# Scranton ESA Rules: Getting a Verbal Yes in Writing

> Scranton is 50.1% renters in older divided houses. Why a verbal approval is fragile, what Act 118 lets a landlord ask, and the six-month complaint window.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 75,905
- Households renting: 50.1%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): $0 for a documented assistance animal; other deposits are limited to two months' rent in the first year and one month afterward
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $0 for a documented assistance animal; recurring animal charges are pet terms rather than accommodation terms
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Half the City Rents, Mostly From Small Owners

Scranton held about 75,905 residents in the 2024 Census Bureau estimate, and
50.1% of its households rent — well above Pennsylvania's 30.7% statewide
share, across roughly 15,000 renter households.

The housing is largely older stock divided into flats and held in small
portfolios. Arrangements get made in conversation: a landlord says the dog
is fine, a figure gets mentioned, and nothing is written down by anybody.

That informality is comfortable right up until it is not.

## Why a Verbal Yes Is Fragile

A spoken approval is a real approval. It is simply very hard to prove a year
later, when a building has been sold, a managing agent has changed, or the
person who said yes no longer works there.

Pennsylvania's remedy structure assumes a record. Section 9(h) of the Human
Relations Act allows a complaint within 180 days of the alleged act of
discrimination — the shortest window among the large states — and the
tenant is the one who has to establish what happened and when.

A written request costs nothing and fixes three things at once: what was
asked for, what documentation accompanied it, and the date. If the answer is
yes, the tenant has proof of an approval that survives a change of owner. If
the answer is no, the tenant has the date the clock started.

## Charges Agreed on a Doorstep

The other consequence of informality is money. In small Scranton buildings
an animal charge is often an extra amount folded into the rent, agreed
verbally and never itemized.

Once an animal is approved as a reasonable accommodation under Act 118, it
is not a pet, and the charges that attach to pets do not attach to it. The
form the charge takes makes no difference — the question is whether it is
imposed because of the animal.

The deposit itself is separately capped by the Landlord and Tenant Act of
1951: two months' rent in the first year of a lease, one month's rent
afterward, with a written list of damages and the balance due within thirty
days of the tenant vacating and double damages where that deadline is
missed.

## What a Landlord May Require

Act 118 is narrower than most landlords assume. Section 3(a) permits a
documentation request only where the disability or the disability-related
need is not readily apparent or known to the provider — so in some
tenancies there is no paperwork step at all.

Where the request is proper, three things are asked of the documentation by
§ 3(b): writing, reliability resting on direct knowledge, and a description
of the disability-related need for the animal. The middle requirement is about
whether the person who wrote the letter actually knows the tenant's
situation, not about how the letter looks.

## The Duty Behind It

Section 5(h)(3.2) of the Human Relations Act makes it unlawful to refuse to
make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices or services
where they may be necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy a
housing accommodation. Act 118 supplies the definition; § 5(h)(3.2) supplies
the obligation.

A landlord who has never encountered either tends to respond better to the
subsections than to an argument about fairness, which is another reason to
put the request in writing.

## Building a Usable File

Four items cover almost every Scranton dispute: the written request with its
date, the supporting documentation, any reply — including a reply that only
promises to think about it — and the date of a refusal or of the last
unanswered follow-up.

Act 118 imposes no deadline on the landlord's decision, so silence can drift
for months without ever becoming a refusal anybody wrote down. Following up
in writing at a fixed interval turns that drift into a documented sequence.

## When the Building Changes Hands

Older Scranton buildings trade regularly, and a sale is exactly where an
undocumented approval evaporates. A new owner takes the property and the
tenancy, but not the previous owner's remembered agreement about an animal.

The obligation itself carries over, because § 5(h)(3.2) applies to whoever
is acting as the housing provider. The file is what a tenant needs: the request as sent, the letter that
supported it, and any approval that came back in writing.
Producing those usually settles the question with a new managing agent in a
single exchange.

## The Dwelling Is the Scope

Act 118 defines a service animal by reference to the Americans with
Disabilities Act and the Human Relations Act, and defines an assistance
animal separately as one qualifying as a reasonable accommodation. The
accommodation a Scranton tenant is asking for concerns the dwelling.

Whether an animal may enter a shop or a diner is a separate question under
separate rules. Landlords sometimes raise it as though it answered the
housing request; it does not, and saying so early keeps the exchange on the
point actually in dispute.

## No Credential Exists to Produce

Pennsylvania issues no ESA registration and no state credential. Where a
landlord asks for certification, the accurate reply is that Act 118 requires
documentation meeting § 3(b) and nothing more — a written statement from
someone with direct knowledge, describing the disability-related need.

## A Second Source for the Same Duty

Federal law runs alongside the state statute. HUD's regulation at
24 C.F.R. § 100.204 makes it unlawful "to refuse to make reasonable
accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such
accommodations may be necessary to afford a handicapped person equal
opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit, including public and common use
areas."

Two independent sources for one obligation is worth knowing about in a city
where a landlord may never have encountered either.

## Screening First, Request Second

No applicant is obliged to raise an assistance animal while being screened,
and a disability is not a proper screening subject. Applying on income,
references and credit, then submitting the accommodation request in writing
once an application is approved, keeps the animal out of a decision it
should play no part in — and settles the money question before anything is
signed.

## What to Include in the Request

A workable Scranton request is short. Name the accommodation sought — keeping
the animal in the unit, free of any charge that would otherwise apply to a
pet. Attach documentation that meets § 3(b). Date it, and keep whatever comes
back.

Nothing else is required, and adding a diagnosis narrative or an online
certificate invites a landlord to treat the extra material as the standard.

Small-portfolio landlords rarely refuse outright. They defer, and deferral
is what quietly consumes a six-month window. Treat a second unanswered
follow-up as the point to seek advice rather than the point to wait longer.

## Help in Lackawanna County

North Penn Legal Services covers northeastern Pennsylvania from its Pittston
office and handles housing and landlord-tenant matters, including fair
housing questions; applications go through 877-953-4250 or its website.
Disability Rights Pennsylvania is the statewide protection and advocacy
organization, and the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network maintains a directory of
providers by county.

Complaints themselves go to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
inside the 180-day period. Our guide to
[what a landlord can and cannot do](/blog/articles/can-landlord-deny-emotional-support-animal/) covers how a refusal is assessed, and
the [Pennsylvania ESA law overview](/blog/pennsylvania-emotional-support-animal/) sets out the statewide rules.

## What Scranton 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 Scranton

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

- [North Penn Legal Services](https://www.northpennlegal.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 Scranton landlord agreed to the animal verbally. Is that enough?

It is real, but it is hard to prove later in a market where buildings change hands and managers turn over. A short written request naming the accommodation, with the supporting documentation attached, converts an understanding into a record — and it fixes the date the 180-day period in § 9(h) would run from.

### Can an informal monthly animal payment be required?

No, once the accommodation is approved. The Human Relations Act's duty at § 5(h)(3.2) concerns rules, policies, practices or services, and Act 118 treats a qualifying assistance animal as an accommodation rather than a pet. A charge collected because of the animal falls outside that framework however it is described.

### Which legal aid organization serves northeastern Pennsylvania?

North Penn Legal Services covers the region from its Pittston office and handles housing and landlord-tenant matters, including fair housing and discrimination questions. Applications can be made by phone at 877-953-4250 or online.

### When can a landlord require paperwork at all?

Section 3(a) of Act 118 allows a documentation request only where the disability or the disability-related need is not readily apparent or known to the housing provider. Where that threshold is not met, the statute does not authorize a request.

### What must the documentation contain?

Under § 3(b) it must be in writing, be reliable and based on direct knowledge, and describe the disability-related need for the animal. The direct-knowledge requirement is about the relationship behind the letter rather than its format.

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

180 days from the alleged act of discrimination, under § 9(h) of the Human Relations Act. That is the shortest window among the large states, and it runs from the discriminatory act rather than from the point a tenant decides to act on it.

### What happens to my deposit at the end of a Scranton tenancy?

The Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951 requires a written list of damages and the return of the balance within thirty days of the lease terminating, and makes a landlord who fails to do so liable in assumpsit to double the amount by which the escrowed sum exceeds actual damages.

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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%2Fscranton