# Freeport ESA Rules: Cash Deposits and Small Landlords

> Freeport village is 29.1% renters, mostly units in owner-occupied houses. How § 7-108 applies to informal deposits, and what an owner may ask about an animal.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/new-york-emotional-support-animal/freeport/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-07-29
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 44,028
- Households renting: 29.1%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): $0 for an assistance animal; other deposits capped at one month's rent, itemized within 14 days of the tenant vacating
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $0 for an assistance animal; an amount added to rent because of the animal is prohibited
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Apartments Inside Houses

Freeport village counted about 44,028 residents in the 2024 Census Bureau
estimate, and 29.1% of its households rent — below New York's 45.7% statewide
share, across roughly 4,000 renter households.

The rental stock is overwhelmingly small: a converted upstairs, a basement
apartment, an accessory unit behind a family home. Money moves informally in
that market. Deposits get handed over in cash, receipts are optional, and
nothing resembling an itemized statement appears at the end.

New York's deposit statute does not care about any of that. It applies to a
basement apartment let on a handshake exactly as it applies to a managed
building, and it carries consequences a landlord who has never read it will
not expect.

## § 7-108 Applies to Handshake Tenancies

General Obligations Law § 7-108 governs every residential deposit in the
state, however it was collected.

One month's rent is the most a landlord may take as a deposit or advance.
Within fourteen days after the tenant vacates, the landlord must provide an
itemized statement indicating the basis for any amount retained and return
the balance. A landlord who misses that deadline forfeits the right to
retain any part of the deposit. Notice of any proposed deductions, and a
chance to put the problem right, are also due before the lease ends. And a
person found to have willfully violated the subdivision is liable for
punitive damages of up to twice the deposit, in addition to actual damages.

For a Freeport tenant who paid two months in cash and heard nothing at
move-out, that is two separate failures — the amount and the statement — each
with its own consequence.

## Which Makes the Animal Question Simpler

Once an accommodation is approved, no part of the deposit may be attributed
to the animal at all. State assistance-animal guidance provides that a
landlord cannot impose extra charges because a tenant has an assistance
animal, and that a pet deposit or a required insurance policy is prohibited
even where the landlord allows pets and charges other tenants for them.

Where the animal causes damage, the guidance sets a comparison. A deduction
from the deposit for damage an assistance animal caused stands only where a
tenant without an assistance animal would have been penalized identically for
doing the same damage. Ordinary wear is not animal damage, and a
deduction that would not have been taken from another tenant does not survive
that test.

## Species and the Statute

There is no species test in New York. State guidance accepts any type of
animal as an assistance animal where it alleviates a limitation associated
with a disability, subject to a reasonableness requirement, and notes that in
most circumstances cats and dogs cannot be forbidden. In a converted upstairs
flat the practical question is usually about noise and space rather than
about the kind of animal, and those are matters the tenant's own obligations
already address.

## Renting From a Homeowner

Owners who let one unit sometimes assume the accommodation rules are aimed
at apartment companies. Executive Law § 296 sets no threshold of that kind.
Refusing a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or
services is discriminatory wherever that accommodation may be necessary for
a person with a disability to use and enjoy a dwelling — and the section
names the use of an animal to alleviate symptoms or effects of a disability.

Nor does sharing the property change the standard. State guidance's route to
limiting an animal is a serious and present health or safety concern, judged
on the specific animal, and it notes that in most circumstances landlords
cannot forbid cats or dogs. Living upstairs is a circumstance, not a finding.

## What an Owner May Reasonably Ask

Information confirming that the tenant is disabled and that the animal
relieves the effects of that disability, and nothing beyond what is necessary
for that determination.

State guidance is deliberately practical about the source: the documentation
does not need to come from the tenant's physician, and a letter from a
service provider or therapist explaining the need for the assistance animal
may be sufficient. No certification or training may be required, because
fair-housing law imposes neither on an assistance animal, and New York issues
no ESA credentials to produce.

## Notice Before the Deductions

One provision of § 7-108 is easy to overlook and useful in a small-landlord
tenancy: the landlord must give notice of proposed deductions and an
opportunity to cure before the lease ends, not merely account for them
afterward.

For a tenant that means a deduction sprung at move-out, with no earlier
mention, is procedurally weak on its own terms — separately from whether the
underlying charge was fair. And where an assistance animal is involved, a
deduction is permitted only where a tenant without one would face the same
penalty for the same damage.

## Keep the Exchange in Writing

In a market this informal, the useful discipline is documentary rather than
adversarial. A short written request, the supporting letter, and whatever
reply comes back will settle most disputes without anyone filing anything —
and if a filing becomes necessary, that exchange is the case.

The same applies to the money. Note what was paid and when, ask for a receipt
at the time, and diarize the fourteenth day after vacating. A statement that
never arrives is not an oversight in New York; it is a forfeiture.

## Two Animals in a Small Unit

Small converted apartments prompt landlords to treat a second animal as
self-evidently unreasonable. The guidance does not work that way. Where the
symptoms associated with a disability require more than one animal, and each
animal is documented as easing those symptoms, a tenant may keep more than
one.

Size of the unit is not the criterion; the documented need for each animal
is, subject to the same narrow health-and-safety limit that applies to a
single animal.

## The Animal Stays Inside

Approval covers the home and nothing further. Civil Rights Law § 47-b
reserves guide, hearing and service dog status for dogs trained to aid a
person with a disability, and an emotional support animal does not meet that
description.

Freeport tenants sometimes hear this raised as though it undercuts the
housing request, usually in the form of a landlord pointing out that the
animal has no rights at a shop or on public transport. Both statements can be
true at once: no public access, and a protected accommodation at home under
§ 296.

## Filing and Local Help

Complaints go to the New York State Division of Human Rights, reachable at
(844) 697-3471 or through an online form, at no cost and without an attorney.
Under Executive Law § 297(5) the period is three years from the alleged
unlawful discriminatory practice, applied by the Division to conduct on or
after February 15, 2024.

Legal Services of Long Island provides free civil legal help across Nassau
and the wider region for people who qualify, Long Island Housing Services
works on fair housing, and Disability Rights New York advocates statewide for
people with disabilities.

A deposit claim and an accommodation complaint are different matters with
different forums, and a Freeport tenant may well have both. See [what a landlord can and cannot do](/blog/articles/can-landlord-deny-emotional-support-animal/) for the way a refusal gets
weighed, and the [New York ESA law overview](/blog/new-york-emotional-support-animal/) for the statewide picture.

## What Freeport landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or services where it may be necessary for a person with a disability to use and enjoy a dwelling, and Executive Law § 296 names the use of an animal as such an accommodation
- Cannot apply a no-pets policy to a documented assistance animal, according to New York State Homes and Community Renewal's assistance-animal guidance
- Cannot impose extra charges because a tenant has an assistance animal, including a pet deposit or a requirement to carry insurance, even in a building that charges pet fees to other tenants
- Cannot require that the animal hold a certificate or complete training, since fair-housing law imposes no training requirement on an assistance animal
- Cannot refuse the request because another tenant has allergies, though it may relocate a tenant and the animal where a health risk to others is proven
- Cannot collect a security deposit larger than one month's rent, or keep any of it without an itemized statement within fourteen days of the tenant vacating

**Can:**
- May request documentation confirming the disability and that the animal eases its symptoms, which need not come from a physician — a letter from a therapist or service provider may suffice
- May limit an animal where there is a serious and present health or safety concern, although guidance states that in most circumstances cats and dogs cannot be forbidden
- May hold the tenant responsible for damage the animal causes, but only on the same terms applied to a tenant without an assistance animal who caused the same damage
- May expect the tenant to feed, groom, and house-train the animal and to keep it from becoming a nuisance or injuring other tenants

## How to get an ESA letter in Freeport

1. **Check that you qualify** — Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Freeport. 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 York 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. (95% of applicants qualify)
4. **Receive your signed letter** — Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number — the documentation New York 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 Freeport. (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 Freeport

- [Legal Services of Long Island](https://www.nslawservices.org/) (legal aid)
- [Long Island Housing Services](https://www.lifairhousing.org/) (tenant advocacy)
- [New York State Division of Human Rights — file a report](https://dhr.ny.gov/complaint) (government)
- [Disability Rights New York](https://www.drny.org/) (advocacy)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Freeport landlord took a deposit in cash with no receipt. What are the rules?

General Obligations Law § 7-108 applies regardless of how the money changed hands. A deposit or advance may not exceed one month's rent, an itemized statement of anything retained plus the balance is due within fourteen days after the tenant vacates, and a landlord who misses that deadline forfeits the right to keep any part of it.

### What happens if the landlord never sends an itemized statement?

Missing the fourteen-day deadline forfeits the right to retain any part of the deposit. A willful violation of the section exposes the landlord to punitive damages of up to twice the deposit in addition to actual damages, which makes the paperwork failure itself worth documenting at move-out.

### Can a deposit be increased because I have an assistance animal?

No. State assistance-animal guidance says a landlord cannot impose extra charges because a tenant has an assistance animal, including a pet deposit or a requirement to carry insurance. Where damage occurs, a deduction is permitted only if the same penalty would apply to a tenant without an assistance animal for the same damage.

### Does renting from a homeowner change the accommodation rules?

No. Executive Law § 296 makes refusing a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or services discriminatory where it may be necessary for a person with a disability to use and enjoy a dwelling, and it names the use of an animal. The duty follows the letting rather than the size of the landlord.

### What documentation should I give a small Freeport landlord?

Enough to confirm the disability and that the animal eases its effects, and no more. State guidance is explicit that documentation need not come from a physician, and that a letter from a service provider or therapist explaining the need may be sufficient for that purpose.

### Who helps Nassau County renters with a deposit dispute?

Legal Services of Long Island provides free civil legal help in the region for people who qualify, and Long Island Housing Services works on fair housing. A discrimination complaint is separate and goes to the New York State Division of Human Rights within the three-year period in Executive Law § 297(5).

### Can a landlord refuse my animal because the house is their home too?

State guidance permits limiting an animal where there is a serious and present health or safety concern, and notes that in most circumstances landlords cannot forbid cats or dogs. Sharing a building is not itself that finding, though it often makes an honest conversation about the animal's behavior more productive.

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Get evaluated by a licensed provider: https://my.supportanimal.com/qualify?sa_source=blog&sa_medium=referral&sa_campaign=esa-guides&sa_content=markdown&ref=blog&sa_term=new-york-emotional-support-animal%2Ffreeport