# ESA Letter in Sioux Falls, SD: The Clause About Sellers

> SDCL 43-32-35 disqualifies documentation from a provider that exists only to certify animals. In South Dakota's biggest rental market, that clause gets used.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 209,289
- Households renting: 40.5%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Barred as accommodation
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $25-$50/mo for pets
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## The largest rental market in the state, and only its fifth most rented

Sioux Falls has 34,786 renting households out of 85,992 occupied homes, 40.5
percent on the 2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate. That
is more renting households than the next five South Dakota municipalities
combined, and it is still only **sixth of the state's twenty largest by
share**, behind Vermillion, Brookings, Box Elder, Spearfish and Mitchell.

Both things follow from scale. At 209,289 people on the 2024 Census
estimate, Sioux Falls is two and a half times Rapid City and roughly seven
times Aberdeen. Median gross rent is $1,035 against $946 statewide.

Scale also means professional management: large portfolios, standard leases,
staff who process accommodation requests every week and have read the
statute that governs them. Which is why the sentence below matters more here
than anywhere else in South Dakota.

## The clause that describes the seller

SDCL 43-32-35:

> "The supporting documentation shall confirm the tenant's disability and the
> relationship between the tenant's disability and the need for the requested
> accommodation. The documentation shall originate from a licensed health care
> provider **who does not operate in this state solely to provide certification for
> service or assistance animals.**"

Most states that regulate ESA documentation do it by listing licence types:
physician, psychologist, licensed clinical social worker. South Dakota did
something different and, for a tenant in Sioux Falls, more consequential: it
disqualified a provider by describing what the provider **does**.

If the whole of an operation's South Dakota activity is issuing certificates for
animals, the documentation it produces does not satisfy the section. Not "is weaker."
Does not satisfy it.

Be precise about what the clause is not. It is not a rule against telehealth, and it
is not a rule against clinicians outside South Dakota. The words are "does not
operate **in this state solely to provide certification**": a description of the
practice's activity here, not of its address. A licensed clinician who treats patients
and also writes housing determinations is inside the section without anyone having to
think about it.

## Why a Sioux Falls management office recognises the template

A 40-unit landlord in a small town may see two accommodation requests a
year. A Sioux Falls company running two thousand units sees them weekly, and
has seen the same three certificate layouts dozens of times: same wording,
same signature block, same domain in the letterhead.

That is not a hunch on their part. It is pattern recognition backed by a
statute that was written for exactly this, and it means the rejection
arrives before anyone reads the substance of your request. In the state's
biggest market, the source of the document is checked first.

## What the landlord may and may not ask

SDCL 43-32-34 gives them the right to ask, in terms:

> "A landlord may require reliable supporting documentation be provided by a tenant of
> a rental dwelling unit, if the tenant asserts a disability requiring under any
> provision of law that a service animal or assistance animal be allowed as an
> accommodation on the rented premises."

The section's one limit (where the disability or the disability-related need is
"readily apparent or already known to the landlord") is realistic in a small town and
almost never available in a Sioux Falls high-turnover building where the leasing agent
met you last week.

## Where the underlying right comes from

Not from 43-32-34, which regulates proof of a right "under any provision of law"
without creating one. The right runs through **42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B)**, the federal
Fair Housing Act's reasonable-accommodation duty, and through SDCL 20-13-23.7's
one-sentence state duty that good faith efforts "shall be made to reasonably
accommodate the disabled person" in housing unless the accommodation would impose
undue hardship.

The charges come off separately, through SDCL 20-13-20(2), discrimination because of
disability "in the terms, conditions, or privileges" of a rental. And SDCL 43-32-6.1
caps any residential deposit at one month's rent "however denominated," which stops a
Sioux Falls landlord stacking a pet charge on top of a full deposit by renaming it.

## What the landlord keeps

Damage. Under SDCL 43-32-24 the deposit may be applied to restoring the
premises to their condition at the commencement of the tenancy, ordinary
wear and tear excepted, and an approved animal's damage is squarely inside
that. The same section gives you a hard edge in return: twenty-one days to
return the deposit or furnish written reasons, forty-five days for an
itemised accounting on request, and forfeiture of all right to withhold
anything if the landlord misses it.

## And the section on the other side

SDCL 43-32-36 lets a lessor evict and claim up to a thousand dollars where someone
"knowingly" made a false claim of disability or knowingly supplied fraudulent
documentation. In a market with this much certificate advertising aimed at it, that is
not a theoretical provision — but the word "knowingly" is doing real work. A genuine
request that fails is not within it.

## Before you write to the leasing office

Three things make a Sioux Falls request land better, and none of them is a
citation.

**Put it in writing and keep the copy.** SDCL 20-13-31 runs 180 days from the practice and has no
discovery language in it, so the date of a refusal is worth fixing while it is fresh.

**Name what you are asking for.** "An exception to the no-pets clause as a reasonable accommodation"
is a request a compliance process can answer. "Can I have my dog here" is a question a leasing agent
answers from the pet policy.

**Send the documentation with the request, not after it.** A large portfolio's process usually
routes an accommodation request to somebody other than the person at the desk, and a request with
nothing attached tends to sit while the file waits for paperwork.

**Expect the process, not a conversation.** In a large portfolio the person who answers the phone
is rarely the person who decides. That is not obstruction. It is why the written version matters,
and why a request that arrives complete tends to move faster than one that arrives in pieces.

## Getting a determination that survives 43-32-35

Start with a clinician you already see. A therapist, counsellor or
prescriber in Sioux Falls satisfies the source requirement automatically,
can speak to a disability-related need from your history rather than from
one appointment, and charges nothing beyond the visit.

Sioux Falls has the deepest clinical bench in South Dakota, which makes this
the most realistic route in the state, and it is still not quick. Waits of
two to four months are ordinary for a new patient, several large practices
decline to write housing documentation as a matter of policy, and a
prescriber managing medication may not consider a housing accommodation
their assessment to make.

Where that route is closed, a licensed evaluation is the same examination
arranged deliberately. A licensed clinician works out whether you have a
disability and whether this animal is connected to it, then either writes
the determination or explains that they will not. Both endings are real.

South Dakota is unusual in letting you check the difference against a
statute. Ask whether the provider does anything in South Dakota other than
issue certificates for animals. If the answer is no, SDCL 43-32-35 has
already answered your Sioux Falls landlord's question for them.

## What Sioux Falls landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- May not require documentation at all where the disability or the disability-related need is readily apparent or already known to them, SDCL 43-32-34, second sentence.
- May not discriminate because of disability in the terms, conditions or privileges of the rental, SDCL 20-13-20(2). A pet deposit or monthly pet charge on a required accommodation is caught here.
- May not take a security deposit above one month's rent "however denominated", SDCL 43-32-6.1, so a pet fee cannot be stacked on top of a full deposit by renaming it.

**Can:**
- May require reliable supporting documentation where a tenant asserts a disability requiring an assistance animal, SDCL 43-32-34. This is an express statutory right and arguing that a South Dakota landlord may not ask is simply wrong.
- May insist the documentation confirm both the disability and the relationship between the disability and the need for the animal, and that it come from a licensed health care provider who does not operate in South Dakota solely to certify animals, SDCL 43-32-35.
- Must make good faith efforts to reasonably accommodate a person with a disability in housing, unless the accommodation would impose undue hardship, SDCL 20-13-23.7, with punitive damages available under SDCL 20-13-35.1.
- Must return the deposit or give written reasons within twenty-one days of termination, and forfeits all right to withhold anything by failing to, SDCL 43-32-24.
- May evict and claim a damage fee of up to one thousand dollars where a tenant knowingly makes a false claim of disability or knowingly supplies fraudulent documentation, SDCL 43-32-36.
- Is not required by the chapter to modify the property, incur additional expenses or exercise a higher degree of care, SDCL 20-13-21.1. Waiving a no-pets rule asks for none of those things.

## How to get an ESA letter in Sioux Falls

1. **Check that you qualify**, Answer a short screening about how your condition affects daily life in Sioux Falls. No diagnosis paperwork needed up front. (About 5 minutes: free)
2. **Connect with a licensed professional**, You are matched with a provider licensed for South Dakota 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 South Dakota 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 Sioux Falls. (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 Sioux Falls

- [Sioux Falls Housing](https://www.siouxfallshousing.org/) (local housing authority)
- [Inter-Lakes Community Action Partnership](https://www.interlakescap.com/) (community action agency)
- [SD Division of Human Rights](https://dlr.sd.gov/human_rights/default.aspx) (state civil rights agency)
- [Dakota Plains Legal Services](https://www.dpls.org/) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### What makes a Sioux Falls landlord reject an ESA letter outright?

Its source, usually before anyone reads the contents. SDCL 43-32-35 requires documentation to come from a licensed health care provider "who does not operate in this state solely to provide certification for service or assistance animals." A large Sioux Falls management company that has seen the same certificate template forty times knows the clause applies to it. The rejection is not a judgment about you. It is the statute doing what it was drafted to do.

### Does that clause mean my clinician has to be in South Dakota?

No, and the wording is careful. The disqualifier is a provider who does not "operate in this state solely to provide certification". It describes what the practice does within South Dakota, not where the practitioner sits. A licensed clinician who sees patients and also writes housing determinations satisfies the section. A website whose entire South Dakota activity is issuing certificates does not, wherever it is based.

### Can a Sioux Falls landlord charge a pet deposit for my assistance animal?

Not where the animal is a genuine accommodation. South Dakota has no sentence saying so directly, so the charge comes off through SDCL 20-13-20(2), which makes it unlawful to discriminate because of disability in "the terms, conditions, or privileges" of a rental, and through the federal Fair Housing Act. Separately, SDCL 43-32-6.1 caps any residential deposit at one month's rent "however denominated," so a pet charge cannot be stacked on a full deposit under another name.

### What has to be in the letter itself?

Two confirmations. SDCL 43-32-35 requires the documentation to confirm your disability and to confirm "the relationship between the tenant's disability and the need for the requested accommodation." A letter naming a diagnosis and stopping there fails the second half on its face, and in a market this size that failure gets noticed.

### Is my landlord allowed to ask for documents at all?

Yes. SDCL 43-32-34 gives a landlord an express right to require reliable supporting documentation where a tenant asserts a disability requiring an assistance animal as an accommodation. The only bar is where the disability or the disability-related need is "readily apparent or already known" to them. In a 200-unit Sioux Falls building where nobody knows you, expect the request and expect it to be lawful.

### How long do I have if a Sioux Falls landlord refuses?

180 days. SDCL 20-13-31 requires a charge to be filed "within one hundred and eighty days after the alleged discriminatory or unfair practice occurred," and South Dakota's clock carries no discovery language. It runs from the refusal itself. Charges go to the Division of Human Rights inside the Department of Labor and Regulation.

### What happens if I submit a letter I know is fake?

SDCL 43-32-36 lets the lessor evict and claim a damage fee of up to one thousand dollars where a person is found to have knowingly made a false claim of disability or knowingly provided fraudulent supporting documentation. The word carrying the section is "knowingly." A genuine request that fails is not caught by it; a manufactured document is.

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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=south-dakota-emotional-support-animal%2Fsioux-falls