# ESA Letter in Mandan, ND: The Fourplex Where Half Stops

> An owner-occupied fourplex switches off NDCC 14-02.5-06 in Mandan. It does not switch off chapter 47-16, and that asymmetry decides an ESA letter's value.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 24,788
- Households renting: 31%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Carve-out survives exemption
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Argued via 14-02.5-06(2)
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Morton County, and the least renter-heavy city of the twenty

Mandan has 3,241 renting households out of 10,465 occupied homes. At **31.0
percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate that
is the **lowest reliable renter share** among North Dakota's twenty largest
cities, below Bismarck's 34.5 percent across the river, and six points under
the 37.1 percent statewide figure. Median gross rent is **$1,083**,
fourth-highest of the reliable figures in the state. The 2024 Census
estimate gives Mandan 24,788 people, eighth in North Dakota.

Two things follow that are easy to get wrong.

The first is jurisdictional. Mandan is in **Morton County**; Bismarck is in
**Burleigh**. They face each other across the Missouri and they are separate
municipalities with separate governments. A Mandan lease is not administered
by anything in Bismarck.

The second is the subject of this page. In a city where fewer than a third
of households rent, a larger share of the renting that does happen sits in
small buildings whose owner is on site. North Dakota has an exemption
written for precisely that building, and it is stranger than it looks.

## The exemption, as printed

**NDCC 14-02.5-09(2)**:

> "Section 14-02.5-02 and sections **14-02.5-04 through 14-02.5-08** do not apply to the sale or
> rental of the rooms or units in a dwelling containing living quarters occupied by or intended to
> be occupied by **not more than four families** living independently of each other, **if the owner
> maintains and occupies one of the living quarters as the owner's residence**."

Two conditions. Four families or fewer. Owner lives in one of the units.
Meet both and a run of the Housing Discrimination Act stops applying to that
building.

## Count the sections in the range

This is the part people skim, and it is the part that matters.

The range is "section 14-02.5-02 and sections 14-02.5-04 through 14-02.5-08." Walk it: 02, then 04,
05, **06**, 07, 08.

**14-02.5-06 is the disability section.** It is the one that contains subsection (3)(b), "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 North Dakota's state-law version of the federal accommodation duty, and inside a
genuinely exempt owner-occupied fourplex it is switched off.

Notice also what the range skips. It starts at 02, jumps to 04, and never
picks up **14-02.5-03**, the advertising section. An exempt owner may be
outside the disability section and still inside the rules about what a
listing may say.

So: a tenant in a qualifying Mandan fourplex has no **state**
reasonable-accommodation claim under chapter 14-02.5. That is the honest
starting point, and pages that pretend otherwise are doing nobody a favour.

## The half that does not switch off

Now the asymmetry, which is the whole reason this page exists.

**Chapter 47-16 is not part of chapter 14-02.5.** It is a different chapter of a different title,
Leasing of Real Property, not the Housing Discrimination Act. NDCC 14-02.5-09 exempts sections of
its own chapter. It has no words that reach chapter 47-16 and it does not try.

Which means both of these survive inside the exempt fourplex:

**NDCC 47-16-07.1(2)**, the deposit carve-out. A pet security deposit is available "for keeping an
animal that is not a service animal or companion animal required by a tenant with a disability as a
reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws." An owner-occupied fourplex is still subject to
the deposit rules of chapter 47-16, and the accommodation animal is still the animal that
subsection excludes.

**NDCC 47-16-07.5**, the documentation rule. What a landlord may require, and who may write it,
does not change because the landlord lives downstairs. The section still describes documentation
from a physician or medical professional, still excludes an operation that exists in this state
solely to certify animals, and still requires confirmation of the disability **and** the
relationship between the disability and the need.

Half the law goes quiet. The half that governs the paperwork and the money
does not.

## And the federal statute is a separate question again

The federal Fair Housing Act has its own exemptions, drawn differently, with
their own conditions and their own advertising rule. Whether a particular
Mandan building is exempt under state law settles nothing about its federal
position, because the two exemptions are not copies of each other. Treat
them as two questions, asked separately.

## The other exemption is a different animal entirely

**NDCC 14-02.5-09(1)** is the one people merge with subsection 2, and it is not close.

It covers a **single-family house** sold or rented by an owner who owns no
more than **three** of them, without a broker, agent or realtor, and without
any notice or advertisement prohibited by 14-02.5-03. It runs to only **one
sale or rental in a twenty-four-month period** where the owner was not the
house's most recent resident. And anyone who owns a dwelling designed or
occupied for five or more families is "in the business" under the section's
own test and cannot use it at all.

One house, three-house limit, no broker, one transaction every two years.
Four families, owner-resident. Different buildings, different thresholds,
different section ranges. They are neighbours in the code and nothing else.

## The exemptions that are not about disability at all

Chapter 14-02.5 carries two more, and neither does what a tenant with an
assistance animal might fear.

**NDCC 14-02.5-10** covers religious organisations, private clubs and appraisal. **NDCC
14-02.5-11** covers housing for older persons: broadly, a development where 80 percent of units
have an occupant aged 55 or over, or where every occupant is 62 or over. That second one is worth
being precise about, because a Mandan senior building will sometimes be described as "exempt" in
general terms. It is exempt from the **familial status and age** provisions. It is not exempt from
the disability provisions, and nothing in the section makes it so.

Age-restricted housing in Morton County is bound by 14-02.5-06 like any
other building, on top of chapter 47-16, which was never in question.

## What this actually means for a request in Mandan

If your building is a fourplex or smaller and the owner lives in it, ask the
question early rather than after a refusal, because the answer changes which
law you are standing on.

Either way the documentation carries the same weight. In an ordinary Mandan
building it supports an accommodation request under 14-02.5-06(3)(b), backed
by the deposit carve-out. In the exempt fourplex, chapter 47-16 is what
remains, and chapter 47-16 is the half that asks for a physician or medical
professional, two findings, and no certificate.

## The findings, and where they come from

Start with a clinician who treats you. That is the cheapest route, the
strongest one, and the one worth exhausting before anything else.

Its friction in Morton County is straightforward: much of the region's
specialist mental-health capacity sits across the river in Bismarck rather
than in Mandan itself, waits for a first appointment run long, and a
professional seeing you for something else may reasonably decline to make a
disability determination they have not done the work to support. A refusal
there is not a verdict on you.

Where the route is closed, a licensed evaluation does the work deliberately:
a licensed professional assesses whether a disability exists, assesses
whether this animal answers a need it creates, and records both, or declines
and says so. Both endings happen, which is exactly why the document means
something when the answer is yes.

An exemption can take a chapter away from you. It cannot take away the
finding, and in the building where half the law stops, the finding is the
half you still have.

## What Mandan 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 Mandan

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

- [City of Mandan](https://www.cityofmandan.com/) (city government)
- [Morton County](https://www.mortonnd.gov/) (county government)
- [Community Action Partnership Region VII (Bismarck)](https://www.capnd.org/programsandinitiatives/regions/bismarck/) (community action agency)
- [Protection & Advocacy Project](https://www.ndpanda.org/) (disability rights org)
- [High Plains Fair Housing Center](https://www.highplainsfhc.org/) (fair housing nonprofit)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Mandan landlord lives in the building. Do I lose the accommodation right?

Possibly the state one, and only if both conditions in NDCC 14-02.5-09(2) are met: the dwelling is occupied or intended for not more than four families living independently, and the owner maintains and occupies one of those living quarters as a residence. Where both are true, the exempt range covers sections 14-02.5-04 through 14-02.5-08, which includes 14-02.5-06, the disability section. Where either is false, the exemption does not apply at all.

### How many units before the exemption stops working?

The threshold in subsection 2 is "not more than four families living independently of each other." A fifth unit takes the building outside it. The owner-occupancy condition is separate and equally necessary: an absentee owner of a fourplex does not qualify, because the subsection requires the owner to maintain and occupy one of the living quarters as the owner's residence.

### Does the exemption also switch off the pet deposit rule?

No, and this is the part that matters most. NDCC 14-02.5-09 exempts sections of chapter 14-02.5 only. The pet security deposit carve-out lives in NDCC 47-16-07.1(2), in a different chapter of a different title, and nothing in 14-02.5-09 reaches it. An exempt owner-occupied fourplex in Mandan is still subject to chapter 47-16, so a pet security deposit still may not attach to an animal required as a reasonable accommodation.

### Can an exempt landlord ask for whatever documentation he likes?

No. NDCC 47-16-07.5 is also outside chapter 14-02.5 and also survives the exemption. It sets the same terms in an owner-occupied fourplex as anywhere else: a physician or medical professional, not an operation existing in this state solely to certify animals, confirming the disability and the relationship between the disability and the need. It also still bars a demand for documentation where the disability or the need is readily apparent or already known.

### Is the single-family exemption the same thing?

It is a separate provision with different thresholds, and merging the two is the standard error. NDCC 14-02.5-09(1) covers a single-family house rented by an owner of not more than three such houses, without a broker, agent or realtor, and without advertising prohibited by 14-02.5-03. It applies to only one sale or rental in a twenty-four-month period where the owner was not the most recent resident, and an owner of any dwelling for five or more families is "in the business" and cannot use it.

### Does the owner-occupied exemption cover advertising too?

It does not. Read the range in subsection 2 precisely: "Section 14-02.5-02 and sections 14-02.5-04 through 14-02.5-08." It names 02, then skips to 04, and never picks up 14-02.5-03, the advertising section. So an owner who is genuinely exempt from the disability section is still bound by the rules about what a listing may say.

### Bismarck is across the river. Does its city government matter to my Mandan lease?

No. Mandan is a municipality in Morton County with its own government at 205 Second Avenue NW; Bismarck is a separate municipality in Burleigh County. The two are written about as one place often enough that tenants call the wrong county. State law is the same on both banks, chapters 14-02.5 and 47-16 apply statewide, but county offices, county records and local services are not shared.

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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%2Fmandan