# ESA Letter in Laramie, WY: What the Duty to Accommodate Says

> Laramie rents at 55.9 percent, second-highest in Wyoming. An ESA letter in Laramie runs on W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii), the duty to accommodate.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 32,957
- Households renting: 55.9%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): Wyoming sets no deposit cap
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Pet rent unregulated by law
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## More than half of this town rents

Laramie has **14,527** occupied homes, and **8,126** of them are rented.
That is **55.9 percent** on the Census Bureau's 2020–2024 American Community
Survey five-year estimates, against **28.2 percent** for Wyoming as a whole.
Of the state's twenty largest cities, only Jackson rents at a higher share.
Median gross rent here is **$925**, give or take $34, under the **$992**
state median.

Now put the renter count beside the population. Laramie: 8,126 renting
households in a city of **32,957**. Casper: 7,713 renting households in a
city of **58,823**. Both counts carry a sampling margin of roughly five
hundred, so read them as two totals of about the same size, not as a
ranking. What matters is that a town of thirty-three thousand carries about
as many renting households as a city of fifty-nine thousand. That is the
shape of a university town's housing stock: the University of Wyoming is
here, and a market built to lease rather than sell follows.

## Wyoming's disability complaints have a return address

In January 2025 the Wyoming Advisory Committee to the **U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights** published a review of fair housing across the state. Two
findings in it land on this city.

The first is about subject matter: "Two of the three HUD charges of discrimination in Wyoming were
charges of discrimination based on disability status; specifically, the denial of a reasonable
accommodation such as a service animal."

The second is about geography. The report says the "[m]ajority of these disability-based
discrimination complaints originated from Wyoming's most populous areas: **Laramie, Albany, and
Natrona County**." Laramie sits in Albany County.

That is a record of complaints made, not of wrongdoing proved. And the
compliance-review finding people quote alongside it (three HUD reviews in
2018, closed by voluntary agreements), concerns **two city governments and
the State of Wyoming**, not a private landlord anywhere.

What is left still matters: in the few Wyoming housing complaints that
reached the federal record, the request at issue was the assistance-animal
accommodation, and this corner of the state is where it is being contested.

## The duty itself, in Wyoming's own words

Wyoming passed its own Fair Housing Act in 2015, at Title 40, chapter 26.
The sentence that decides an assistance-animal request is **W.S.
40-26-107(c)(ii)**, which makes discrimination include:

> "[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."

That is the federal duty at **42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B)**, written into
Wyoming law. A renter here asks under both at once. Not every state in this
corpus wrote a housing version of that sentence. Wyoming did.

## Four phrases carry all the weight

**"Rules, policies, practices or services."** A no-pets clause is a rule. A weight limit is a rule.
A pet deposit is a policy. "Practices" is the widest, and the one most often missed: it reaches
what a building actually does, not only what its lease says.

**"May be necessary."** Not *is* necessary. Not *proven* necessary. The test in the text is whether
the accommodation may be necessary to give this tenant equal use of a home. That is a question
about fit between a disability and an animal, not a demand that a renter show they could not manage
otherwise.

**"Equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling."** The yardstick is a tenant without a disability
in the same building. You are asking for the same use of the same home, which is why "special
treatment" is the wrong frame.

**"Reasonable."** That word is a limit, and Wyoming says where it sits rather than leaving it to
argument.

## Where the duty stops

**W.S. 40-26-107(f)** lifts the duty in two situations: where the tenancy "would constitute a direct
threat to the health or safety of other individuals," or where it "would result in substantial
physical damage to the property of others." Both are written about the tenancy in front of the
landlord, not about a species, a size or a breed in the abstract.

Two more boundaries. **W.S. 40-26-107(c)(i)** covers reasonable *modifications*, physical changes
to the unit, at the tenant's expense. Waiving a rule is the other thing, and costs a landlord
nothing. And the second sentence of **W.S. 35-13-201(c)** says the tenant "shall be liable for any
damage done by his assistance animal to the premises." Dropping a pet fee never drops that.

## Which animal the duty reaches here

**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." The second branch asks for no
training. And the section opens "As used in this article," which sets that definition over
**W.S. 35-13-201(c)** in the same article. The sentence saying a person shall not be discriminated
against in the leasing or rental of residential property because they have an assistance animal.

The request therefore runs on two tracks written apart and landing together:
Title 35 says the animal counts, Title 40 says the rule has to bend for it.

## Putting the request in front of a Laramie landlord

Write it down. A conversation at the leasing counter leaves no record. A workable request is short.
It says you have a disability as **W.S. 40-26-102(a)(v)** describes one, "a mental or physical
impairment that substantially limits at least one (1) major life activity", that the animal
alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of it, and that you are
asking for an exception to the building's pet rule under W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii) and
W.S. 35-13-201(c). Attach the documentation, ask for the answer in writing, keep copies.

Two replies you should expect and should not simply accept. Monthly pet rent on an assistance
animal is a term or condition of the rental, and **W.S. 40-26-107(b)** covers those. A pet deposit
is a policy, covered by (c)(ii). Wyoming's landlord-tenant statutes give you nothing to argue
either one with: the words "pet" and "animal" appear nowhere in them — so this is a fair-housing
argument from the first sentence.

## If the answer comes back no

The USCCR report is blunt about the next step: "Until there is a local housing enforcement
authority, aggrieved tenants' primary form of recourse in Wyoming is to file a legal complaint in
court or an administrative complaint of discrimination."

There is no Wyoming enforcing authority to receive one. **W.S. 40-26-102(a)(viii)** defines that as
a state agency or Wyoming nonprofit "accepted as an enforcing authority for Wyoming by the
department of housing and urban development," and HUD has accepted none, so an administrative
complaint travels to HUD's Region VIII office in Denver, Colorado. The court route is
**W.S. 40-26-139**: a civil action in district court, open for two years, with nothing to exhaust
first. **W.S. 40-26-140** puts actual and punitive damages in reach. Read **W.S. 40-26-143** in the
same sitting, because it runs both ways (fees to the prevailing party, costs against the
nonprevailing one), and take it to Legal Aid of Wyoming first.

## The town that files, and what it files with

The federal record says the complaints come from here. What they are filed
*with* is the part nobody prints. **W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv)** sets out a pair
of conclusions, and a request carrying both is one a landlord has to answer:
a disability, and this animal relieving one or more **identified** symptoms
or effects of it. "Identified" is the load-bearing word. Someone qualified
has to have looked, and named them.

Start with a clinician who already treats you, if you have one. That is the
strongest version of this document. The person writing it has the history
behind it. The friction is real and worth saying out loud: Laramie is one of
very few Wyoming towns with any specialist mental-health capacity at all,
which is less comfort than it sounds. New-patient waits run into weeks, and
a practitioner who has seen you twice may decline to certify a disability
rather than commit to a conclusion they have not had the contact to reach.
That is careful practice, not a door shut on you.

Where that route is closed or too slow, a licensed evaluation arranges the
same clinical judgment on purpose. A licensed professional tests both
propositions, writes them down where the examination supports them, and
states plainly where it does not. Both endings happen, and the second is why
the first carries weight at a leasing office.

What never works is anything sold as a registration or a certificate. No
registry has legal standing in Wyoming or any other state. **W.S.
35-13-203(b)** goes further: knowingly and intentionally misrepresenting an
animal to obtain rights under the article is a misdemeanor.

Laramie files. Give it something to file with.

## What Laramie 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 Laramie

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

- [City of Laramie](https://www.cityoflaramie.org/) (city government)
- [Albany County, Wyoming](https://www.albanycountywy.gov/) (county government)
- [Wyoming Independent Living - Laramie Center](https://www.wilr.org/centers/laramie-center) (disability services)
- [Cheyenne Housing Authority - Laramie office](https://www.cheyennehousing.org/contact-us) (local housing authority)
- [Legal Aid of Wyoming - Housing](https://www.lawyoming.org/housing) (legal aid)

## Frequently asked questions

### Does the federal record really show housing complaints coming from Laramie?

It shows where Wyoming's disability-based complaints originate. The Wyoming Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported in January 2025 that the "[m]ajority of these disability-based discrimination complaints originated from Wyoming's most populous areas: Laramie, Albany, and Natrona County," and that "[t]wo of the three HUD charges of discrimination in Wyoming were charges of discrimination based on disability status; specifically, the denial of a reasonable accommodation such as a service animal." Laramie sits in Albany County. Read it for what it is - a record of complaints filed, not of wrongdoing proved.

### What does W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii) actually require of a Laramie landlord?

One thing, stated in one sentence. 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." That is the same duty the federal Fair Housing Act imposes at 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)(B), written into Wyoming law by the 2015 Wyoming Fair Housing Act. A landlord is not being asked to do anything expensive here. They are being asked to make an exception to a rule they wrote.

### My Laramie lease says no pets. Is that the end of it?

No, and the wording of the statute is why. A no-pets clause is exactly the kind of "rule" W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii) says must yield where an accommodation may be necessary. W.S. 35-13-201(c) reaches the same result from the other direction: 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." A lease term does not override either statute. It is the thing the accommodation is an exception to.

### Does "may be necessary" mean I have to prove the animal is essential?

The text says less than that. It asks whether the accommodation "may be necessary to afford the individual equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling" - not whether it is necessary, and not whether it has been proved so. The comparison built into "equal opportunity" is a tenant without a disability in the same building. What you do need is the substance behind the request: the two findings W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv) describes, that a disability exists and that this animal alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of it.

### When can a Laramie landlord lawfully refuse?

W.S. 40-26-107(f) sets out the two situations: 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." Both are written about the particular tenancy, not about a breed or a size in the abstract. Separately, W.S. 40-26-107(c)(i) treats physical modifications to a unit as the tenant's expense - but waiving a rule is not a modification, and it costs a landlord nothing to grant.

### Is there a Laramie housing authority I can contact?

Not a separate one. The Cheyenne Housing Authority runs a staffed Laramie office at 1265 North 3rd St, Laramie, WY 82072, on its main line at (307) 745-4409, and its contact page lists it alongside its other offices. There is no "Laramie Housing Authority" as an independent body. For the disability side of a request, Wyoming Independent Living's Laramie Center is the local independent living centre, and Legal Aid of Wyoming's housing programme is the place to take a refusal.

### If my accommodation request is refused, where does the complaint go?

Out of state, or into court. The USCCR report found that "[u]ntil there is a local housing enforcement authority, aggrieved tenants' primary form of recourse in Wyoming is to file a legal complaint in court or an administrative complaint of discrimination," and that Wyoming residents "are required to submit their complaint to the HUD's Denver Regional Office in the neighboring state of Colorado." The reason is W.S. 40-26-102(a)(viii): the Act's "enforcing authority" must be an entity HUD has accepted, and HUD has accepted none. The court route is W.S. 40-26-139, two years, no exhaustion required.

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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%2Flaramie