# ESA Letter in West Fargo, ND: Which Cap Is the Bigger One

> West Fargo rents high for North Dakota, and NDCC 47-16-07.1 sets three deposit caps. The pet cap is the largest of them — and the one an ESA sits outside.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 41,027
- Households renting: 35.6%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Pet deposit does not apply
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $35-$60/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## A separate city, and a hundred and sixty-five dollars

West Fargo is not a Fargo neighbourhood. It is a separate municipality with
its own city government, its own city hall, its own ZIP code and its own
website, sharing Cass County with the larger city next door and not much
else administratively. Confusing the two is how a tenant ends up emailing
the wrong government about a rental complaint.

The 2024 Census estimate puts West Fargo at **41,027** people, fifth in
North Dakota. It rents 5,636 of its 15,841 occupied homes, **35.6 percent**
on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, below the
37.1 percent statewide share.

The number that makes this city unusual is the rent. Median gross rent in
West Fargo is **$1,111**: the third-highest of North Dakota's twenty largest
cities, behind only Watford City at $1,336 and Williston at $1,122, both
Bakken towns far out west. Fargo, on the other side of the city line, is
**$946**: a hundred and sixty-five dollars less, for a market the two cities
effectively share. The statewide median is **$954**.

So a West Fargo tenant reading about deposit limits is reading them against
a bigger number than almost anyone else in the state. That makes it worth
getting the limits the right way round, because North Dakota has three of
them in one section and the biggest one is not where people expect it.

## Three caps in NDCC 47-16-07.1

Subsection 1 sets the general rule:

> "A lessor may not demand or receive security, however denominated, in an amount or value **in
> excess of one month's rent**, except:
> a. A lessor may accept an amount or value **up to two month's rent**, as security, from an
> individual convicted of a felony offense as an incentive to rent the property to the
> individual.
> b. A lessor may demand an amount or value **up to two months rent**, as security, from an
> individual who has had a judgment entered against that individual for violating the terms of a
> previous rental agreement."

Subsection 2 sets a different one:

> "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.**"

Lay the three side by side.

- **General security deposit: one month's rent.** That is the default and it covers most tenants.
- **Security deposit in two named situations: up to two months' rent.** A felony-conviction
  incentive, or a prior judgment for breaching a rental agreement. Nothing else opens it.
- **Pet security deposit: the greater of $2,500 or two months' rent.**

## The arithmetic that runs the wrong way

Almost every summary of North Dakota deposit law that gets this wrong makes
the same mistake: it assumes the pet number must be the small one, because a
pet is an extra rather than the main event. It is the other way round. The
pet cap is the largest of the three figures in the section, and it is
written as "the **greater** of," not the lesser.

Try it at West Fargo's median rent. Two months of $1,111 is a little over
$2,200, which is less than $2,500, so at a typical West Fargo rent the
operative pet ceiling is the flat **$2,500**, more than double the one-month
general cap on the same unit. It is only above roughly $1,250 a month that
the two-month figure overtakes the flat sum and becomes the ceiling instead.

Two consequences follow. A tenant who reads the pet cap as the smaller
number will accept a charge the statute never authorised, and a tenant who
reads the general cap as two months will hand over an extra month for no
reason. Both errors are common and both are expensive at West Fargo rents.

## The cap your animal is not under

None of the pet arithmetic applies to an assistance animal, and the reason
is in the first sentence of subsection 2 rather than in the ceiling.

The permission to charge a pet security deposit exists "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 animal required as an accommodation is outside the
permission entirely, so there is no pet deposit to cap. The $2,500 figure is a limit on a charge
that does not arise.

What does still apply is subsection 1. A tenant with an assistance animal is
a tenant, and the ordinary one-month security deposit is lawful against them
like anyone else. Being right about subsection 2 does not make a West Fargo
deposit disappear; it makes the second, animal-shaped deposit disappear.

## Thirty days, and treble damages

The same section has the part tenants forget until they move out. Where a lessor keeps any of the
deposit, subsection 3 requires the application to be itemized, and the itemization and the amount
due to be delivered or mailed to the tenant's last furnished address "**within thirty days after
termination of the lease and delivery of possession by the lessee**."

Then subsection 4:

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

Three times the money. That is a stronger remedy than most states in this
corpus provide, and it is what makes the thirty-day itemization worth
chasing rather than shrugging at.

Subsection 3(a) is the honest limit on it. A lessor may apply the deposit to damage caused by
"the lessee's pet or through the negligence of the lessee." Nothing about an assistance animal
makes real damage somebody else's bill. The carve-out in subsection 2 is about money taken in
advance.

## The charge this section does not reach

NDCC 47-16-07.1 is a security deposit statute, security "however denominated." A monthly pet
rent is not security held for the tenant in an interest-bearing account; it is a recurring term
of the tenancy, and this section does not name it.

The provision that reaches a monthly charge attached to an assistance animal is **NDCC
14-02.5-06(2)**, which bars discrimination against an individual "in the terms, conditions, or
privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling," together with 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B). Making that
argument takes more than pointing at a clause, and a request that treats the two as
interchangeable will be corrected by the other side.

## What puts you inside subsection 2's exclusion

Everything above turns on being "a tenant with a disability" whose animal is "required … as a
reasonable accommodation." North Dakota says at **NDCC 47-16-07.5** how that gets shown: reliable
supporting documentation from "a physician or medical professional," confirming "the tenant's
disability and the relationship between the tenant's disability and the need for the requested
accommodation."

The cheapest way to satisfy it is a clinician who already treats you, and
West Fargo sits inside the Fargo metropolitan area, which holds more of
North Dakota's mental-health capacity than anywhere else in the state. The
waits here are genuinely shorter than in the rural counties. Shorter is not
short, and availability is not the only obstacle: a practice may not write
disability determinations at all, and a clinician without much history with
you may decline to state the connection between a condition and a particular
animal.

Where that leaves nothing, a licensed evaluation is the deliberate version
of the same thing: an assessment by a licensed professional that ends in a
written finding either way. The chance of an unfavourable finding is the
point. It is the difference between a document and a purchase, and NDCC
47-16-07.6 makes knowingly providing fraudulent supporting documentation an
infraction.

Get the three caps in the right order, and then notice that the biggest of
them was never yours to worry about. What is yours to get right is the file
that puts you outside it.

## What West Fargo 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 West Fargo

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

- [City of West Fargo](https://www.westfargond.gov/) (city government)
- [Cass County](https://www.casscountynd.gov/) (county government)
- [SENDCAA (Community Action, Region V)](https://www.sendcaa.org/) (community action agency)
- [North Dakota Housing Finance Agency, Renter Resources](https://www.ndhousing.nd.gov/renter-resources) (state housing authority)
- [ND Department of Labor and Human Rights, Housing](https://www.nd.gov/labor/human-rights/housing) (fair housing)

## Frequently asked questions

### How much security deposit can a West Fargo landlord take from me?

NDCC 47-16-07.1(1) bars a lessor from demanding or receiving security, however denominated, "in excess of one month's rent." Two exceptions raise it to two months and neither is general: an amount accepted from an individual convicted of a felony offense as an incentive to rent, and an amount demanded from an individual with a judgment entered against them for violating the terms of a previous rental agreement. The money has to sit in a federally insured interest-bearing account for the tenant's benefit.

### Which is bigger, the ordinary deposit cap or the pet deposit cap?

The pet cap, and this is transposed constantly. The ordinary ceiling is one month's rent. The pet ceiling under NDCC 47-16-07.1(2) is "the greater of two thousand five hundred dollars or an amount equivalent to two months' rent": the greater, not the lesser, and larger than the general cap on the same unit. Anyone who assumes the pet figure must be the small one has it backwards.

### At West Fargo rents, what does the pet ceiling actually come to?

Two months of the city's $1,111 median gross rent is a little over $2,200, which is under $2,500, so at a typical West Fargo rent the operative pet ceiling is the flat two thousand five hundred dollars. The two-month figure only overtakes the flat sum above roughly $1,250 a month. Either way it is the ceiling on a pet security deposit, not a licence to charge one.

### Does any of the pet cap apply to my emotional support animal?

No, and the reason sits in the first sentence of the subsection rather than in the number. NDCC 47-16-07.1(2) grants the power to charge "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." Where the animal is an accommodation the power was never granted, so there is no pet deposit for the ceiling to cap. The ordinary one-month security deposit still applies to you as a tenant.

### When do I get the deposit back, and what if it is withheld?

NDCC 47-16-07.1(3) requires a lessor keeping any part of a deposit to itemize the application and deliver or mail the itemization with the amount due to your last furnished address "within thirty days after termination of the lease and delivery of possession by the lessee." Subsection 4 then makes a lessor "liable for treble damages for any security deposit money withheld without reasonable justification." Three times the money is a stronger remedy than most states provide, which is why the thirty-day itemization is worth chasing.

### West Fargo rents higher than Fargo. Can a landlord charge more for my animal because of that?

The rent affects the arithmetic and not the entitlement. A higher rent raises the one-month ceiling in subsection 1 and moves the point at which two months overtakes the $2,500 pet figure. It does nothing to the exclusion in subsection 2, which is written by reference to what the animal is rather than to what the unit costs. A charge attached specifically to an assistance animal is argued against under NDCC 14-02.5-06(2) whatever the rent.

### West Fargo and Fargo are separate cities. Does the deposit rule differ between them?

No, NDCC 47-16-07.1 is state law and reads the same on both sides of the line. What differs is everything local: separate city governments, separate city halls, separate websites and separate ZIP codes, though both sit in Cass County and share SENDCAA and the Cass Human Service Zone. The practical difference is the rent the caps are calculated against, which in West Fargo is $1,111 against Fargo's $946.

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