# ESA Letter in Jackson, WY: The Charge That Repeats

> A Jackson ESA letter argument is about monthly pet rent, not the deposit: W.S. 40-26-107(b) reaches the terms of a tenancy, where a premium compounds.

- Source: https://supportanimal.com/blog/wyoming-emotional-support-animal/jackson/
- Publisher: Support Animal (supportanimal.com)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- License note: informational content; not legal or medical advice.

## Key facts

- Population: 10,680
- Households renting: 57.8%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): No cap, and none for an ESA
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Set by lease, no state cap
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Most of Jackson rents

Jackson is a resort town of 10,680 in Teton County where **2,602** of its
**4,503** occupied homes are rented. That is **57.8 percent**: the highest
renter share of the twenty Wyoming cities covered here, and about double the
**28.2 percent** statewide figure. It is also seventh in the state on the
raw count of renting households: a town this size carrying a renter
population that belongs to a much larger one.

Then the rent. The Census Bureau puts Jackson's median gross rent at
**$2,100**, with a margin of error of **± $298** on the 2020–2024 American
Community Survey five-year estimates. That margin is wide and it belongs in
the sentence rather than rounded away. The real median could sit anywhere
inside the band. But even at the bottom of it, the figure is far above every
other Wyoming city on this list. Cheyenne, the next highest, comes in at
$1,118 ± $44. Jackson is one of six Wyoming cities renting above the
**$992** state median, and it does not sit near the other five.

## A deposit happens once. A premium happens every month.

Most writing about assistance animals and money is about deposits, and in
Wyoming that writing runs out of statute fast. There is no deposit cap here,
not one month, not two, no dollar figure, nowhere in the code. Wyoming's
Residential Rental Property Act, W.S. 1-21-1201 through 1-21-1211, never
once uses the word "pet" or the word "animal". There is no animal deposit
rule to argue about.

So set the deposit aside and look at the other charge. A pet deposit is a
single event at move-in, refundable or not. **Monthly pet rent is different
in kind.** It is a standing condition of holding the apartment, collected on
the first of every month for as long as the tenancy lasts. It is a term of
the tenancy.

## What W.S. 40-26-107(b) actually says

The Wyoming Fair Housing Act, enacted in 2015 as Title 40, chapter 26, bars
discrimination against a person

> "in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of
> services or facilities in connection with the dwelling because of a disability."

**Terms. Conditions. Privileges.** A recurring monthly premium is all three at once:
a term written into the lease, a condition of keeping the animal in the unit, and the price of a
privilege the building extends to some tenants and not others. A landlord who says the animal may
stay for an extra sum each month has not charged a fee. They have written a different tenancy for
this tenant than for the one next door.

**W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii)** sits just below and does the complementary work: discrimination includes
"[a] refusal to make a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services if the
accommodation may be necessary to afford the individual equal opportunity to use and enjoy a
dwelling." A pet-rent schedule is a policy. Waiving it is the accommodation.

## The arithmetic of a percentage

Pet premiums are often written as a percentage of rent rather than a flat
sum, applied uniformly across a portfolio. A policy that takes the same
percentage from every tenant does not take the same money from every tenant.
It takes the most from whoever pays the most rent, and Jackson's median
gross rent is estimated at $2,100 against a state median of $992.

Then the gap widens again, because a monthly charge compounds in a way a
deposit never does. Twelve months of any premium is twelve times the
sticker; a three-year tenancy is thirty-six. The same written policy,
applied to the same disability, costs a Jackson renter more than it costs a
renter anywhere else in Wyoming, and more the longer they stay.

That disparity is what W.S. 40-26-107(b) is aimed at. The sentence is not
about the size of a fee. It is about a tenant with a disability holding a
dwelling on worse terms than a tenant without one, and where rents sit in
the range Jackson's do, the gap those terms open is at its widest.

## The federal provision underneath

Wyoming's Act does not stand alone. **42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B)** of the
federal Fair Housing Act carries the same reasonable-accommodation duty and
reaches a Jackson tenancy on its own force. Name both when you write. Citing
the pair makes plain that the request does not rest on any one statute a
landlord might treat as optional.

## Why an emotional support animal counts here

Some states protect only a trained animal. Wyoming names the other kind.
**W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv)** defines an "assistance animal" as one that works, provides assistance or
performs tasks for a person with a disability, **"or provides emotional support that alleviates one
(1) or more identified symptoms or effects of a person's disability."** No training appears on that
second branch.

That definition opens "As used in this article," and the housing sentence lives in the same article:
**W.S. 35-13-201(c)** provides that a person shall not be discriminated against in the leasing or
rental of residential property because they have an assistance animal, "which shall be permitted in
leased or rented residential property in accordance with the federal Fair Housing Act."

## Putting it in writing in Jackson

Write to the landlord or the management company, not the front desk, and
keep a copy. Say that you have a disability, that the animal alleviates
identified symptoms or effects of it, that you request an accommodation to
the pet policy, and that the request covers the **monthly** charge as well
as any deposit. Cite W.S. 35-13-201(c), W.S. 40-26-107(b) and (c)(ii), and
42 U.S.C. § 3604(f). Ask for a written answer.

Jackson is better equipped than most of Wyoming for what comes next. Wyoming
211 lists only **six public housing authorities in the whole state**, and
one is here: Jackson/Teton County Affordable Housing, 320 South King Street,
Jackson, WY 83001, (307) 732-0867. The Town of Jackson keeps its own housing
page, and the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust works locally. Most
Wyoming towns have nothing comparable within a hundred miles.

## The limits on the request

Two caveats. **W.S. 40-26-107(f)** removes the duty where the tenancy "would constitute a direct
threat to the health or safety of other individuals" or "would result in substantial physical damage
to the property of others": a specific finding about this animal, not a breed hunch.

And **W.S. 35-13-201(c)** has a second sentence: the tenant "shall be liable for any damage done by
his assistance animal to the premises." Removing the premium does not remove that, and saying so in
the request tends to help. You are not asking to escape responsibility, only to stop paying a
standing surcharge for a disability.

## If the premium stays on the ledger

Wyoming's Fair Housing Act defines an "enforcing authority" as a body HUD
has accepted, and HUD has accepted none, so the one-year administrative
deadline at W.S. 40-26-118 runs to nobody. The court route functions. **W.S.
40-26-139** allows a civil action in district court within two years with no
complaint to exhaust first, and the remedies at **W.S. 40-26-140** run to
actual damages, punitive damages, fees and costs. Read **W.S. 40-26-143**
beside it: fees go to the prevailing party and costs against the
nonprevailing one, in either direction. Legal Aid of Wyoming is the place to
test that before filing.

## Where a monthly premium hurts most

None of it starts working until two findings exist. W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv)
says what they are: a disability, and an animal whose emotional support
eases symptoms or effects of that disability which somebody has
**identified**. The identifying is done by a licensed person, not by the
tenant, and not by a website.

Your own clinician, if you have one, should hear first: cheapest route, and
the only document with a treatment history behind it. Then reckon with what
a Teton County renter runs into. Specialist mental-health capacity barely
exists in this state outside Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie, new-patient waits
stretch into weeks, and a practitioner who has seen you twice may decide,
properly, that they cannot certify a disability on that much contact. That
is care being taken, not a door shut.

Where that route is closed, book an evaluation for exactly this purpose. A
licensed professional tests the criteria against you, decides whether this
particular animal answers an identified part of the condition, and writes
the finding down: including, some of the time, that the request does not
hold up. An assessment able to end either way is the only kind worth handing
to a landlord. A provider who has settled the answer before the appointment
is selling what W.S. 35-13-203(b) calls a misdemeanor.

In a town where more than half of all households rent, and rent at the level
these estimates describe, the charge that repeats every month is the one
worth arguing about. The document that lets you argue is the one to get
first.

## What Jackson landlords can and cannot do

**Cannot:**
- Cannot refuse a reasonable accommodation in rules, policies, practices or services where it may be necessary to afford a person with a disability equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling: W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii).
- Cannot discriminate in the leasing or rental of residential property because the person has an assistance animal, W.S. 35-13-201(c). Wyoming defines that animal to include one that provides emotional support, at W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv).
- Cannot treat an assistance animal as a pet for the purpose of a deposit or a monthly charge. Wyoming's landlord-tenant statute says nothing about animals at all, so the charge comes off under W.S. 40-26-107(b) and (c)(ii) and 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f) rather than under a deposit rule.
- Cannot discriminate in the terms, conditions or privileges of a rental, or in the services and facilities provided with it, because of disability: W.S. 40-26-107(b). This is the provision that reaches recurring pet rent.
- Cannot require training, certification or registration of an assistance animal. W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv)'s emotional-support branch has no training element, and no Wyoming registry exists.
- Cannot interfere with the rights in W.S. 35-13-201(a) through (c), doing so is a misdemeanor under W.S. 35-13-203(a), with a fine of up to $750.
- Cannot keep a deposit without delivering a written itemization within thirty days of termination, or fifteen days after receiving the renter's new mailing address, whichever is later: W.S. 1-21-1208(a).
- Cannot take a nonrefundable deposit silently. W.S. 1-21-1207 requires the rental agreement to state that a portion is nonrefundable and requires written notice when it is taken.

**Can:**
- May hold the tenant liable for damage the assistance animal actually does to the premises, W.S. 35-13-201(c) says so expressly. That is a bill for real damage, not a charge in advance.
- May take a further thirty days to return a deposit if there is damage to the unit, making sixty days lawful in that case, W.S. 1-21-1208(a).
- May decline where the tenancy would be a direct threat to the health or safety of others or would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others, W.S. 40-26-107(f).
- May be outside the Wyoming Fair Housing Act's disability duty if the building holds four families or fewer and the owner lives in one of them, W.S. 40-26-110(b) exempts sections 40-26-105 through 40-26-109. W.S. 35-13-201(c) and the federal Act are not switched off by it.
- May charge a nonrefundable pet deposit to a tenant with an ordinary pet, with no cap in dollars or months, provided it is disclosed. Wyoming sets no deposit ceiling anywhere.

## How to get an ESA letter in Jackson

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

- [Teton County Affordable Housing](https://www.tetoncountywy.gov/3038/Affordable-Housing) (local housing authority)
- [Town of Jackson - Housing](https://www.jacksonwy.gov/211/Housing) (city government)
- [Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust](https://www.housingtrustjh.org/) (housing nonprofit)
- [Teton County](https://tetoncountywy.gov/) (county government)
- [Legal Aid of Wyoming - Housing](https://www.lawyoming.org/housing) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### Can a Jackson landlord charge monthly pet rent for an emotional support animal?

Not where the accommodation is owed. A monthly premium is not a fee attached to a transaction - it is a standing term of the tenancy, charged every month for as long as the lease runs. W.S. 40-26-107(b) makes it discriminatory to discriminate "in the terms, conditions or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling or in the provision of services or facilities in connection with the dwelling because of a disability." A recurring premium is a term, a condition and the price of a privilege all at once. W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii) and 42 U.S.C. 3604(f) carry the same duty as an accommodation to the pet policy.

### Why does the deposit argument work differently from the pet-rent argument?

Because Wyoming's landlord-tenant statutes never mention animals at all. The words "pet" and "animal" do not appear in W.S. 1-21-1201 through 1-21-1211, and there is no deposit cap in Wyoming - not a month, not a dollar figure, nowhere. So neither charge is regulated as a pet charge. The difference is structural: a deposit happens once, while a monthly premium is written into the terms of the tenancy, and it is the terms that W.S. 40-26-107(b) speaks to directly. Both charges come off through fair housing, but the monthly one is the cleaner fit with the text.

### Does a percentage-based pet premium really cost more in Jackson?

Yes, by arithmetic. A pet premium written as a share of rent takes the same percentage from everyone and therefore takes the most money from whoever pays the most rent. Jackson's median gross rent is estimated at $2,100 (plus or minus $298) against a Wyoming median of $992, so the identical portfolio-wide policy produces a larger monthly charge here than the same policy produces elsewhere in the state - and the gap compounds, since twelve months of any premium is twelve times the sticker. That widening disparity between a tenant with a disability and a tenant without one is exactly what the terms-and-conditions language is aimed at.

### Does Wyoming law actually name emotional support animals?

It does. W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv) defines an "assistance animal" as one that works, provides assistance or performs tasks for a person with a disability, "or provides emotional support that alleviates one (1) or more identified symptoms or effects of a person's disability." No training is required on that second branch. The definition is scoped by its own opening words, "As used in this article" - and the leasing sentence, W.S. 35-13-201(c), sits inside that same article, providing that an assistance animal shall be permitted in leased or rented residential property in accordance with the federal Fair Housing Act.

### What can a Jackson landlord still refuse?

W.S. 40-26-107(f) leaves no accommodation duty where the tenancy "would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of other individuals" or "would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others." That is a finding about a particular animal and its actual conduct, not a policy about a breed or a size. Separately, the second sentence of W.S. 35-13-201(c) keeps the tenant "liable for any damage done by his assistance animal to the premises." Removing a monthly premium does not shift that liability, and it is worth saying so in the request.

### Is there anywhere local in Jackson to get housing help?

More than most of Wyoming has. Wyoming 211's statewide directory lists only six public housing authorities in the entire state, and Jackson/Teton County Affordable Housing is one of them, at 320 South King Street, Jackson, WY 83001, (307) 732-0867. The Town of Jackson maintains a housing page and the Jackson Hole Community Housing Trust operates here as well. None of those bodies enforces fair housing law - Wyoming has no accepted enforcing authority for that - but a town with a working housing office is a better place to start than one without.

### If the premium stays on the lease, what is the actual next step?

Court, not an agency. W.S. 40-26-102(a)(viii) defines the Act's "enforcing authority" as a body HUD has accepted, and HUD has accepted none, which leaves the one-year deadline at W.S. 40-26-118 pointed at nobody. W.S. 40-26-139 allows a civil action in district court within two years of the occurrence or termination of the practice, with nothing to exhaust first, and the remedy list at W.S. 40-26-140 covers actual damages, punitive damages, attorney's fees and court costs. Read W.S. 40-26-143 alongside it: fees go to the prevailing party and costs against the nonprevailing party, in both directions. Legal Aid of Wyoming is the sensible first call.

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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=wyoming-emotional-support-animal%2Fjackson