# ESA Letter in Redmond, WA: Deposit Alternatives, Screening & Pet Rent

> Redmond is Washington's most-rented large city at 56.8%. What a deposit-substitute fee cannot be conditioned on, and what a screening vendor may ask.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 82,195
- Households renting: 56.8%
- 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)

## The most rented city in the state

Redmond rents at 56.8%: roughly 18,800 of 33,100 occupied units on the
2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is the highest
renter share of any of Washington's twenty largest cities, narrowly ahead of
Seattle at 56.3% and Bellingham at 55.4%, and more than twenty points clear of
the statewide 36.2%.

The buildings behind that figure are new, large and professionally run, and a
substantial part of the population arrives on relocation, often into a lease
signed remotely, weeks before anyone sees the unit.

That combination produces a particular set of frictions. Not a landlord
refusing an animal outright, but a portal, a vendor, a bundle of optional
products, and an applicant with little local knowledge and no time.

## The deposit that was replaced by a fee

The Eastside has adopted deposit-substitute products faster than anywhere
else in Washington. Instead of a security deposit, the applicant is offered a
smaller recurring fee, usually payable to a third party, and the deposit
requirement is waived.

RCW 59.18.670 sets conditions on the practice, and they are worth reading
closely because one of them names disability.

The fee in lieu must be strictly optional, and the tenant has to remain free
to pay a full security deposit instead. Whichever the applicant picks may not
be used as a criterion in deciding whether to approve the application. And
where a landlord offers the option at all, it must be offered to every
prospective tenant whose application has been approved: without further
regard to income, race, gender, **disability**, source of income, sexual
orientation, immigration status, household size or credit score.

An applicant who discloses a disability or requests an accommodation, and then
finds the deposit-waiver option no longer on the table, is looking at the
situation that subsection was drafted for.

## What the screening vendor may ask

Large Redmond buildings outsource animal screening. The product asks for
records, photographs and a behavioural profile, and it arrives inside the
application flow where it reads as mandatory.

It is not a source of legal obligation. The housing question in Washington is
whether the applicant has a disability and whether the animal is needed
because of it, and where those are not readily apparent a landlord may ask for
supporting information.

WAC 162-38-110 then caps the enquiry: pressing a disabled applicant on private
matters further than running the tenancy warrants is itself an unfair
practice. A vendor operating on the
landlord's behalf inherits that ceiling. Outsourcing the question does not
enlarge it.

## Treatment does not disqualify you

Applicants relocating into a professional market often assume that a
well-managed condition is not the kind of thing this framework is for.

RCW 49.60.040 answers that in a single clause. Short-lived or lifelong,
widespread or rare, **treated or untreated**: the impairment counts either
way, and it counts whether or not it gets in the way of working. The
definition takes in anything a clinician could recognise or diagnose, anything
a record establishes, and anything others merely assume to be there.

Nothing requires the impairment to substantially limit a major life activity.
A condition being treated successfully is inside the definition. That is what
"mitigated" is doing there.

## Pet rent, and what an accommodation actually removes

New buildings meter animals monthly, and the amount compounds quietly across a
lease.

WAC 162-38-100(5) will not let an animal-specific deposit ride on top of the
cleaning or damage deposit every resident already pays, and a monthly charge
is that same money billed across the year rather than at signing. Removing one
and keeping the other would leave the rule doing nothing.

Subsection (4) is equally clear that the building's ordinary deposit survives,
on the condition that it is enforced equally on all tenants. What comes off is
the surcharge attached to the animal, not the charge attached to the unit.

## Training belongs to a different setting

Management companies operating in several states import public-access
standards routinely, and Washington has one to import.

RCW 49.60.040(25) defines a service animal as an individually trained dog or
miniature horse and states that emotional support, well-being, comfort or
companionship do not constitute work or tasks. Its final sentence then removes
the subsection from RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.227 with respect to housing
accommodations and real estate transactions. The whole of the state's fair
housing law.

The yardstick is real. It simply governs shops and workplaces rather than
homes. In a tenancy the operative provision is RCW 49.60.222(2)(b).

## Complaints from other residents

Dense new buildings generate complaints, and WAC 162-38-105 sets what has to
be shown before management can act on one by demanding the animal go.

Two elements are needed together: unreasonable danger to people or property
traceable to what the animal does, and an earlier sensible effort at
correcting that conduct which did not succeed.

The regulation then forecloses the shortcuts. What is remote or merely
possible does not count. The danger must be present or plainly likely. Being
irritated by the animal is not being endangered by it. Whether the animal
itself faces risk is for the person who depends on it to decide. And a
localised problem will not support a property-wide ban.

## The ceiling on a renewal

Where an animal charge comes off as an accommodation, the obvious worry is
that it returns at renewal wearing the word "rent."

RCW 59.18.700 limits that. No increase at all is permitted in a tenancy's
first twelve months, and in any later twelve-month period the rise is capped
at the lesser of ten percent or seven percent plus the consumer price index.
Exemptions are set out in RCW 59.18.710, and a landlord relying on one has to
state the facts supporting it in the written notice.

Commerce calculates the governing figure annually and publishes it each June,
so the maximum for a given year is a published number rather than a matter of
negotiation. In a market where relocation tenants renew without much scrutiny,
it is worth checking against the notice.

## Twelve months, not six

Where a request is refused, RCW 49.60.230(2) sets six months as the general
limit for discrimination complaints and then lifts housing out of it: a real
estate matter under RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.225 may be filed within a year
of the practice occurring or terminating.

Submissions reach the Washington State Human Rights Commission through its
online portal, backed by a toll-free line on 1-800-233-3247. There is a
county route as well: King County's Civil Rights Program covers housing among
the areas it enforces, at civilrights@kingcounty.gov or 206-263-2446.

## Signing remotely

Relocating tenants sign before arriving, which is exactly when the animal
question is easiest to postpone and hardest to fix later.

Be screened on income, credit and rental history. A disability is not a
proper screening subject. Once the application is approved and before the
lease is executed, put the request in writing, addressed to the disability
related need and what the animal does that makes ordinary use of the home
possible.

Then keep the whole application package, including the screen showing which
deposit options were offered. In a market built on optional products, the
record of what was available at the point of approval is the document that
matters most.

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
belongs in the supporting documentation.

## What Redmond 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 Redmond

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

- [King County Civil Rights Program](https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/executive/governance-leadership/equity-social-justice/office-of-equity-racial-social-justice/civil-rights-program) (county agency)
- [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)

## Frequently asked questions

### I was offered a monthly fee instead of a deposit. Can that be withdrawn once I mention a disability?

It should not be. RCW 59.18.670 requires a fee in lieu of a security deposit to be strictly optional, leaves the tenant free to pay a full deposit instead, forbids using that choice as a criterion in approving an application, and requires that where the option is offered at all it goes to every approved applicant without further regard to disability, source of income, credit score and several other characteristics.

### Does the building's pet screening vendor decide my request?

No. A vendor cannot create an entitlement to information the regulation does not allow. Where the disability and the disability-related need are not readily apparent a landlord may seek supporting information, but WAC 162-38-110 treats it as an unfair practice to press a disabled applicant on private matters further than running the tenancy actually warrants, and an agent working for the landlord is held to the same boundary.

### My condition is managed with medication. Do I still qualify?

Yes. RCW 49.60.040 provides that a disability exists whether it is temporary or permanent, common or uncommon, and (the phrase that answers this question directly), mitigated or unmitigated. Effective treatment does not remove the protection. The definition also reaches an impairment that is medically cognizable or diagnosable without requiring that it substantially limit a major life activity.

### Is monthly pet rent removed along with the pet deposit?

For an approved assistance animal, yes. WAC 162-38-100(5) will not permit an animal-specific deposit alongside the standard cleaning or damage deposit, and a monthly charge is the same money billed across the year rather than at signing. Subsection (4) keeps the ordinary deposit in place, provided the building applies it to every tenant equally.

### Does my animal need documentation of training?

No. The trained dog-or-miniature-horse yardstick in RCW 49.60.040(25) belongs to workplaces and public accommodation; its closing sentence removes it from RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.227 wherever housing or a real estate transaction is involved, and those sections are Washington's fair housing law in full. Nor does Washington issue any official credential for these animals.

### How long do I have to complain if a request is refused?

Twelve months rather than six. RCW 49.60.230(2) sets a general six-month limit on discrimination complaints and then lifts housing out of it, giving a real estate matter under RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.225 a year from the date the practice occurred or terminated. Complaints go to the Washington State Human Rights Commission through its online portal; King County also runs a Civil Rights Program covering housing among other areas.

### Is Redmond really the most-rented city in Washington?

Among the twenty largest, yes. Redmond rents at 56.8%, roughly 18,800 of 33,100 occupied housing units, on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate, narrowly ahead of Seattle at 56.3% and Bellingham at 55.4%, and more than twenty points above the statewide 36.2%.

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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%2Fredmond