Emotional Support Animal Laws in Pennsylvania

A statute written for this exact argument

Most states leave emotional support animals to general fair-housing law and let the disputes sort themselves out. Pennsylvania went the other way in 2018, passing the Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act — Act 118 — a short statute about nothing but assistance animals, documentation, and the consequences of faking either.

Its first move is definitional. An assistance animal is an animal, other than a service animal, that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act and related law, and the act’s coverage expressly includes an emotional support animal where the animal qualifies as a reasonable accommodation. A Pennsylvania landlord cannot treat an ESA as a category the law forgot.

The act sits on top of the older duty rather than replacing it. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, at § 5(h)(3.2), makes it unlawful to refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a housing accommodation. That is the obligation; Act 118 governs how it is administered.

The question a landlord may not always ask

Section 3(a) of Act 118 contains a limit most states leave implicit. A housing provider may require documentation of the disability and the disability-related need only if the disability or disability-related need is not readily apparent or known to the provider.

Read plainly, that removes the paperwork step entirely in a class of cases. Where the provider already knows, or where the need is evident, there is no statutory basis for demanding a letter at all. Pennsylvania tenants are routinely handed a documentation packet by default; the statute does not authorize a default.

What the documentation must be

Where documentation is properly requested, § 3(b) sets the standard: it must be in writing, it must be reliable and based on direct knowledge, and it must describe the disability-related need for the animal.

The middle requirement is the one that matters. “Reliable and based on direct knowledge” is a statement about the relationship behind the letter, not about its formatting. A provider who has actually assessed the tenant satisfies it. A website that generates a signed PDF for anyone who fills in a form does not, and no amount of letterhead fixes that.

This is Pennsylvania’s version of the problem other states solve differently — Florida requires an out-of-state practitioner to have seen the tenant in person at least once; New York accepts a letter from any provider with personal knowledge. Pennsylvania asks the same underlying question in one phrase.

Two offenses, two grades

Act 118 is unusual in criminalizing both halves of the problem.

Section 5 covers the person: intentionally misrepresenting entitlement to an assistance or service animal, or making materially false statements for the purpose of obtaining documentation, is a misdemeanor of the third degree.

Section 6 covers the props: falsifying documents, making false statements, or fitting an animal that does not qualify with a harness, collar, vest or sign of the kind used by assistance or service animals, is a summary offense carrying a fine of up to $1,000.

That second provision is aimed squarely at the online vest-and-ID trade, and it is worth reading before buying anything marketed as certification. Pennsylvania does not register emotional support animals, no state agency issues credentials, and the closest thing the law has to an opinion about those products is a fine.

Read carefully, neither offense threatens an honest tenant. A person who describes their animal accurately and submits a letter from a provider who knows them is doing what the statute contemplates.

Where § 5(h)(1) does and does not help

Pennsylvania’s Human Relations Act also has an older animal provision, and it is narrower than it first appears. Section 5(h)(1) prohibits refusing to sell, lease or finance housing because of the use of a guide animal due to blindness or deafness, the use of a support animal due to a physical handicap, or because the person is a handler or trainer of support or guide animals.

A tenant whose disability is a mental impairment is outside that clause. Their request runs through the accommodation duty in § 5(h)(3.2) and through Act 118 instead — which is why quoting § 5(h)(1) at a landlord can backfire. Cite the provisions that actually carry the request.

180 days, and why it changes behavior

Section 9(h) of the Human Relations Act requires a complaint to be filed with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission within 180 days after the alleged act of discrimination, unless the federal Fair Housing Act requires otherwise.

That is the shortest deadline of any large state. Texas and Florida allow a year. New York allows three. Pennsylvania allows roughly six months, which changes the sensible strategy: a tenant cannot spend a season negotiating with a property manager and then decide whether to file.

The practical rule for Pennsylvania is to treat the date of the refusal as a deadline trigger rather than as the start of a conversation. Keep negotiating if it looks productive, but count the days from the refusal, not from the point at which patience ran out.

Deposits: two months, then one, then thirty days

The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 is more generous to landlords at the start of a tenancy than most modern statutes and considerably harsher at the end.

During the first year of a lease, a landlord may not require more than two months’ rent to be deposited in escrow. During the second and subsequent years, or during any renewal, the amount may not exceed one month’s rent — so a deposit that was lawful in year one becomes excessive in year two unless it is reduced.

After the tenant vacates, the landlord has thirty days to provide a written list of damages and return the balance. A landlord who fails to do so is liable in assumpsit to double the amount by which the escrowed sum exceeds the actual damages.

None of that may be inflated because of an assistance animal. Where the animal is an approved accommodation, it is not a pet, and the charges that attach to pets do not attach to it.

Philadelphia has its own commission — and a longer clock

Philadelphia runs the Fair Practices Ordinance through the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, and the city window is 300 days rather than the state’s 180. The Commission sits at The Curtis Center, 601 Walnut St., Suite 300 South, and can be reached at (215) 686-4670.

That inverts the pattern seen elsewhere: in New York the city deadline is shorter than the state’s, while in Pennsylvania the city deadline is longer. A Philadelphia tenant who has missed 180 days has not necessarily missed everything, which is worth knowing before giving up on a stale dispute.

Philadelphia also operates a separate Fair Housing Commission dealing with unfair rental practices. It is a different body from the PCHR, and the two should not be confused when deciding where to file.

What a request should actually contain

Act 118 tells a tenant what a good submission looks like, because it tells the landlord what may be demanded. Three elements answer everything the statute authorizes.

Say what accommodation is being asked for — permission to keep the animal in the dwelling, and an exemption from any pet charge or restriction that would otherwise apply. Attach documentation that is in writing, comes from someone with direct knowledge of the tenant’s situation, and describes the disability-related need for the animal, which is what § 3(b) requires. And date the request, because the 180-day period runs from the refusal that follows it.

What a request does not need is a diagnosis narrative, a training record, or any product bought online. Section 3(a) limits the inquiry to situations where the disability or need is not readily apparent, and § 3(b) describes a letter rather than a dossier.

Who rents in Pennsylvania

About 30.7% of Pennsylvania households rent rather than own, on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate — roughly 1.6 million households, and a smaller share than New York, Texas, or Florida.

The state figure hides the cities almost completely. State College is 73.9% renters, the highest share of any place covered in this guide. Harrisburg is 63.4%, Chester 60.0%, Reading 59.4%, Norristown 57.3%, Pittsburgh 52.3% and Philadelphia 48.2%. The accommodation duty in § 5(h)(3.2) reaches all of them, and so does the 180-day clock.

Before you sign a Pennsylvania lease

Nothing requires an applicant to disclose an assistance animal during screening, and a disability is not a proper screening subject. Apply on the ordinary criteria, then put the accommodation request in writing once the application is approved and before the lease is signed.

Sort the documentation out before house-hunting rather than during it. Section 3(b)’s “reliable and based on direct knowledge” standard is not satisfied overnight by a website, and finding a provider who can genuinely speak to the need takes time. Skip anything sold as a certificate, a registration, or a vest — in Pennsylvania those are not merely useless, they are the subject of § 6.

For city-level detail on deposits, local commissions and tenant help, browse the Pennsylvania city guides, and see our guide to getting an ESA letter for what a defensible letter contains.