# Garland ESA Rules: Rented Houses & Remote Owners

> Garland rents houses more than apartments, often through out-of-area managers. How to get an emotional support animal approved when nobody is local.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/texas-emotional-support-animal/garland/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-07-28
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 250,431
- Households renting: 38.4%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): $0 for a documented ESA; Texas sets no cap on an ordinary pet deposit, only the 30-day refund duty in Property Code § 92.103
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): $0 for a documented ESA; pet rent is unregulated statewide
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## When the Rental Is a House and the Landlord Is Elsewhere

Garland has roughly 250,431 residents and rents to 38.4% of its households —
an owner-majority suburb, and a much lower renter share than neighboring
Irving or Dallas. What it rents is different too. A large share of the
available stock is postwar single-family housing rather than apartment
communities, houses built for owners and later converted to rentals.

That produces a landlord who is frequently not in Garland. The lease may be
administered by a management company handling scattered houses across the
metro, or by an owner in another state, with only a maintenance contractor
appearing in person.

For a tenant requesting an emotional support animal, the distance is the
whole problem. There is no leasing office to walk into and no manager whose
job is to say yes.

## Getting the Request in Front of Someone Who Can Decide

The rule to work from is that the request should go to whoever signs and
administers the lease, because that party acts for the owner.

If a management company appears on the lease, send it there in writing. If
the only human the tenant ever interacts with is a maintenance contractor,
send it to both — a request that reaches only a contractor may never be
recorded by anyone with authority, and months later the company can
accurately say it never received one.

Two things belong in that message. First, the accommodation request itself,
naming the animal and attaching the letter from the licensed professional.
Second, an explicit ask that pet rent, any pet deposit, and any pet fee be
removed. Both halves matter, because in scattered-house portfolios approval
and billing are often handled by different departments.

## "The Owner Has a Strict No-Pets Rule"

This is the standard Garland refusal, and it is delivered by someone who
usually believes it settles the matter.

It does not. A no-pets rule is precisely the kind of policy the
reasonable-accommodation duty exists to modify. Both the federal Fair
Housing Act and Tex. Prop. Code § 301.025 of its Texas counterpart treat the
refusal of a needed rule change as discrimination against a disabled tenant.
An owner's preference is not an exception to that.

A property manager who says the owner will not allow it should be routing
the request to the owner, not denying it at the desk. Naming the Texas Fair
Housing Act in the written request tends to prompt exactly that escalation,
because it gives a manager something specific to check with the company's
own counsel.

## A House Is a Dwelling

Renters sometimes assume that fair-housing rules are an apartment thing and
that a leased house sits outside them.

Leased single-family houses are dwellings, and the accommodation duty
applies in full. Pet rent and pet deposits come off. Breed lists and weight
caps cannot be enforced against an assistance animal — including the
portfolio-wide restrictions a management company may apply identically
across every house it handles, and including restrictions attributed to an
insurer. Only a specific animal's conduct, a direct threat or substantial
damage, supports a refusal.

Texas does not regulate the pet amounts in any case. Property Code § 92.103
requires a security deposit returned within 30 days after the tenant
surrenders the premises, and sets no maximum on the amount, so the numbers
are whatever the portfolio decided to charge.

## Yards, Fences, and Damage Fears

The specific worry raised about rented houses in Garland is outdoor damage:
a dug-up yard, a chewed fence, a torn screen door.

The concern is understandable and does not change the rule. A landlord may
not collect money in advance for an assistance animal, whether the money is
labeled pet rent, a pet deposit, or an outdoor-damage surcharge. The
protection against that risk is the ordinary one — a claim after move-out
for damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, out of the regular security
deposit or by separate demand.

That framing usually satisfies a nervous owner once it is explained: the
liability has not disappeared, it has moved from a prepayment to a bill for
whatever actually happens.

Documenting the property's condition at move-in, with dated photographs of
the yard and fencing, protects both sides at the far end of the tenancy.

## What the Landlord May Ask, and What They May Not

A Garland landlord is entitled to reliable documentation from a licensed
professional confirming a disability and connecting the animal to a need
related to it. That is the extent of the entitlement.

A demand for a diagnosis, treatment records, a notarized statement, or a
letter on the management company's own form goes beyond what fair-housing
law permits. Texas has no documentation statute at all, so no state form
exists for either party to insist on, and no state waiting period governs
when a provider may write the letter.

Certificates and ID cards sold online are not documentation either. Texas
maintains no ESA registry, and Human Resources Code § 121.002 defines an
assistance or service animal as a canine specially trained or equipped —
which is why § 121.006 makes it an offense to claim an animal qualifies when
it does not, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 plus 30 hours of community
service since September 1, 2023.

## Filing a Complaint

If the request is refused, or goes unanswered long enough to function as a
refusal, the complaint goes to the Texas Workforce Commission, which
Property Code § 301.0015 placed in charge of the Texas Fair Housing Act.
Section 301.081 sets the form: written, under oath, and filed within one
year of the day the practice took place or ceased.

A federal complaint to HUD may run alongside it, though the 2020 HUD notice
on assistance animals was withdrawn effective September 17, 2025, which
leaves the state route as the more dependable first step.

The [Texas Tenants' Union](https://txtenants.org/) has counseled North Texas renters through lease disputes for
decades, [Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas](https://www.lanwt.org/) represents people who qualify financially, and [TexasLawHelp](https://texaslawhelp.org/) publishes
plain-language guides useful when drafting the request. Tenants with
vouchers, and those in public housing, are protected on identical terms by
the Fair Housing Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

## Maintenance Visits and the Animal

Scattered-house portfolios send contractors, and requests about the animal
tend to arrive alongside a repair appointment.

A landlord may reasonably ask that an animal be secured while a worker is
inside the unit — that is a safety rule about a visit, not a charge or a
restriction on keeping the animal. What it may not do is treat the request
as an opening to reopen the accommodation, demand new documentation, or
attach a fee to the visit.

A tenant asked to crate or confine the animal during scheduled maintenance
is generally on solid ground agreeing. The line to watch is a pattern of
unscheduled visits used to build a case that the animal is a nuisance.

For the statewide picture, see the [Texas ESA guide](/blog/texas-emotional-support-animal/), our [guide to getting an ESA letter](/blog/articles/how-to-get-esa-letter/), and [what a landlord can and cannot do](/blog/articles/can-landlord-deny-emotional-support-animal/).

## What Garland landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot charge pet rent, a pet deposit, or a pet fee for a documented emotional support animal
- Cannot enforce a breed list or a weight limit against an assistance animal
- Cannot demand a diagnosis, therapy notes, or medical records as the price of approving the animal
- Cannot refuse the request simply because the building advertises a no-pets policy

**Can:**
- May ask for reliable documentation from a licensed professional confirming the disability-related need
- May deny or later remove a specific animal that poses a direct threat to others or causes substantial property damage
- May hold the tenant responsible for repairing actual damage the animal causes

## How to get an ESA letter in Garland

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

- [Texas Tenants' Union](https://txtenants.org/) (tenant advocacy)
- [Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas](https://www.lanwt.org/) (legal aid)
- [TexasLawHelp](https://texaslawhelp.org/) (legal information)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Garland rental house is managed by a company in another state. Who do I send the ESA request to?

Send it to the management company that signs and administers the lease, since it acts for the owner, and keep a copy. If a local maintenance contact is the only person the tenant ever deals with, send it to both. A request that reaches only a contractor may never be recorded by the party with authority to approve it.

### Does renting a house instead of an apartment change my ESA rights in Garland?

No. Fair-housing law applies to dwellings, and a leased single-family house is a dwelling. The reasonable-accommodation duty under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Texas Fair Housing Act applies the same way it would in an apartment community, including the removal of pet rent and pet deposits.

### Can a Garland landlord charge a pet deposit for an emotional support animal?

No. The lease can call it a pet deposit, pet rent, or a one-time fee; all three are pet charges, and a documented assistance animal is an accommodation rather than a pet. The tenant's exposure is limited to repairing damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, handled after move-out under the security-deposit rules in Property Code Chapter 92.

### The property manager says the owner has a strict no-pets rule. Is that the end of it?

No. A no-pets rule is exactly the kind of policy the accommodation duty modifies, and an owner's preference does not override it. The manager should route the request to the owner rather than deny it at the desk, which is one reason to make the request in writing and to reference the Texas Fair Housing Act by name.

### My Garland lease has a yard and the owner worries about damage. Can they charge extra?

Not in advance for the animal. A landlord cannot collect pet rent or a pet deposit for an assistance animal, including for outdoor damage risk. What the landlord can do is bill after move-out for actual damage beyond reasonable wear and tear, which covers a torn screen or a damaged fence the same as any other repair.

### Can a Garland landlord refuse my support dog because of its breed?

No. Breed lists and weight caps are pet policies that cannot be enforced against an assistance animal as blanket rules, even when a portfolio applies them across every house it manages. A landlord may act only against a specific animal shown to pose a direct threat or to have caused substantial damage.

### Where does a Garland renter file an ESA housing complaint?

The window is one year. Section 301.081 takes the complaint only in writing and only sworn, and it has to land on or before the first anniversary of the discriminatory housing practice. The Texas Workforce Commission receives it, holding the Texas Fair Housing Act under Property Code § 301.0015. The Texas Tenants' Union and Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas can help a renter prepare.

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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=texas-emotional-support-animal%2Fgarland