# Philadelphia ESA Rules: 300 Days, Not 180

> Philadelphia is 48.2% renters with its own human relations commission. Why the city deadline beats the state's, and what Act 118 lets a landlord ask for.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/pennsylvania-emotional-support-animal/philadelphia/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-07-29
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 1,573,916
- Households renting: 48.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): $0 for a documented assistance animal; ordinary deposits are limited to two months' rent in the first year and one month thereafter
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $0 for a documented assistance animal; pet rent applies to pets rather than to an approved accommodation
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The One Pennsylvania City With a Longer Clock

Philadelphia counted about 1,573,916 residents in the 2024 Census Bureau
estimate, and 48.2% of its households rent — well above Pennsylvania's 30.7%
statewide share, and roughly 328,000 renter households, the largest
concentration of tenants in the state.

It is also the one place in Pennsylvania where a renter gets **more** time to
complain than the state allows, which reverses the pattern most people expect
from city-versus-state rules.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act sets the state deadline at § 9(h): a
complaint must be filed within 180 days after the alleged act of
discrimination. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations enforces the
city's Fair Practices Ordinance with a **300-day** statute of limitations.

A Philadelphia tenant who let the state window close has not necessarily lost
everything. That single fact is worth knowing before writing off a stale
dispute.

## Two City Bodies, One Right Answer

Philadelphia runs two housing-related commissions and they are easy to
confuse.

The **Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations** handles discrimination
complaints under the Fair Practices Ordinance. It sits at The Curtis Center,
601 Walnut St., Suite 300 South, and answers at (215) 686-4670. A refusal to
accommodate an assistance animal belongs here.

The **Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission** is a separate city body dealing
with unfair rental practices. It is a real forum for real problems, but it is
not where an accommodation denial goes.

Filing in the wrong place burns weeks a 300-day clock can absorb and a
180-day clock cannot.

## What Act 118 Actually Requires

Pennsylvania's Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act — Act 118 of 2018
— governs the paperwork side of the request statewide, including here.

An emotional support animal sits squarely inside the term the statute
defines: an assistance animal is any animal, service animals aside, that
qualifies as a reasonable accommodation, and the statute says so expressly.
A Philadelphia landlord cannot treat an ESA as a category the rules miss.

Section 3(a) is the provision tenants most often need. Documentation of the disability and the disability-related need may be
required **only if** that disability or need is not readily apparent to the
provider, or otherwise known to it. Where the need is already evident, the statute does
not authorize a demand for a letter.

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

## The Underlying Duty

Act 118 administers a duty it did not create. Section 5(h)(3.2) of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act makes refusing
reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services unlawful
where those accommodations may be necessary for a person to have equal
opportunity to use and enjoy a housing accommodation.

That is what a no-pets clause runs into, and what a breed restriction runs
into. A rule that applies to pets is a rule, and the statute is about rules
that have to bend.

## Fees and Deposits in a Rowhouse Market

Philadelphia leases carry the usual animal pricing, and none of it attaches
to an approved accommodation. An assistance animal is not a pet, so pet rent,
pet fees and pet deposits do not follow it into the tenancy.

The deposit itself is capped for everyone by the Landlord and Tenant Act of
1951. Two months' rent is the ceiling for a lease's first year; from the
second year onward the ceiling drops to a single month's rent. Thirty days
after the tenant moves out, two things fall due — an itemised written list of
damages, and whatever escrow is left over. Miss that, and the statute makes
the landlord liable in assumpsit for twice the sum by which the escrow
exceeds the actual damages.

In a city where multi-year tenancies in the same rowhouse are common, the
year-two reduction is the term most often ignored.

## Skip the Vest

Pennsylvania is unusually direct about products sold as credentials. A fine
of up to $1,000 is what § 6 of Act 118 attaches to a **summary offense**, and
that offense is committed by falsifying a document, by making a false
statement, or by putting a harness, collar, vest or sign of the sort
assistance and service animals wear on an animal that does not qualify.

Section 5 covers the other half. A person who intentionally misrepresents an
entitlement to an assistance or service animal, or who makes materially false
statements in order to obtain documentation, commits a misdemeanor of the
third degree.

Neither provision threatens a tenant who describes the animal accurately and
submits a letter from someone who actually knows their situation. Both make
the online accessories trade a bad idea in this state specifically.

## Assembling the Request

A Philadelphia request that satisfies the statute is short.

Name the accommodation: permission to keep the animal in the unit, and
exemption from any pet charge or restriction that would otherwise apply.
Attach documentation meeting § 3(b) — written, from someone with direct
knowledge, describing the disability-related need. Date it, and keep the
reply.

Do not include a diagnosis narrative, a training record, or anything bought
online. Section 3(a) limits the inquiry to what is not readily apparent, and
§ 3(b) describes a letter rather than a file.

## Screening Comes First, Then the Request

Nothing obliges an applicant to raise an assistance animal while being
screened for a Philadelphia apartment, and a disability is not a proper
screening subject in the first place.

The order that avoids trouble is to apply on the ordinary criteria, then
submit the accommodation request in writing once the application is approved
and before the lease is executed. That keeps the animal out of a
tenant-selection decision it should play no part in, and settles the fee
question before an animal addendum has been signed.

A request made later is still valid — Act 118 imposes no timing rule on the
tenant — but unwinding an executed term takes longer than declining one.

## The Federal Layer Underneath

State law is not the only thing operating here. Where an accommodation in
rules, policies, practices or services is necessary to give a person with a
disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, the federal Fair
Housing Act independently obliges the provider to make it — a duty the
statute carries itself and HUD's implementing regulation restates at
24 C.F.R. § 100.204.

For a Philadelphia tenant the practical consequence is that a complaint can
run federally as well as through the city and state commissions — which
matters most when a state deadline has passed and the facts are still fresh.

## Where to Get Help

Community Legal Services is Philadelphia's civil legal aid provider and
handles housing matters for people who qualify. The Housing Equality Center
of Pennsylvania serves Philadelphia among its seven direct-service counties,
providing counseling and enforcement support for people who have faced
discrimination.

For filing, the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations is the city route
with its 300-day window, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is
the state route with 180 days.

Because the two clocks differ, the practical discipline is the same one that
works everywhere else: put the request in writing, keep the answer, and write
down the date of the refusal on the day it arrives. Our guide to
[what a landlord can and cannot do](/blog/articles/can-landlord-deny-emotional-support-animal/) explains how a denial is judged, and
the [Pennsylvania ESA law overview](/blog/pennsylvania-emotional-support-animal/) sets out the statewide rules.

## What Philadelphia landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services where the accommodation may be necessary for equal opportunity to use and enjoy a housing accommodation
- Cannot request documentation at all where the disability or the disability-related need is already readily apparent or known to the provider
- Cannot treat an emotional support animal as outside the rules, since Act 118 defines an assistance animal to include an ESA that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation
- Cannot require more than two months' rent as a security deposit in the first year of a lease, or more than one month's rent in later years
- Cannot keep any part of a deposit without providing a written list of damages and returning the balance within thirty days, on pain of liability for double the amount wrongfully withheld

**Can:**
- May require documentation where the disability or the need is not readily apparent, and may insist that it be in writing
- May insist that the documentation be reliable and based on direct knowledge and that it describe the disability-related need for the animal
- May report suspected misrepresentation, which Act 118 grades as a misdemeanor of the third degree for falsely claiming entitlement and as a summary offense carrying a fine of up to $1,000 for misrepresenting an animal

## How to get an ESA letter in Philadelphia

1. **Check that you qualify** — Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Philadelphia. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes — free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional** — You are matched with a provider licensed for Pennsylvania 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. (95% of applicants qualify)
4. **Receive your signed letter** — Your letter arrives on the professional's letterhead with their license number — the documentation Pennsylvania 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 Philadelphia. (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 Philadelphia

- [Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations](https://www.phila.gov/departments/philadelphia-commission-on-human-relations/) (government)
- [Community Legal Services](https://clsphila.org/) (legal aid)
- [Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission](https://www.phila.gov/departments/fair-housing-commission/) (government)
- [Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission](https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/phrc.html) (government)

## Frequently asked questions

### How long does a Philadelphia renter have to file a discrimination complaint?

300 days at the city level. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations enforces the Fair Practices Ordinance with a 300-day statute of limitations, while the state route through the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission closes at 180 days under § 9(h) of the Human Relations Act. A Philadelphia tenant past the state deadline may still have a city claim.

### Where is the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations?

At The Curtis Center, 601 Walnut St., Suite 300 South, Philadelphia, PA 19106, reachable at (215) 686-4670. Housing and property discrimination complaints are filed there under the Fair Practices Ordinance, using the Commission's intake process.

### Is the Fair Housing Commission the same as the Commission on Human Relations?

No, and confusing them wastes time. The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations handles discrimination complaints under the Fair Practices Ordinance. The Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission is a separate city body dealing with unfair rental practices. An accommodation denial belongs with the Commission on Human Relations.

### Can a Philadelphia landlord charge a pet fee for an assistance animal?

No. Act 118 of 2018 defines an assistance animal to include an emotional support animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act at § 5(h)(3.2) requires a housing provider to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services. A pet fee is a term that applies to pets, not to an approved accommodation.

### When can a landlord here ask for documentation?

Only where the disability or the disability-related need is not readily apparent or known to the provider, under § 3(a) of Act 118. Where a request is proper, § 3(b) requires the documentation to be in writing, reliable and based on direct knowledge, and to describe the disability-related need for the animal.

### How much can a Philadelphia landlord hold as a security deposit?

The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 sets two ceilings: two months' rent for a lease's first year, one month's rent in the second year and later. Thirty days after the tenant vacates, a written list of damages and the remaining balance both fall due, and a landlord who misses that faces liability for double the amount wrongfully withheld.

### Is an ESA vest or certificate useful in Philadelphia?

No, and buying one carries a risk. Dressing an animal that does not qualify in the harness, collar, vest or sign that marks an assistance or service animal is a summary offense under § 6 of Act 118, with a fine of up to $1,000. What a housing provider may ask for is written documentation based on direct knowledge.

---

Get evaluated by a licensed provider: https://my.supportanimal.com/qualify?sa_source=blog&sa_medium=referral&sa_campaign=esa-guides&sa_content=markdown&ref=blog&sa_term=pennsylvania-emotional-support-animal%2Fphiladelphia