving at the same boundary — and the second one wrote the boundary
into the first three words. Those rules took effect on January 1, 2020 and were amended in 2021 and
again in 2023.

## The one duty that uses the word says "employer"

**§ 28-1-7(J)** is the only provision in the Human Rights Act that requires anybody to accommodate
a disability at all:

> "It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for … **any employer to refuse or fail to accommodate
> a person's physical or mental disability or serious medical condition, unless such accommodation
> is unreasonable or an undue hardship;**"

The housing provisions sit two letters earlier in the same list and do different work.
**§ 28-1-7(G)(1)** prohibits a refusal to rent because of a physical or mental disability.
**§ 28-1-7(G)(2)** prohibits discrimination "in the terms, conditions or privileges" of a rental.
**§ 28-1-7(G)(3)** governs advertising. Those are real prohibitions and an Artesia tenant may use
them. None of the three asks a landlord to make an exception to a rule.

## The duty that was never limited that way

The accommodation an Artesia landlord can be asked to make is written in a
statute with no job in it anywhere. **42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B)**, the
federal Fair Housing Act, makes discrimination include a refusal to make
reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services when
such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person with a handicap
equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

Every noun in that provision is about a home. No employee has to be
identified, no job description has to be produced, and no employer is
anywhere in the analysis. That is the duty that decides whether a no-pets
rule bends in Artesia.

What it asks for is narrow and specific: that a **disability** exists, and
that **this animal** answers something about it. Two findings, both about a
person, both of a kind that a landlord cannot make and a tenant cannot make
about themselves.

Alongside it, § 28-1-7(G)(2) stays useful, because a charge attached to the
animal is a term of the rental applied because of a disability, and the
state provision reaches exactly that.

## Nobody in New Mexico ever priced an assistance animal

A search of the whole New Mexico laws-and-rules corpus (current statutes, historical statutes,
session laws, the administrative code and attorney general opinions), returns **zero results** for
"pet deposit," "pet fee" and "pet rent." The control search for "security deposit" returns 530, so
the zeros are real rather than a broken query. New Mexico neither authorises a pet charge nor
forbids one. It simply never legislated the subject.

What it did legislate is the deposit. **§ 47-8-18(A)(2)** caps a deposit at one month's rent on any
rental agreement "of a duration less than one year," month-to-month tenancies included.
**§ 47-8-18(A)(1)** handles a year-long lease on an entirely different principle. There is no dollar
ceiling at all; instead, once an owner is holding more than a month's rent, the statute makes them
pay the resident yearly interest on it at the passbook rate. The word "reasonable" in § 47-8-18(A)
sits over both routes, and in that same subsection the deposit's stated job is recovering damage
caused to the premises — not pricing a category of occupant.

## Which puts the weight on the document

New Mexico's own procedural rule says what the state will want to see. **9.1.1.8(F)(3) NMAC**:

> "**When a disability or serious medical condition is alleged in the complaint, the complainant
> must offer evidence of the disability or serious medical condition** during the course of the
> investigation. **Evidence documenting a disability or serious medical condition may be provided by
> the written certification of a physician or other appropriate medical authority** unless the
> existence of the disability or serious medical condition is not a matter in dispute."

That is the Human Rights Bureau describing the document in its own
regulation. It governs what the Bureau wants during an investigation, not
what a landlord may demand at the front counter, but the tenant who already
holds a written finding is the tenant who can answer either one.

## Getting the finding made, in Eddy County

If a clinician already treats you, ask them first. It is the cheapest route
and a letter from someone with a real history of your care is the strongest
kind. Be ready for two honest obstacles: Eddy County supports very few
independent practices, and a provider who has seen you twice may decline to
write a disability determination because they have not made one.

Where that route is closed or slow, and much of New Mexico's specialist
capacity sits in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, hundreds of miles from a lease
being signed in Artesia. A licensed evaluation does the same work
deliberately. A licensed provider examines whether a disability exists and
whether this animal answers it, then issues the written finding where the
assessment supports it, or declines where it does not. Both endings happen,
and a service that has decided the answer before it meets you is selling
stationery.

Artesia's public housing sits in Eastern Regional Housing Authority
territory, and that authority has no working website this page could verify,
so there is no local housing-authority link below. The county and Housing
New Mexico are what ship instead.

New Mexico wrote its accommodation definition around a job. The duty that
governs your apartment was never drawn that way, and it turns entirely on a
finding somebody licensed has to make.

## What Artesia landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not refuse to rent, or refuse to negotiate, because of a physical or mental disability: NMSA 1978, § 28-1-7(G)(1).
- May not discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental or in the facilities and services provided with it, § 28-1-7(G)(2). This is the state provision a charge attached to an assistance animal is met by.
- May not use the three-day substantial-violation route over an animal. § 47-8-3(V)'s closed list does not include one. The route is a written seven-day notice and cure under § 47-8-33(A), served within thirty days of the breach or knowledge of it.
- May not raise at trial any ground outside the written notice, § 47-8-33(G).
- May not retaliate by raising rent, cutting services or bringing an action for possession within six months of a fair housing complaint made to a government agency, on pain of liability for two times the monthly rent: §§ 47-8-39(A)(4), 47-8-48(C).

**Can:**
- Must make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling, but under 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) and 24 C.F.R. § 100.204, not under New Mexico law, which imposes that duty only on employers.
- May adopt a no-pets rule only where it is reasonably related to its purpose and applied to all residents fairly, § 47-8-23(B)–(C), and may impose one mid-tenancy only with reasonable notice and only where it does not work a substantial modification of the bargain: § 47-8-23(F).
- May demand only a reasonable deposit, and only to recover damage caused to the premises, § 47-8-18(A). Under a lease shorter than a year the deposit may not exceed one month's rent; under an annual lease anything above one month's rent obliges the owner to pay passbook-rate interest.
- Is outside the state Act only in the narrow cases § 28-1-9 describes: the single-family exemption at (A), with its reservations and its condition that no prohibited advertisement was used, and the separate owner-occupied exemption at (D) for four families. The federal Fair Housing Act draws its own exemptions and is unaffected.

## How to get an ESA letter in Artesia

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

- [City of Artesia](https://www.artesianm.gov/) (city government)
- [Eddy County](https://www.eddycountynm.gov/) (county government)
- [Housing New Mexico (MFA)](https://housingnm.org/) (state housing authority)
- [New Mexico Legal Aid](https://newmexicolegalaid.org/) (legal aid)
- [Disability Rights New Mexico](https://drnm.org/) (disability rights org)

## Frequently asked questions

### The New Mexico statute uses the words "reasonable accommodation." Why can't I quote it to my landlord?

Because of how the statute defines them. Section 28-1-2(V) describes modification of "the work environment, work schedule, work rules or job responsibilities" so that an employee can perform the essential functions of a job without undue hardship on the employer. The Human Rights Bureau's rule at 9.1.1.7(X) NMAC opens the same definition with "for employment purposes." The term is real New Mexico law; it is about a workplace, and quoting it in a housing dispute invites a one-line reply.

### So which provision does an Artesia housing request rest on?

42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B), the federal Fair Housing Act's requirement of reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where necessary for a person with a disability to use and enjoy a dwelling. Nothing in that provision mentions an employee, a job or an employer. Where money is involved, § 28-1-7(G)(2) of the New Mexico act runs alongside it, reaching discrimination in the terms, conditions or privileges of a rental.

### Artesia's median rent looks like one of the highest in New Mexico. Is it?

The number is not reliable enough to say so. The 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate reports $1,288 for Artesia with a margin of error of plus or minus $408, an interval running from under $900 to nearly $1,700. That is the best estimate available and it is far too wide to rank the city against Rio Rancho, Santa Fe or anywhere else. For budgeting, the $1,067 New Mexico median is the steadier figure.

### Can a landlord in Artesia charge pet rent for an emotional support animal?

New Mexico's code says nothing about it in either direction. A search of the whole laws and rules corpus returns no results for "pet deposit," "pet fee" or "pet rent," while the control term "security deposit" returns 530, so the silence is genuine rather than a failed search. There is no state fee bar to cite and no state permission for the landlord to cite. The charge is challenged as a term imposed because of a disability, under § 28-1-7(G)(2) and the federal act.

### How large a security deposit may an Artesia landlord take?

It turns on the length of the lease. Under § 47-8-18(A)(2), a rental agreement of a duration less than one year, month-to-month included, is capped at one month's rent. Under § 47-8-18(A)(1) an annual lease has no dollar cap, but a deposit above one month's rent obliges the owner to pay the resident yearly interest at the passbook rate. Both are limited by the word "reasonable" in § 47-8-18(A).

### Which housing authority serves Artesia?

The Eastern Regional Housing Authority, which covers Eddy County along with eleven other counties in the state's east and south-east. It publishes no website that could be opened and read for this page, so no public-housing link appears here rather than a guess at a substitute. Eddy County and Housing New Mexico are the reachable starting points, and New Mexico Legal Aid takes housing questions statewide.

### If I file a complaint, what evidence of disability will the state ask for?

9.1.1.8(F)(3) NMAC provides that where a disability or serious medical condition is alleged, the complainant must offer evidence of it during the investigation, and that the evidence "may be provided by the written certification of a physician or other appropriate medical authority." That is a rule about what the Human Rights Bureau wants once a complaint is open. It is not permission for a landlord to demand a diagnosis at the leasing counter.

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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-mexico-emotional-support-animal%2Fartesia