# ESA Letter in Watford City, ND: Treble Damages, Thirty Days

> Watford City rents more than anywhere in North Dakota. NDCC 47-16-07.1 gives a lessor thirty days to itemize and treble damages if they get it wrong.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 6,207
- Households renting: 70.7%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Excluded by 47-16-07.1(2)
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $40-$75/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The most renter-heavy city in North Dakota, and the priciest

Watford City has 1,859 renting households out of 2,629 occupied homes,
**70.7 percent** on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year
estimate. That is the highest renter share of North Dakota's twenty largest
cities, nearly double the 37.1 percent statewide figure, and three points
clear of New Town in second place.

Its median gross rent, **$1,336**, is also the highest reliable figure among
those twenty: ahead of Williston at $1,122 and West Fargo at $1,111, and
$382 above the $954 North Dakota median. The 2024 Census estimate puts the
city at 6,207 people, fourteenth in the state, with McKenzie County's own
offices in town.

Those two numbers describe one thing. This is a Bakken town whose housing
stock was built for a workforce: apartments rather than houses, arrivals
rather than families, and tenancies that are often measured in months.
Williston is the other Bakken city on this site, and it sits in Williams
County, not McKenzie, which matters the moment a tenant here goes looking
for the right courthouse.

A rental market shaped like that runs on deposits. So does the part of North
Dakota law that this page is about.

## The deposit your animal is not under

**NDCC 47-16-07.1(2)** does the excluding, and it does it by naming the animal rather than by
implication:

> "A lessor may charge a lessee a pet security deposit 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**. A pet security deposit may not exceed the greater of
> two thousand five hundred dollars or an amount equivalent to two months' rent."

An assistance animal supported by documentation under **NDCC 47-16-07.5** is
the animal that subsection describes as outside the charge. The pet deposit
is not reduced for it; it does not apply to it.

What still applies is the ordinary security deposit, capped by
**47-16-07.1(1)** at one month's rent, with two narrow exceptions that have
nothing to do with animals. At Watford City's median that ceiling is around
$1,336, and it is the money the rest of this page is about, because it is
the money a tenant has to get back.

## Thirty days, and what starts the clock

**NDCC 47-16-07.1(3)** sets the return process, and its deadline has two triggers rather than one:

> "Application of any portion of a security deposit not paid to the lessee upon termination of the
> lease must be **itemized** by the lessor. Such itemization together with the amount due must be
> delivered or mailed to the lessee **at the last address furnished lessor**, along with a written
> notice **within thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession by the
> lessee.** … A lessor is not required to pay interest on security deposits if the period of
> occupancy was **less than nine months** in duration."

Three practical points fall out of that paragraph, and all three are sharper here than they would
be in a town of long tenancies.

The clock runs from termination **and** delivery of possession — keeping the keys past the lease
end moves the date the lessor's thirty days start from.

The itemization goes to "the last address furnished lessor." In a town where people leave for
another state, a forwarding address is not a courtesy. It is the address the statute makes the
lessor mail to, and a tenant who never furnished one has made the deadline hard to enforce against.

And the interest rule cuts against short tenancies specifically: under nine
months of occupancy, no interest is owed on the deposit. Plenty of Watford
City tenancies land under that line.

## The remedy with teeth

**NDCC 47-16-07.1(4)** is one sentence, and it is the strongest deposit remedy in this corpus:

> "A lessor is liable for **treble damages** for any security deposit money **withheld without
> reasonable justification**."

Three times the amount wrongly kept. Not a fixed penalty and not a
proportion. A multiple of whatever was held back without a reason that holds
up.

**47-16-07.1(6)** adds that the section "applies to the state and to political subdivisions of the
state that lease real property or dwellings and require money as a security deposit," so a
publicly-owned unit is inside the same rule as a privately-owned one.

Put the two provisions together and the shape of a Watford City deposit
dispute is clear. A pet deposit taken for an assistance animal is money
47-16-07.1(2) says the lessor could not charge for that animal. Keeping it
at the end, or failing to itemize it inside thirty days, is where subsection
4 starts to matter.

## What treble damages will not reach

Being straight about this is more useful than overselling the remedy.

**47-16-07.1(3)(a)** lets a lessor apply the deposit toward "any damages the lessor has suffered by
reason of deteriorations or injuries to the real property or dwelling by the lessee's pet or
through the negligence of the lessee." Nothing in North Dakota law makes a tenant unaccountable for
damage an assistance animal actually did. The carve-out in subsection 2 removes the charge taken
**in advance**; it does not remove the repair bill afterwards.

Nor is subsection 4 a penalty for withholding a tenant disagrees with. Its test is whether the
money was kept "without reasonable justification," and a lessor holding a dated photograph of a
chewed door frame, with an itemized invoice mailed on day nine, has one. Treble damages answer an
empty explanation, not an unwelcome one.

## The paperwork that turns the statute into a remedy

Every element of 47-16-07.1(4) is proved with a piece of paper somebody kept.

The accommodation request, dated, in writing, with the documentation
attached. That is what shows the animal was inside subsection 2's exclusion
at the time the deposit was demanded.

The lease or ledger line showing what was charged and under what name. Subsection 1's phrase is
"security, however denominated," so what the charge was called matters less than what it was.

Move-in and move-out condition records, photographed. These decide the
damage argument, which is the argument the lessor will actually make.

The forwarding address, in writing, and the date possession was delivered.
Those two set the thirty-day clock and prove where it ran to.

The itemization itself if one arrives, and the absence of one if it does not.

That is a small file, and it is assembled during a tenancy rather than after
it. The document that does the most work in it is the first one, because it
is the only one a tenant cannot produce later.

## Getting that first document in McKenzie County

Begin with a clinician who already treats you. That relationship produces
the strongest version of the file and it is worth pursuing before anything
else.

The friction in western North Dakota is real and specific. Independent
practices are few out here, and the state's specialist mental-health
capacity is concentrated hundreds of miles away in Bismarck and Minot and in
the eastern cities. The regional community action office serving McKenzie
County is in Williston, not here. And a large share of this town's renters
arrived recently from somewhere else, which raises the question a Bakken
tenant asks more often than anyone: does a clinician back home count?

**NDCC 47-16-07.5 does not require a North Dakota provider.** Its only limit on the writer is the
statute's own phrase: documentation "may be provided by a physician or medical professional **who
does not operate in this state solely to provide certification for service or assistance
animals**." That clause is aimed at certificate operations, not at out-of-state licensure. A
licensed clinician in the state you moved from, conducting a real evaluation, is inside the
sentence.

Where no such clinician is available, a licensed evaluation is that
examination arranged on purpose: whether a disability exists, whether this
animal answers it, both findings recorded, or neither, said plainly. A
provider who has decided before the appointment is not evaluating anything,
and the document they sell is the one the statute's exclusion clause
describes.

Three times a wrongly withheld deposit is a real number in a town renting at
$1,336. It is only reachable by a tenant whose animal was never chargeable
in the first place.

## What Watford City 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 Watford City

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

- [City of Watford City](https://cityofwatfordcity.gov/) (city government)
- [McKenzie County](https://mckenziecountynd.gov/) (county government)
- [Community Action Dickinson, Williston office](https://dickinsoncap.org/contact-us/) (community action agency)
- [Mountrail-McKenzie Human Service Zone](https://www.hhs.nd.gov/service-locations/human-service/zones/mountrail) (state agency)
- [Legal Services of North Dakota](https://lsnd.org/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### A Watford City landlord charged me a pet deposit for my assistance animal. What does the statute say?

NDCC 47-16-07.1(2) allows a pet security deposit for 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 animal supported by documentation under NDCC 47-16-07.5 is the animal that subsection describes as outside the charge, so the deposit is not reduced for it. It does not apply. Getting it back is a security deposit question, which is where subsections 3 and 4 come in.

### How long does a lessor have to tell me what they kept?

Thirty days. NDCC 47-16-07.1(3) requires any portion of a deposit not returned to be itemized, and that itemization, the amount due and a written notice to be delivered or mailed to the lessee at the last address furnished, "within thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession by the lessee." Both events start the clock, so keeping the keys past the lease end moves the date the thirty days run from.

### What is a lessor liable for if they withhold my deposit without a good reason?

Treble damages. NDCC 47-16-07.1(4) reads: "A lessor is liable for treble damages for any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification." That is three times the amount wrongly kept rather than a fixed penalty, and NDCC 47-16-07.1(6) applies the same section to the state and to political subdivisions that lease dwellings and take deposits.

### Can my landlord still charge me for damage my assistance animal caused?

Yes. NDCC 47-16-07.1(3)(a) permits a lessor to apply the deposit toward damages suffered "by reason of deteriorations or injuries to the real property or dwelling by the lessee's pet or through the negligence of the lessee." The carve-out in subsection 2 removes the charge taken in advance; it does not remove a repair bill for damage that actually happened. A lessor with dated photographs and an itemized invoice has the reasonable justification subsection 4 asks about.

### I rented for seven months. Do I get interest on my deposit?

No. NDCC 47-16-07.1(1) requires the deposit to sit in a federally insured interest-bearing account for the tenant's benefit, but 47-16-07.1(3) provides that a lessor "is not required to pay interest on security deposits if the period of occupancy was less than nine months in duration." In a city where a large share of tenancies are short, that line applies often. The thirty-day itemization deadline and the treble damages provision are unaffected by it.

### I moved to McKenzie County from another state. Can a clinician back home write my documentation?

Nothing in NDCC 47-16-07.5 requires a North Dakota provider. Its only restriction on the writer is that documentation "may be provided by a physician or medical professional who does not operate in this state solely to provide certification for service or assistance animals": a clause aimed at certificate operations, not at out-of-state licensure. A licensed clinician elsewhere who conducts a genuine evaluation is inside the sentence, and the section sets no in-person visit requirement.

### Watford City rents higher than anywhere else in North Dakota. Does that affect the deposit rules?

It affects the arithmetic. The one-month ordinary cap in NDCC 47-16-07.1(1) is around $1,336 here, the pet cap for an animal that is genuinely a pet would be the greater of $2,500 or roughly $2,672, and the treble damages figure in subsection 4 scales with whatever was wrongly withheld. The provisions themselves read the same at any rent, including for tenants of publicly owned units under subsection 6.

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