# ESA Letter in Bismarck, ND: The Chapter That Says Repealed

> A Bismarck ESA letter that cites NDCC 14-02.4 cites a repealed chapter. The housing right is in ch. 14-02.5, and the difference is visible on the page.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 77,772
- Households renting: 34.5%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Carved out by name
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $30-$50/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The capital rents least of the big four

Bismarck has 33,130 occupied homes and **11,438** of them are rented, **34.5
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate.
Statewide the figure is 37.1 percent, and among the twenty largest cities
only Mandan, at 31.0 percent, sits lower. The 2024 Census estimate puts the
city at **77,772**, second in North Dakota.

Median gross rent here is **$999** against **$954** statewide: the state
median sits forty-five dollars below what Bismarck charges, which is a
smaller gap than the capital's reputation suggests and a reminder that North
Dakota's dear rents are in the west.

Mandan is a separate city with its own council, on the other side of the
Missouri River in **Morton County**, while Bismarck is in **Burleigh**. The
two are frequently written about as though they were one place. They are
not, and a tenant who calls the wrong county's housing authority loses a
week.

Bismarck is also where the **North Dakota Department of Labor and Human
Rights** sits, on East Boulevard Avenue. That is the agency that takes a
housing discrimination complaint in this state, which makes it worth knowing
which law it administers, because the chapter most search results will hand
you is not it.

## A citation that lands on one word

Search for North Dakota housing discrimination law and the North Dakota
Human Rights Act, NDCC ch. 14-02.4, comes up. Open the chapter and three of
its section headings read like this:

> "**14-02.4-12. Discriminatory housing practices by owner or agent.** Repealed by S.L. 1999, ch.
> 134, § 4.
> **14-02.4-12.1. Discriminatory housing practices.** Repealed by S.L. 2001, ch. 145, § 14.
> **14-02.4-13. Discriminatory housing practice by financial institution or lender.** Repealed by
> S.L. 1999, ch. 134, § 4."

Nothing under the headings. The housing provisions of that Act were taken out in 1999 and 2001,
and what remains in their place is the word "Repealed" and a session law reference.

This is the single most expensive mistake available on a North Dakota accommodation request,
because the Act still *announces* housing. Its policy section says the purpose is to prevent
discrimination "in employment relations, public accommodations, housing, state and local
government services, and credit transactions." Secondary write-ups pick that sentence up and cite
the chapter for housing. The sections it would need are gone.

## Two more tells, if the repeal notes were not enough

The Human Rights Act carries its own definition of "discriminatory practice," and it is drawn by
listing what the discrimination has to touch: "employment, labor union membership, public
accommodations, public services, or credit transactions." Housing is absent from the list.

Then its definition of "Reasonable accommodations" (the phrase an assistance animal request
turns on), describes accommodations **by an employer**, measured against disruption to
operations, business necessity and undue hardship. It is an employment standard. Applied to a
Bismarck apartment it produces the wrong test, and a landlord's adviser will say so.

## Where the right actually lives

**NDCC ch. 14-02.5, the Housing Discrimination Act**, is the operative chapter, and its
disability section carries the duty in plain terms. NDCC 14-02.5-06(3)(b) provides that
discrimination includes:

> "A refusal to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or services if the
> accommodation may be necessary to afford the individual equal opportunity to use and enjoy a
> dwelling."

That is the state twin of the federal duty at 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B), and
it is what a no-pets policy has to bend around.

The definition that goes with it is **NDCC 14-02.5-01(6)**: a disability is "a mental or physical
impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity, a record of this
impairment, or being regarded as having this impairment," excluding current illegal drug use.
Note that the housing chapter keeps the "regarded as" branch without attaching conditions to it.
Kansas, for one, withholds accommodations from that branch by statute. North Dakota's housing
definition does not.

Chapter 14-02.5 does borrow from the older Act where it needs to: 14-02.5-01 allows the
definitions in 14-02.4-02 to "supplement" its own. Borrowing a definition is not the same as
living in that chapter, and the accommodation duty is not borrowed. It is written out in
14-02.5-06.

## The clock, from the department down the road

The Department of Labor and Human Rights states the deadline on its housing page in its own
words: a complaint must be filed "no later than one year from the 'last date of harm': the date
you believe the most recent discriminatory event occurred." That matches the statute. **NDCC
14-02.5-18(1)** requires a complaint "on or before the first anniversary of the date the alleged
discriminatory housing practice occurs or terminates, whichever is later."

One year. The 180-day and 300-day periods that turn up in searches are
**NDCC 14-02.4-19**, and they belong to the chapter whose housing sections
were repealed. Reading a deadline off the wrong chapter costs the complaint,
not the argument.

There is a second door, and it is not downstream of the first. **NDCC 14-02.5-39** allows a civil
action in district court within **two years** of the occurrence or termination of the practice,
pauses that period while an administrative hearing is pending, and lets an aggrieved person file
"whether a complaint has been filed under section 14-02.5-18 and without regard to the status" of
one. No exhaustion requirement. Court also has punitive damages available under 14-02.5-41, which
the administrative track does not.

## What the department publishes, and what it does not

The department's housing pages set out who may complain, the one-year limit,
and what happens after filing: contact within thirty days, then
jurisdiction, then an investigator. They do not discuss assistance animals
in either direction. That is not a gap you should read anything into. North
Dakota's animal rules were put in the Century Code rather than in agency
guidance, which is why every citation on this page is to a statute.

## Citing the live chapter

Two things go into a Bismarck accommodation request, and only one of them is
a citation.

The citation is easy now: **NDCC 14-02.5-06(3)(b)** for the duty, **NDCC
47-16-07.1(2)** for the pet deposit, **NDCC 47-16-07.5** for what
documentation may be demanded, and 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) behind all
three. A request built on 14-02.4 tells the person reading it that nobody
checked.

The other half is the documentation itself, and no amount of correct
citation substitutes for it. NDCC 47-16-07.5 wants a physician or medical
professional to confirm the disability and the relationship between that
disability and the need for this animal. If a clinician already treats you,
ask them: Bismarck holds a real share of North Dakota's specialist capacity,
so the waits in this city are shorter than in the rural west, though a
practice that has seen you once may still decline to write a determination.

Where there is no such clinician, a licensed evaluation is the route that
produces the same two findings on purpose: an assessment, then a document
recording what the assessment concluded, including when it concludes against
the request. A certificate bought without any of that is worth nothing under
47-16-07.5 and is the conduct NDCC 47-16-07.6 makes an infraction.

Get the chapter right and get the file right. In Bismarck the first one is a
matter of reading the code carefully; the second is a matter of somebody
having examined you.

## What Bismarck landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where the accommodation may be necessary to afford an individual with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling: NDCC 14-02.5-06(3)(b).
- May not discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental, or in the services and facilities provided with it: NDCC 14-02.5-06(2).
- May not charge a pet security deposit for a service animal or companion animal required by a tenant with a disability as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws, NDCC 47-16-07.1(2) excludes that animal by name.
- May not demand or receive security, however denominated, in excess of one month's rent, except for a felony-conviction incentive or where a judgment has been entered for violating a previous rental agreement: NDCC 47-16-07.1(1).
- May not require that the documentation come from a North Dakota clinician. The statute excludes a provider who operates in this state solely to provide certification for service or assistance animals; it does not require an in-state one, NDCC 47-16-07.5.
- May not claim the thousand-dollar damage fee or the eviction right in NDCC 47-16-07.6(2) on suspicion alone. Both arise only if the tenant pleads guilty to or is convicted of the subsection 1 infraction.

**Can:**
- May require reliable supporting documentation where the dwelling is subject to a no-pets policy (but not where the disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already known), NDCC 47-16-07.5.
- Must itemize any part of a deposit kept and deliver or mail it within thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession, and is liable for treble damages for money withheld without reasonable justification, NDCC 47-16-07.1(3)–(4).
- May still apply the deposit to damage actually caused by an animal or by the tenant's negligence, NDCC 47-16-07.1(3)(a). The carve-out removes the charge in advance, not the bill for real damage.
- May decline where the tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of others or would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others, NDCC 14-02.5-06(6).
- Is outside the state accommodation duty only in the narrow cases NDCC 14-02.5-09 describes: an owner-occupied dwelling of not more than four families, or a single-family house let by an owner of no more than three, without a broker, once in twenty-four months. The federal Fair Housing Act and chapter 47-16 are unaffected by that exemption.

## How to get an ESA letter in Bismarck

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

- [City of Bismarck](https://www.bismarcknd.gov/) (city government)
- [ND Department of Labor and Human Rights, Housing](https://www.nd.gov/labor/human-rights/housing) (fair housing)
- [Burleigh County](https://www.burleigh.gov/) (county government)
- [Burleigh County Housing Authority](https://www.burleigh.gov/boards/housing-authority/) (local housing authority)
- [CAP Region VII (Bismarck)](https://www.capnd.org/programsandinitiatives/regions/bismarck/) (community action agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### I found NDCC 14-02.4 online. Why will it not help my Bismarck request?

Because its housing sections no longer exist. Open the chapter and 14-02.4-12, 14-02.4-12.1 and 14-02.4-13 print as headings followed by the word "Repealed" and a session law reference, S.L. 1999 ch. 134 § 4 and S.L. 2001 ch. 145 § 14. The chapter still announces housing in its statement of policy, which is why search results keep pointing at it, but the operative sections were taken out.

### Which chapter should the request cite instead?

NDCC ch. 14-02.5, the Housing Discrimination Act. The duty is at 14-02.5-06(3)(b): discrimination includes "a refusal to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices, or services if the accommodation may be necessary to afford the individual equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling." Pair it with NDCC 47-16-07.1(2) for the pet deposit, NDCC 47-16-07.5 for documentation, and 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B) behind all three.

### Does the Human Rights Act's definition of reasonable accommodation apply to my apartment?

No, and this is the second tell that the chapter is the wrong one. NDCC 14-02.4-02(17) defines "reasonable accommodations" as accommodations by an employer, judged against disruption to operations, business necessity and undue hardship. Those are workplace tests. Applied to a rental they produce the wrong question, and the housing standard is the one written into 14-02.5-06 instead.

### How long do I have to file with the department here in Bismarck?

One year. NDCC 14-02.5-18(1) requires a complaint "on or before the first anniversary of the date the alleged discriminatory housing practice occurs or terminates, whichever is later," and the department states the same limit on its housing page as one year from the "last date of harm." The 180-day and 300-day figures that appear in searches come from NDCC 14-02.4-19, which governs the chapter whose housing sections were repealed.

### Do I have to go through the department before I can sue?

No. NDCC 14-02.5-39 lets an aggrieved person bring a civil action in district court within two years of the occurrence or termination of the practice, and subsection 3 allows it "whether a complaint has been filed under section 14-02.5-18 and without regard to the status" of one. The two-year period is paused while an administrative hearing is pending. The agency route and the court route are alternatives, and punitive damages are available in court under 14-02.5-41 but are not listed in the administrative relief provision.

### Does the Department of Labor and Human Rights publish rules about assistance animals?

Its housing material sets out who may complain, the one-year limit and what follows a filing, and it does not address assistance animals either way. Nor does the North Dakota Administrative Code: Title 46's only housing article is Housing for Older Persons. North Dakota put its animal rules in the Century Code rather than in agency guidance, which is why the citations that matter here are statutory ones.

### Bismarck and Mandan look like one city. Does it matter which one I rent in?

Not for the statutes, NDCC ch. 14-02.5 and ch. 47-16 are state law and apply identically on both banks of the Missouri. It matters for everything local. Bismarck is in Burleigh County, Mandan is a separate city in Morton County with its own government, and the county offices, housing authority and human service zone you deal with differ accordingly. A request sent to the wrong county's housing authority simply waits.

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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=north-dakota-emotional-support-animal%2Fbismarck