# ESA Letter in Marysville, WA: Property Managers, Fees & Refusals

> Marysville rents at 30.6%, mostly houses let through management firms. Why an agent relaying an owner's no-pets instruction is answerable under the same rules.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/washington-emotional-support-animal/marysville/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-08-02
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 76,209
- Households renting: 30.6%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Houses, let at one remove

Marysville rents at 30.6%: around 8,000 of 25,969 occupied units on the
2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, more than five points
below the statewide 36.2%.

Everett, immediately south across the river, rents at 51.0%. A short drive
separates one of Snohomish County's most-rented cities from one of its least,
and the housing types behind the two numbers differ just as sharply: Everett
is apartments, Marysville is detached houses and townhouse-style homes.

What distinguishes Marysville from other low-density rental markets is who
answers the phone. A great many of these houses are owned individually but let
through small property management firms, so the tenant deals with an agent and
the agent deals with an owner who is rarely in the conversation.

## The agent is a landlord too

That structure produces the characteristic local answer to an accommodation
request: the manager says the owner's instruction is no animals, and treats
the matter as closed because the decision was made elsewhere.

WAC 162-38-040 does not permit that division of responsibility. For the
purposes of the chapter on disability discrimination in real estate
transactions, the term landlord takes in anyone other than the occupant who
controls the use of the property under a claim of right arising from an
ownership interest, and the definition expressly extends to owners of rental
property, trustees, receivers, and **agents or others acting in the interest
of any such persons**.

A management firm administering the letting is therefore inside the
regulation. WAC 162-38-100(3) bites on it directly: turning a disabled
applicant away over their use of an assistance animal is an unfair practice,
and the no-pet policy has no application to such an animal.

An instruction received from an owner is not a defence to applying it. It
identifies a second person subject to the same rule.

## Sending the request to the right place

The practical consequence is worth acting on rather than merely knowing.

Where a manager declines to forward a request, or answers on the owner's
behalf without apparently consulting them, the request should be put in
writing and addressed to the management firm as landlord, because on this
definition, that is what it is. Asking the firm to confirm in writing that the
request was passed on, and what the response was, produces a record that
identifies who actually decided.

That record is the thing most often missing when a tenant later tries to
explain what happened.

## What the charges can and cannot be

WAC 162-38-100(5) does not permit an animal-specific deposit to be stacked on
the cleaning or damage deposit a disabled tenant is already paying, and a
charge billed monthly is the same money on a slower schedule.

Subsection (4) leaves the ordinary deposit standing, subject to one condition
worth testing in a market of individually owned houses: it must be enforced
equally on all tenants. Where an owner or manager applies a deposit
selectively, that is not the standard deposit the regulation preserves.

## What the lease calls the money

Marysville leases frequently carry a nonrefundable cleaning or administrative
fee sitting beside the deposit, and Washington attaches consequences to the
wording.

Under RCW 59.18.285, sums the tenant will not get back cannot be recorded as
a deposit or any portion of one, and a fee that truly is nonrefundable has
to appear in a written agreement stating that plainly. Where the agreement
does not, the money must be treated as a refundable deposit, which brings it
inside the accounting and return rules that govern the end of a tenancy.

Nor may a deposit be collected at all unless there is a written agreement and
a checklist recording the condition and cleanliness of the property, signed
and dated by both sides at the start (RCW 59.18.260).

## A definition that reaches further than people expect

Tenants regularly assume the framework is for serious, permanent or visibly
apparent conditions.

RCW 49.60.040 sets the threshold considerably lower. An impairment counts
where a clinician could recognise or diagnose it, where a record establishes
it, or where others perceive it to exist whether or not it does in fact. The
statute then adds that it counts whether temporary or permanent, common or
uncommon, mitigated or unmitigated, and whether or not it limits the ability
to work.

Nowhere does it ask whether a major life activity is substantially limited.

## Training does not enter into it

Owners and managers researching the subject find the state's service animal
definition first: an individually trained dog or miniature horse, with comfort
and companionship expressly excluded from the meaning of work or tasks.

RCW 49.60.040(25) then removes that subsection from RCW 49.60.222 through
49.60.227 in respect of housing accommodations and real estate transactions,
which is Washington's fair housing law in its entirety. The training standard
operates in workplaces and public places, not in a home. The applicable
provision is RCW 49.60.222(2)(b) and its accommodation duty.

There is also no register to appear on. Washington certifies nothing and
records nothing, so material sold online addresses none of the questions the
regulation puts.

## Before an animal can be excluded

WAC 162-38-105 permits a demand for removal only where two things are
established together: unreasonable danger to people or property arising from
what the animal does, and an earlier reasonable attempt at correcting that
behaviour which has failed.

Risk that is remote or merely speculative does not qualify. The regulation
requires it to be immediate or reasonably foreseeable. Annoyance among
neighbours or staff is expressly excluded. Risk to the animal itself is a
judgement for the person who relies on it. And a problem confined to part of a
property will not support excluding the animal from the whole.

## Spreading the move-in cost

Detached homes carry larger deposits than flats, and the sums asked for at
signing stop some Marysville tenancies before they start.

RCW 59.18.610 answers that with a right rather than a concession. On a written
request the landlord must let deposits, nonrefundable fees and last month's
rent be paid across three consecutive equal monthly instalments where the term
runs three months or longer, and two where it is shorter. Adding a fee or
charging interest for taking that route is prohibited, and the schedule has to
be written down and signed by both parties.

Refusing carries a statutory penalty of one month's rent plus reasonable
attorneys' fees. The same section also caps any sum taken merely to hold a
property at twenty-five percent of the first month's rent.

## Naming the right respondent

Marysville has no municipal civil rights office, so housing discrimination
complaints go to the Washington State Human Rights Commission.
Six months is the general ceiling under RCW 49.60.230(2); housing sits
outside it, carrying twelve months for anything under RCW 49.60.222 through
49.60.225, timed from when the practice happened or stopped. Submissions go
via the commission's online portal, backed by a toll-free line on
1-800-233-3247.

A private option exists too. The Fair Housing Center of Washington puts its
service area at 23 counties across the western and central parts of the
state, which covers this one, useful for understanding a problem, though it
decides nothing.

When filing, name both the management firm and the owner. On the definition
above, both are landlords, and a complaint that identifies only the messenger
leaves out the person whose instruction is being challenged.

For the statutes behind these rules, see the
[Washington ESA law guide](/blog/washington-emotional-support-animal/), and our
[guide to getting an ESA letter](/blog/articles/how-to-get-esa-letter/) for what
a defensible letter contains.

## What Marysville landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot apply the trained-task definition of a service animal to a housing request, because RCW 49.60.040(25) states that the subsection does not apply to RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.227 for housing accommodations or real estate transactions
- Cannot refuse to make reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where that accommodation may be necessary to afford a person with a sensory, mental or physical disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling
- Cannot apply a no-pet policy to the assistance animal of a person with a disability, under WAC 162-38-100(3)
- Cannot charge a pet deposit on top of any standard cleaning or damage deposit, which WAC 162-38-100(5) makes an unfair practice outright
- Cannot demand that the animal be removed unless its presence, behaviour or actions pose an unreasonable risk of injury or harm and a reasonable attempt to correct that behaviour has already failed, under WAC 162-38-105
- Cannot treat staff or neighbour annoyance at the animal as the kind of risk that justifies removal, and cannot exclude it from the whole property over a risk confined to part of it
- Cannot inquire into matters personal to a disabled applicant beyond what is necessary and appropriate to the landlord-tenant relationship, under WAC 162-38-110
- Cannot require a waiver of rights or a hold-harmless as a condition of the transaction because a disabled person or a person with an assistance animal will occupy the property, under WAC 162-38-120
- Cannot collect any deposit at all without a written agreement and a signed move-in checklist, or keep any of it without a documented statement within thirty days

**Can:**
- May charge its standard cleaning or damage deposit, provided the same deposit is enforced equally on every tenant, which WAC 162-38-100(4) expressly permits
- May ask for information supporting the disability and the disability-related need for the animal where neither is readily apparent
- May hold the tenant responsible for damage the animal actually causes, substantiated at move-out by invoices or estimates like any other charge
- May fall outside the accommodation duty entirely in two narrow cases under RCW 49.60.222(2): an unadvertised single-family house let by an owner holding no more than three, and an owner-occupied dwelling of no more than four units, though the section's other prohibitions still apply

## How to get an ESA letter in Marysville

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

- [Washington State Human Rights Commission](https://www.hum.wa.gov/fair-housing) (state agency)
- [Fair Housing Center of Washington](https://www.fhcwashington.org/) (fair housing)
- [Northwest Justice Project](https://nwjustice.org/get-legal-help) (legal aid)
- [Tenants Union of Washington State](https://tenantsunion.org/) (tenant advocacy)

## Frequently asked questions

### The property manager says the owner's instruction is no animals. Who is responsible?

Both, as far as this chapter is concerned. WAC 162-38-040 defines a landlord to include owners of rental property and agents or others acting in the interest of such persons, so a management firm administering the letting is inside the regulation. WAC 162-38-100(3) then prevents a no-pet policy being applied to the assistance animal of a person with a disability, whoever is relaying the instruction.

### Can a management company charge a pet deposit for an assistance animal?

Not on top of what is already being charged. Where the tenant is disabled and the animal assists with that disability, WAC 162-38-100(5) rules out an animal-specific deposit sitting beside the cleaning or damage deposit. Subsection (4) leaves that ordinary deposit intact, on the condition that it is enforced equally on all tenants rather than only where an animal is present.

### The lease has a nonrefundable cleaning fee. Will I get it back?

That depends on the wording. RCW 59.18.285 prohibits designating nonrefundable money as a deposit or part of one, and requires a written rental agreement clearly specifying that a fee is nonrefundable. Where the agreement does not say so, the fee must be treated as a refundable deposit, which brings it inside the return and accounting rules that govern the end of a tenancy.

### Does my animal need training or certification here?

Neither one. RCW 49.60.040(25) carries a trained-animal test, then exempts housing and real estate transactions from it by lifting the subsection away from RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.227. The state's entire fair housing law. There is no official credential to buy either, since Washington neither registers these animals nor certifies them.

### How severe does my condition need to be?

Washington's definition is wider than the federal one. RCW 49.60.040 counts an impairment where a clinician could recognise or diagnose it, where a record establishes it, or where others perceive it to exist, and states that it counts whether temporary or permanent, common or uncommon, mitigated or unmitigated. Nothing requires that a major life activity be substantially limited.

### What must happen before I can be told to remove the animal?

WAC 162-38-105 asks for two things and a landlord must have both: real hazard to people or property traceable to the animal's conduct, plus a prior sensible effort at putting that conduct right which came to nothing. Risk that is remote or speculative does not count, annoyance among neighbours or staff is expressly excluded, and trouble confined to part of a property will not justify barring the animal from all of it.

### How does Marysville compare with Everett?

The two are very different. Marysville rents at 30.6%, roughly 8,000 of 25,969 occupied housing units on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, more than five points below the statewide 36.2%. Everett, just to the south, rents at 51.0%. One of the highest shares in Washington.

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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=washington-emotional-support-animal%2Fmarysville