# Reading ESA Rules: The Year-Two Deposit Trap

> Reading is 59.4% renters on long tenancies. Why a lawful two-month deposit becomes excessive in year two, and what Act 118 lets a landlord ask about an animal.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 96,000
- Households renting: 59.4%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): $0 for a documented assistance animal; ordinary deposits limited to two months' rent in year one and one month in later years
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $0 for a documented assistance animal; a recurring animal charge is a pet term rather than an accommodation term
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Long Tenancies, One Overlooked Rule

Reading held about 96,000 residents in the 2024 Census Bureau estimate, and
59.4% of its households rent — roughly double Pennsylvania's 30.7% statewide
share, across nearly 20,000 renter households.

Tenancies here tend to run for years in the same rowhouse, renewing quietly.
That pattern collides with a provision of Pennsylvania law almost nobody
applies correctly.

## Two Months, Then One

The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 sets two different ceilings.

During the **first year** of a lease, a landlord may not require more than
two months' rent to be deposited in escrow for damages or default in rent.

During the **second and subsequent years** of the lease, or during any
renewal of the original lease, the amount required to be deposited may not
exceed **one month's rent**.

Read together, those sentences mean a deposit that was perfectly lawful when
collected becomes excessive the moment the tenancy passes its first
anniversary — unless the landlord reduces it. In a market where tenants stay
five and six years, that is a large amount of money sitting in escrow beyond
what the statute permits.

A tenant in year three with two months' rent still held has a claim that has
nothing to do with animals, and it survives whether or not any accommodation
was ever requested.

## Thirty Days, and Double Damages

At the end of the tenancy the statute tightens again. Within thirty days of
the lease terminating, the landlord must provide a written list of damages
and return the difference between the escrowed sum and the actual damages.

A landlord who fails to do that is "liable in assumpsit to double the amount
by which the sum deposited in escrow … exceeds the actual damages." Double
damages are unusual in landlord-tenant law and worth knowing about before
accepting a silent forfeiture.

## None of It Attaches to the Animal

An assistance animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation is not a
pet. Pet deposits, pet fees and pet rent are terms that apply to pets, and
they do not follow an approved accommodation into the tenancy.

What remains is ordinary responsibility for damage, assessed at move-out
against the same standard applied to every other tenant in the building.

## What Act 118 Permits a Landlord to Ask

Pennsylvania's Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act — Act 118 of 2018
— defines an assistance animal to include an emotional support animal that
qualifies as a reasonable accommodation, and then limits the inquiry.

Under § 3(a), documentation of the disability and the disability-related need
may be required in one case only: where that disability or need is not
readily apparent to the housing provider and not otherwise known to it. Where
a request is proper, § 3(b) requires the documentation to be in writing, to
be reliable and based on direct knowledge, and to describe the
disability-related need for the animal.

The profession of the writer is not part of the test. A counselor or other
provider who has assessed the tenant and can speak to the need satisfies
§ 3(b) as readily as a physician would.

## The Duty, and the Deadline

The obligation sits in § 5(h)(3.2) of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. A
provider that refuses an accommodation in rules, policies, practices or
services acts unlawfully whenever that accommodation may be needed to give a
person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a housing accommodation.

The deadline sits in § 9(h): a complaint must be filed with the Pennsylvania
Human Relations Commission within 180 days after the alleged act of
discrimination. Reading has no local commission offering a longer window, so
that six-month period is all a tenant has.

For a long tenancy, that has a specific implication. A refusal in March is not
revived by a renewal in September. The clock runs from the act complained of.

## Requests Made Years Into a Tenancy

Nothing in Act 118 or the Human Relations Act makes a request weaker for
being late. A tenant who has lived in the same unit for six years and needs
an accommodation now asks on exactly the terms a new tenant would, and the
documentation supplied now is what the request rests on.

Where a pet fee has been paid for years before anyone realized the animal
qualified as an accommodation, the fee stops once the accommodation is
approved. Whether anything already paid can be recovered is a question for a
legal aid provider rather than an assumption to make unaided.

## What a Refusal Should Be Made to Say

A verbal "no" is difficult to challenge and easy to revise later. Where a
Reading landlord refuses, the useful next step is a short written note asking
which element of the request is said to fail: whether the disability or need
is considered readily apparent under § 3(a), or whether the documentation is
said not to meet § 3(b).

The answer is worth having in writing whatever it says. It either narrows the
disagreement to something fixable or produces the clearest evidence a
complaint could have.

## The Home Is What Is Covered

Act 118 defines a service animal by reference to the Americans with
Disabilities Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, and defines an
assistance animal separately as one qualifying as a reasonable accommodation
— expressly including an emotional support animal on that basis.

What a Reading tenant secures under § 5(h)(3.2) is the ability to keep the
animal at home without pet charges. Entry to shops or restaurants is governed
elsewhere, and conflating the two gives a landlord an argument that was never
part of the request.

## Screening, Then the Request

Nothing requires an applicant in Reading to raise an assistance animal during
screening, and a disability is not a proper screening criterion. Applying on
the ordinary terms and making the accommodation request in writing after
approval keeps the two decisions apart, and settles the charge question
before anything is signed. In a market where the same landlord may hold a
unit for years, that early written exchange is also the document a tenant
will still have in year four.

## The Federal Track

The federal Fair Housing Act independently requires reasonable accommodations
in rules, policies, practices or services where necessary to afford a person
with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, a duty
implemented by regulation at 24 C.F.R. § 100.204. Given Pennsylvania's short state deadline, it is worth asking a
legal aid provider early which route fits.

## Local Help in Berks County

MidPenn Legal Services provides free civil legal services across eighteen
central Pennsylvania counties including Berks. The Pennsylvania Legal Aid
Network — a statewide consortium covering all sixty-seven counties — can
identify the right provider if a matter falls outside MidPenn's remit, and
Disability Rights Pennsylvania is the state's protection and advocacy
organization.

Two claims often travel together in Reading: an accommodation complaint to
the Human Relations Commission, and a deposit claim under the Landlord and
Tenant Act. They go to different places and have different deadlines, so it
is worth naming them separately from the start. Our guide to
[what a landlord can and cannot do](/blog/articles/can-landlord-deny-emotional-support-animal/) explains how a refusal is judged, and
the [Pennsylvania ESA law overview](/blog/pennsylvania-emotional-support-animal/) sets out the statewide rules.

## What Reading 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 Reading

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

- [MidPenn Legal Services](https://www.midpenn.org/) (legal aid)
- [Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission](https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/phrc.html) (government)
- [Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network](https://www.palegalaid.net/) (legal information)
- [Disability Rights Pennsylvania](https://www.disabilityrightspa.org/) (advocacy)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Reading lease renewed. Can the landlord keep two months' deposit?

Not for the second year onward. The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 permits up to two months' rent in escrow during the first year of a lease, but during the second and subsequent years, or during any renewal, the amount required to be deposited may not exceed one month's rent. A deposit that was lawful in year one becomes excessive if it is not reduced.

### When must a Reading landlord return the deposit?

Within thirty days of the tenant vacating, along with a written list of damages, returning the difference between the escrowed sum and the actual damages. A landlord who fails to do so is liable in assumpsit to double the amount by which the deposit exceeds the actual damages.

### Can any part of the deposit relate to my assistance animal?

No. An assistance animal that qualifies as a reasonable accommodation under Act 118 is not a pet, so pet deposits and pet fees do not attach to it. What remains is the tenant's ordinary responsibility for damage, assessed at move-out under the same rules that apply to every tenant.

### Which legal aid organization covers Berks County?

MidPenn Legal Services serves eighteen counties in central Pennsylvania, including Berks, and provides free civil legal services. The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network can identify the right provider for any county, and Disability Rights Pennsylvania is the statewide protection and advocacy organization.

### How long do I have to complain in Reading?

180 days from the alleged act of discrimination, under § 9(h) of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. Complaints go to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. There is no local commission in Reading offering a longer window, so the state deadline governs.

### Does my landlord have to accept a letter from a counselor?

Section 3(b) of Act 118 asks whether the documentation is in writing, reliable and based on direct knowledge, and whether it describes the disability-related need. It does not restrict the profession of the writer. A counselor who has assessed the tenant and can speak to the need satisfies the standard.

### When can a Reading landlord ask for documentation at all?

Only where the disability or the disability-related need is not readily apparent or known to the provider, under § 3(a). That limit is often overlooked in a market where the same paperwork gets handed to everyone, and it is worth raising in writing when a request seems automatic.

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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%2Freading