# ESA Letter in Yakima, WA: House Rentals, Households & Deposits

> Yakima rents at 46.2%, the highest in central Washington. How the rules reach a single-house landlord, and when the animal is for someone else at home.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 97,390
- Households renting: 46.2%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Varies by building
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Varies by building
- Breed/weight limits common: sometimes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Central Washington's most rented city

Yakima rents at 46.2%: roughly 16,500 of 35,726 occupied units on the
2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is ten points
above the statewide 36.2%, and higher than any other city in central or
eastern Washington on this list, including Spokane Valley at 41.8% and Spokane
at 41.2%.

The stock behind that figure is mostly houses, duplexes and small older
buildings held by individual owners rather than management companies. Written
pet policies are the exception. Understandings reached at the kitchen table
are the rule.

There is no municipal civil rights office in Yakima, so what governs is the
state framework, and it applies at this scale exactly as it does in a Seattle
tower.

## Small landlords are inside the chapter

The most persistent misconception in a market like this one is that
regulations of this kind are aimed at apartment complexes.

WAC 162-38-040 defines a landlord, for the purposes of the disability
discrimination chapter, as anyone other than the occupant who attempts to
control the use of real property under a claim of right arising out of an
ownership interest: expressly including owners of rental property, trustees,
receivers, persons controlling condominium common areas, and agents or others
acting in the interest of any of them.

Nothing in that definition depends on the number of units held. An owner
letting a single house on the west side of town is a landlord for these
purposes, and WAC 162-38-100(3) applies to them: a no-pet rule cannot be
applied to the assistance animal of a person with a disability.

## When the animal is not for the person on the lease

Yakima households are frequently multi-generational, and the person who needs
the animal is often not the person who signed.

WAC 162-38-060 settles this. An unfair practice in a real estate transaction
on the basis of disability includes discrimination because of a disability of
the buyer or renter, of a person residing in or intending to reside in that
dwelling after it is rented or made available, **or of any person associated
with that buyer or renter**.

A request made for a parent, a child or a partner who lives in the home is
therefore inside the regulation on its own terms. An owner who will only
discuss the tenant of record has read the chapter too narrowly.

## The deposit taken without paperwork

This is the provision that most often decides a dispute in a market of
privately let houses, and it has nothing to do with animals at all.

RCW 59.18.260 forbids collecting any deposit unless two things exist: a
written rental agreement, and a written checklist or statement specifically
describing the condition and cleanliness of the premises: walls and wall
paint, carpets and other flooring, furniture and appliances among them,
signed and dated by both the landlord and the tenant at the start of the
tenancy. The tenant must receive a copy and may request one free replacement.

Take a deposit while skipping the checklist and the owner owes the tenant
that sum outright, with the winning side able to recover court costs and
reasonable attorneys' fees on top.

Where an animal is later blamed for damage that may well predate the tenancy,
the absence of a move-in record is the owner's evidential problem, not the
tenant's.

## What may and may not be charged for the animal

WAC 162-38-100(5) prevents an animal-specific deposit being placed on top of
the cleaning or damage deposit a disabled tenant is already paying, and a
monthly charge is treated no differently. It is the same demand collected
across the year.

Subsection (4) keeps the ordinary deposit intact, but on a condition worth
testing in a small market: it must be enforced equally on all tenants. Where
an owner charges a deposit to some tenants and not to others, the deposit
being asked for is not a standard one.

Where a landlord does charge ordinary deposits or fees, RCW 59.18.610 lets a
tenant who asks in writing pay them across three consecutive equal monthly
instalments on a term of three months or longer, without any fee or interest
for doing so.

## Neither training nor certificates

Washington does maintain a trained-animal definition, at RCW 49.60.040(25),
which excludes comfort and companionship from what counts as work or tasks.
That subsection then disapplies itself to RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.227
wherever housing accommodations or real estate transactions are involved.
The state's whole fair housing law, so the training test governs nothing in a
tenancy.

Nor is there paperwork to obtain. No Washington agency registers assistance
animals or issues certificates, identification cards or vests for them.
Anything sold online under those names answers none of the questions the
regulation asks, which are whether the person has a disability and whether the
animal is needed because of it.

## Thirty days at the end

RCW 59.18.280 requires a full and specific written statement of the basis for
retaining any part of a deposit, with copies of estimates received or invoices
paid to substantiate damage charges, delivered within 30 days of the tenancy
ending and the premises being vacated, together with any refund due. Wear
resulting from ordinary use may not be charged for.

Miss that window and the landlord is liable for the whole deposit and is
barred from asserting any claim to it in an action the tenant brings.

## When removal is demanded

Under WAC 162-38-105 an owner needs two findings before insisting the animal
go. There must be conduct by the animal placing people or property at
unreasonable risk, and there must have been a sensible earlier effort to
address it which did not succeed.

Remote or speculative risk will not do. Annoyance among neighbours or staff is
expressly excluded. Risk of harm to the animal is a decision for the person
who relies on it. And a difficulty arising in part of a property does not
justify barring the animal from all of it.

## Where a Yakima complaint goes

The Fair Housing Center of Washington publishes a service area of 23 counties
across Western and Central Washington, which reaches this part of the state.
It is a private organisation rather than an enforcement agency, so treat it as
help understanding a problem.

Formal complaints go to the Washington State Human Rights Commission.
RCW 49.60.230(2) allows six months for discrimination complaints generally and
then treats housing separately, giving real estate matters under
RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.225 a full year from the date the practice
occurred or terminated. Filing is through the commission's online portal, and
it publishes a toll-free line at 1-800-233-3247.

Where the arrangement was verbal, as many here are, send an email confirming
what was agreed on the day it is agreed. It costs nothing and it is the
difference between a clear record and a disputed memory.

That matters more than usual in a market where houses change hands. The
obligation follows the property to whoever takes it on, but only a written
record makes that easy to demonstrate to somebody who was not part of the
original conversation.

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 Yakima 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 Yakima

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

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

## Frequently asked questions

### The animal is for my mother, who lives with us. Does that still count?

Yes. Under WAC 162-38-060 the protected disability need not be the renter's own. It reaches anyone who lives in the home or intends to, and anyone associated with the renter besides. The accommodation duty is not confined to whoever signed the lease, so a request made for another member of the household falls squarely inside the regulation.

### My landlord owns the house I rent. Do these rules reach him?

They do. WAC 162-38-040 defines a landlord as anyone other than the occupant who attempts to control the use of property under a claim of right arising out of an ownership interest, and names owners of rental property, trustees, receivers and agents acting in their interest. Nothing in chapter 162-38 WAC turns on how many units a landlord holds.

### He took a deposit in cash with no paperwork. Is that a problem for me?

It is a problem for him. RCW 59.18.260 prohibits collecting any deposit unless the rental agreement is in writing and a written checklist describing the condition and cleanliness of the premises is signed and dated by both parties at the start of the tenancy. Where that was not done, the landlord is liable to the tenant for the amount of the deposit, and the prevailing party may recover court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees.

### Does my animal need any kind of training or paperwork?

No training, and no official paperwork exists to obtain. RCW 49.60.040(25) contains a trained-animal test but removes itself from RCW 49.60.222 through 49.60.227 wherever housing or a real estate transaction is at issue, and those sections are the state's fair housing law in full. Washington keeps no register of assistance animals and no agency issues certificates for them, so supporting information about the disability-related need is what carries a request.

### Who can help if there is no city office here?

The Fair Housing Center of Washington states that it serves 23 counties across Western and Central Washington, which takes in this area; it is a private organisation working on fair housing opportunity rather than an enforcement body. Formal complaints go to the Washington State Human Rights Commission, which allows a year for housing matters under RCW 49.60.230(2)(a) and publishes a toll-free line at 1-800-233-3247.

### What happens to the deposit when I move out?

RCW 59.18.280 requires a full and specific written statement of the basis for keeping any part of it, with copies of estimates received or invoices paid substantiating damage charges, delivered within 30 days of the tenancy ending and the premises being vacated. Ordinary wear cannot be charged for, and a landlord who misses the deadline becomes liable for the whole deposit and cannot assert a claim to any of it.

### How much of Yakima rents?

About 46.2%, or roughly 16,500 of 35,726 occupied housing units, on the 2020-2024 American Community Survey five-year estimate. That is ten points above the statewide 36.2% and the highest renter share of any city in central or eastern Washington on this list, ahead of Spokane Valley at 41.8% and Spokane at 41.2%.

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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%2Fyakima