# ESA Letter in Salem, OR: The One-Year Clock and How to Use It

> Oregon gives a housing complaint a full year under ORS 659A.820(2). What a Salem tenant has to have written down before that year is worth anything.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 180,406
- Households renting: 44.1%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $25-$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, and the agency you would file with is here

Salem has 29,817 renting households out of 67,629 occupied homes, 44.1 percent
on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, above Oregon's
36.7 percent statewide and the second-largest number of renter households in the
state after Portland's. Median gross rent is $1,400 against $1,525 statewide,
which is a large part of why Salem keeps absorbing households priced out of the
Portland metro an hour north.

The 2024 Census estimate puts the city at 180,406. It is also the seat of state
government, which means an unusual share of Salem tenants work for the state and
an unusual number of them already know the acronym BOLI: the Bureau of Labor and
Industries, where an Oregon housing discrimination complaint goes.

Knowing the acronym is not the same as knowing the rule, and the rule has a
deadline in it.

## One year, running from the act

ORS 659A.820(2), the operative sentence:

> "Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, a complaint under this
> section must be filed no later than one year after the alleged unlawful
> practice."

A year is generous. Maine allows 300 days; Montana allows 180. But read where the
year starts: **the alleged unlawful practice**: the refusal, the fee demand, the
policy applied to you. Not the day you finished arguing about it, not the day you
found a lawyer, not the day the tenancy ended.

That distinction is where the year gets quietly spent. A Salem tenant who is told
"no" in March, negotiates through spring, moves in August and starts looking for
help in the autumn has used seven months of a twelve-month window on a
conversation.

One trap to name. Subsection (3) of the same statute sets a **five-year** window,
and it is easy to find and easy to misread. It applies to unlawful *employment*
practices: ORS 659A.030, 659A.082, 659A.112, 659A.370 and 243.323. It has
nothing to do with housing. Do not plan around it.

## What the complaint has to say

The statute is specific about the form, and the specificity is useful because it
tells you what to keep.

ORS 659A.820(2) requires "a verified written complaint that states the name and
address of the person alleged to have committed the unlawful practice." It must
be signed by you. It must "set forth the acts or omissions alleged to be an
unlawful practice." The Commissioner may ask for more.

There is no lawyer in that sentence and no filing fee. What there is, is a
requirement that you be able to say **who** did **what** and **when**, and that
is the thing a Salem tenancy most often fails to produce.

Salem's rental market is split. The garden-apartment complexes out toward
Lancaster Drive and south of the city are professionally managed, and a refusal
from them arrives on letterhead or in a portal message, which is to say in
evidence. The older houses and duplexes around the capitol and central Salem are
frequently owned by individuals with no written pet policy at all until somebody
asks, and a landlord with no written policy answers verbally, in a driveway, and
is not being evasive when they do it. They simply have no document to send.

Ask for it in writing anyway. An email that says "just to confirm what we
discussed — you are declining the accommodation request for my assistance animal"
costs nothing and converts a conversation into an act with a date on it. A
landlord who will not repeat a refusal in writing has told you something useful
about the strength of their position.

## Which practice, exactly

Naming the act also means naming the provision, and there are usually two.

The refusal itself is ORS 659A.145(2)(g): it is unlawful to refuse "to make
reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services when the
accommodations may be necessary to afford the individual with a disability equal
opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling."

The charge is separate. ORS 90.300(4) provides that a landlord "may not charge a
tenant a pet security deposit for keeping a service animal or companion animal
that a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation under fair
housing laws," and ORS 90.302(1) permits only the fees that section lists, while
also requiring that any fee at all "must be described in a written rental
agreement." A charge that is not in the lease is already outside the statute
before anyone asks about the animal.

Two other points of scope worth knowing before you file. ORS 659A.145(2) applies
to "a person," not only to an owner, and subsection (7) separately makes it
unlawful to "assist, induce, incite or coerce another person to commit an act or
engage in a practice that violates this section" — so a management company that
made the decision can be the person you name. And ORS 659A.145(11) provides that
"any violation of this section is an unlawful practice," which is what turns a
lease disagreement into something an agency has jurisdiction over.

## The determination, and why it comes first

A complaint filed without an assessment behind it is a complaint about a
disagreement. Both of the provisions above have a person with a disability at
their centre, and Oregon has declined to say who establishes that or how. There
is no list, no registry and no official form, only whether somebody qualified
looked at you and reached a conclusion.

The best route is the one you may already have. If you see a therapist, a
counsellor or a prescriber in Salem, ask them: they know your history, they can
speak to a disability-related need, and the assessment is largely already done.
Be ready for the two real frictions. Salem's outpatient mental health capacity is
thin relative to its population and waits of several months are ordinary; and
some practices decline to write housing documentation as a matter of policy,
which is a decision about the practice rather than about you.

When that door is shut, a licensed evaluation opens the same one deliberately. A
clinician licensed in Oregon examines whether a disability exists and whether
the animal answers it; the finding may go either way, and a service that
advertises only one outcome has told you it is not really examining anything.

There is a practical reason to do it before the refusal rather than after. The
one-year clock in ORS 659A.820(2) runs from the landlord's act, and it does not
pause while you find a clinician. A tenant who asks in January with a
determination in hand is inside a twelve-month window with the whole of it to
spare. A tenant who asks in January and starts looking for an assessment in
September has spent most of the year proving something they could have
established first.

## What Salem landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not refuse to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it is necessary to give a disabled tenant equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling: ORS 659A.145(2)(g). A no-pets policy is a rule, and the accommodation is an exception to it.
- May not charge a pet security deposit for a service animal or companion animal the tenant requires as a reasonable accommodation, ORS 90.300(4), which names the companion animal in the statute itself.
- May not charge any fee at the beginning of the tenancy for an anticipated expense, and may charge only the fees ORS 90.302 lists, each described in a written rental agreement.
- May not make a distinction or restriction against a renter in the price, terms, conditions or privileges of the tenancy because of disability: ORS 659A.145(2)(c).

**Can:**
- May still charge a noncompliance fee for failure to clean up a service or companion animal's waste from common areas, but only after a written warning notice, only for a second or later occurrence within a year, and capped at $50 under ORS 90.302(3).
- May still hold the tenant liable for damage the animal actually does, and may still take an ordinary security deposit, provided it is not larger because of the animal.
- Faces a disparate-impact claim under ORS 659A.425 where a facially neutral policy hits disabled tenants harder than tenants generally, weighed against the policy's business purpose and any less discriminatory alternative.

## How to get an ESA letter in Salem

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

- [Salem Housing Authority](https://www.salemhousingor.com/) (housing authority)
- [Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action](https://www.mwvcaa.org/) (community action agency)
- [BOLI, Fair Housing](https://www.oregon.gov/boli/civil-rights/Pages/fair-housing.aspx) (state agency)
- [Oregon Law Center](https://oregonlawcenter.org/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### How long do I have to file a housing complaint in Oregon?

One year. ORS 659A.820(2) provides that "a complaint under this section must be filed no later than one year after the alleged unlawful practice." That is longer than most states allow (Maine gives 300 days and Montana 180), but the clock runs from the act itself, not from the day the argument ended or the day you found a lawyer. Be careful with subsection (3)'s five-year window: it covers employment practices only and has nothing to do with housing.

### What does a BOLI complaint actually have to contain?

ORS 659A.820(2) requires a verified written complaint that "states the name and address of the person alleged to have committed the unlawful practice," is signed by you, and "set[s] forth the acts or omissions alleged to be an unlawful practice." The Commissioner may require further information. It does not require a lawyer, and there is no filing fee in the statute. What it does require is that you can say who did what and when, which is why the written refusal matters more than the argument you had about it.

### My Salem landlord never put the pet policy in writing. Does that help or hurt me?

It hurts, and it is fixable. ORS 90.302(1) requires that "a fee must be described in a written rental agreement," so an undocumented charge is already on weak ground. But your side needs a record too: ORS 659A.820(2)'s complaint asks for the acts alleged, and a verbal refusal in a driveway is hard to set out. Ask for the decision by email or text. A landlord who will not repeat a refusal in writing has told you something useful either way.

### Does my ESA have to be trained to qualify in Salem?

No. A leasing office citing the trained-animal rule has found ORS 659A.143(1)(a), which limits itself by its opening words to that one section about businesses open to the public. Homes are covered by ORS 659A.145, which contains neither definition nor training requirement.

### Can a Salem landlord charge a pet deposit for my emotional support animal?

No, where it is a genuine reasonable accommodation. ORS 90.300(4) says a landlord "may not charge a tenant a pet security deposit for keeping a service animal or companion animal that a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing laws." An ordinary security deposit remains lawful, and ORS 90.300(3) requires it to be listed in the written rental agreement, but it may not be larger because of the animal.

### Is filing with BOLI the only route?

No, but it is the one the statute builds out. ORS 659A.145(11) makes any violation of the section "an unlawful practice," which is the door into the chapter's enforcement machinery. Legal Aid Services of Oregon and the Oregon Law Center both take housing matters, and the Fair Housing Council of Oregon takes intake statewide. Filing with BOLI does not require you to have exhausted anything else first.

### What if the refusal came from a property manager rather than the owner?

ORS 659A.145(2) reaches "a person," not only an owner, and subsection (7) separately makes it unlawful to "assist, induce, incite or coerce another person to commit an act or engage in a practice that violates this section." The complaint under ORS 659A.820(2) asks for the name and address of the person alleged to have committed the practice, which can be the management company. Name whoever actually made the decision, and say so.

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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=oregon-emotional-support-animal%2Fsalem