# ESA Letter in Tigard, OR: When a Notice Is Already Running

> ORS 659A.145(2)(b) makes expelling a tenant because of a disability unlawful. What to do in the week between a lease violation notice and a termination.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 57,301
- Households renting: 38.3%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- 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)

## Expensive, and mostly not renting

Tigard rents 8,865 of its 23,117 occupied homes, 38.3 percent on the 2020–2024
American Community Survey five-year estimate, barely above Oregon's 36.7 percent
and the lowest renter share of the Washington County cities in this corpus.
Median gross rent is $1,782, sixth-highest of the state's twenty largest cities.

The 2024 Census estimate puts Tigard at 57,301, eleventh in Oregon, sitting on the
Highway 217 corridor immediately south of Beaverton.

The combination (high rent, low renter share) means Tigard's renters are
concentrated in a relatively small number of larger managed complexes rather than
spread across scattered houses. Those complexes run on standard national lease
documents, and standard national lease documents treat an unauthorised animal as a
lease violation with an automated path attached.

Notice of noncompliance. Cure period. Termination for cause.

## The problem with an automated sequence

A tenant who acquires an animal mid-tenancy (after a diagnosis, after a
clinician's recommendation, after something changed) is often two steps into that
sequence before the word "accommodation" has been said by anybody.

That happens because the two processes never meet. The lease violation runs on
the lease's own timetable, administered by whoever handles compliance. The
accommodation question lives in a completely different statute and usually a
different inbox. Nobody has decided to refuse you. Nobody has considered the
question at all.

So the first move is not to defend the animal. It is to make the sequence stop
being about a pet.

## Answer the notice as a request

Reply in writing, the same day if possible, and make the reply an accommodation
request rather than a denial or an apology.

The provision it engages is ORS 659A.145(2)(g): it is unlawful discrimination
because of a disability 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."

A no-pets clause is a rule. The notice enforcing it is the rule being applied. The
request is an exception to it, and once made, the landlord is no longer processing
a compliance matter. They are answering a statutory question.

Be honest about what the request does and does not do. **It does not
automatically stop a notice period running under the lease.** Anyone telling you
otherwise is guessing. What it does is change what the next step means: a
termination pursued after a documented accommodation request is a termination the
landlord has to justify on some basis other than the animal.

Which is why the date on the request matters more than its eloquence. Send it
before the cure period expires. Keep proof it was sent.

## The subsection about being put out

If it goes further, ORS 659A.145(2)(b) is short and it is the operative one. Among
the things a person may not do because of a disability:

> "Expelling a purchaser."

That single word does the work, and it reaches you because of a definition two
sections over. ORS 659A.421(1)(b) provides that "'Purchaser' includes an
occupant, prospective occupant, renter, prospective renter, lessee, prospective
lessee, buyer or prospective buyer." A sitting tenant is an occupant and a lessee.
Expulsion is inside the statute.

What subsection (2)(b) does not do is make you unevictable. A landlord may still
act on the **animal's actual conduct**: damage, a genuine safety issue, behaviour
that a reasonable accommodation cannot cure. And a landlord may still terminate
for reasons that have nothing to do with the animal at all. The subsection bars
expulsion **because of** the disability, not expulsion generally.

The other thing worth knowing: acquiring the animal after signing does not weaken
the request. Nothing in ORS 659A.145 confines accommodation requests to the
application stage, and disabilities do not schedule themselves around lease
renewals. Subsection (2)(g) asks whether the accommodation "may be necessary" —
present tense — not whether you could have anticipated it in March.

## What happens to the charges

If the request is granted, the money follows the ordinary Oregon rules and they
are worth something at Tigard prices.

ORS 90.300(4) bars a pet security deposit for "a service animal or companion
animal that a tenant with a disability requires as a reasonable accommodation
under fair housing laws." ORS 90.302(1) permits only the fees that section lists,
which removes monthly pet rent for a required accommodation. A deposit set at a
month's rent here is close to $1,800.

What survives: an ordinary security deposit that is not larger because of the
animal, liability for damage the animal actually does, and the single
waste-cleanup noncompliance fee ORS 90.302(3)(b)(C) preserves, capped at $50 for a
second occurrence, after a written warning notice.

And the recurring confusion in a market running national lease templates:
**training is not the housing test.** ORS 659A.143(1)(a)'s "individually trained"
definition begins "As used in this section," and that section is about shops,
restaurants and government offices. Housing is ORS 659A.145, which defines no
animal at all.

## If the tenancy ends anyway

ORS 659A.145(11) provides that "any violation of this section is an unlawful
practice," which is what puts it inside the chapter's enforcement machinery even
after you have moved.

The route runs through ORS 659A.820(2): a written complaint, verified and
signed, lodged with the BOLI Commissioner, identifying whoever is responsible
and describing what they did, filed "no later than one year after the alleged
unlawful practice."

For an expulsion, the practice is the termination or the notice that produced it,
not the day the removal van left. A year is generous, and it is easy to spend most
of it finding somewhere else to live.

## What the whole thing is standing on

Every step above assumes something a ten-day notice gives you very little time
to establish: that you are a person with a disability for whom this animal is a
necessary accommodation. Oregon names no clinicians, keeps no register, and will
not accept a certificate in place of somebody having actually examined you.

If you have a therapist, counsellor or prescriber, go to them first. They know
your history and the assessment is mostly already done, at the cost of an
appointment. In Washington County the friction is timing more than access: waits
run to months, and a cure period runs in days. Some practices also decline housing
documentation as a matter of policy, which is worth discovering early rather than
on day six of a ten-day notice.

Failing that, a licensed evaluation carries out the same examination
deliberately: an Oregon-licensed clinician settles whether there is a disability
and whether the animal accommodates it, and then documents it or declines. Both
are genuine results. A place that only ever produces one has sold you a form.

The timing lesson is the whole point of this page. In a Tigard complex the gap
between a compliance notice and a termination is measured in days, and clinical
capacity is measured in weeks. A tenant who has the determination when the notice
arrives is making a request. A tenant who starts looking for one when the notice
arrives is running two clocks that do not match.

## What Tigard 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 Tigard

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

- [Community Action of Washington County](https://caowash.org/) (community action agency)
- [Fair Housing Council of Oregon](https://www.fhco.org/) (fair housing nonprofit)
- [Legal Aid Services of Oregon](https://lasoregon.org/) (legal aid)
- [BOLI, Fair Housing](https://www.oregon.gov/boli/civil-rights/Pages/fair-housing.aspx) (state agency)

## Frequently asked questions

### I got a lease violation notice for an unauthorised animal. What should I do first?

Answer it in writing, immediately, as an accommodation request rather than as a denial. The notice starts a clock the lease controls; the request engages ORS 659A.145(2)(g), which makes it unlawful to refuse "to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services" necessary to give a disabled tenant equal opportunity to use and enjoy the dwelling. A landlord who proceeds to termination after a documented request is doing something quite different from enforcing a pet clause.

### Can they evict me over an assistance animal in Oregon?

Not because it is an assistance animal. ORS 659A.145(2)(b) makes "expelling a purchaser" unlawful discrimination where it is because of a disability, and ORS 659A.421(1)(b) defines "purchaser" to include "an occupant, prospective occupant, renter, prospective renter, lessee" and others, so a sitting tenant is squarely inside it. A landlord may still act on the animal's actual conduct, or on grounds that have nothing to do with the animal.

### The notice period is running. Does making the request stop it?

The request does not automatically pause a notice under the lease, which is why timing matters so much. What it does is change the character of what happens next: a termination pursued after a documented accommodation request is a termination the landlord has to justify on some basis other than the animal. Put the request in writing, dated, before the cure period expires, and keep proof it was sent.

### Does it help that I acquired the animal after signing the lease?

It does not hurt. Nothing in ORS 659A.145 limits accommodation requests to the application stage, and a disability or a clinician's recommendation can arise at any point in a tenancy. The relevant question under subsection (2)(g) is whether the accommodation "may be necessary" now, not whether it was foreseeable when you signed.

### Can a Tigard landlord charge a pet deposit for an approved assistance animal?

No. 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. At Tigard's $1,782 median gross rent, a pet deposit set at a month's rent is a significant amount.

### Does my animal need training to qualify in Tigard?

No. ORS 659A.143(1)(a) says "As used in this section" before it says "individually trained," and the section it belongs to is about shops and state government offices. Housing runs on ORS 659A.145, which requires nothing of the kind.

### How long do I have to file if the tenancy has already ended?

One year after the act. ORS 659A.820(2) requires the complaint in writing and verified, signed by the complainant, lodged with the BOLI Commissioner, naming the person alleged to be responsible and their address and stating the acts or omissions relied on.

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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%2Ftigard