# ESA Letter in Rock Springs, WY: The Three-House Exemption

> An ESA letter in Rock Springs often meets a small landlord. W.S. 40-26-110(a) is narrower than it sounds, and W.S. 35-13-201(c) survives it intact.

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

## Key facts

- Population: 22,967
- Households renting: 27.6%
- Typical pet deposit (as a pet): No cap; owner sets it
- Typical pet rent (as a pet): Pet rent varies by owner
- Breed/weight limits common: yes
- Pet fees, deposits, and breed limits with a valid ESA letter: none (FHA reasonable accommodation)

## Renting from someone who owns three houses

Rock Springs is a city of **22,967** in Sweetwater County, and its rental
market is larger than its renter share suggests. **2,661** of the city's
**9,625** occupied homes are rented. **27.6 percent** on the Census Bureau's
2020–2024 American Community Survey five-year estimates, which is sixteenth
of the twenty Wyoming cities tracked here and a little under the **28.2
percent** state figure. Counted in households instead of percentages, it is
the state's sixth-largest renter market. Median gross rent runs **$928** (±
$71), below the **$992** Wyoming median.

A share that ordinary in a city that size usually says something about who
the landlords are. Many of them are people rather than companies: an owner
with one house on one street and another two across town, no leasing office
and no standing accommodation policy. That changes the first question a
tenant with an assistance animal has to answer here, and it is not the
question most guides open with.

## The jurisdiction question comes before the accommodation question

Wyoming's Fair Housing Act took effect on 1 July 2015, and its accommodation duty sits at
**W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii)**: 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 sentence a no-pets policy
runs into.

The Act also carries exemptions, and **W.S. 40-26-110(a)** is the one a
small-landlord market meets. It lifts **W.S. 40-26-103 through 40-26-109**
off a qualifying owner, a range that contains 40-26-107. So for a tenancy
inside that exemption, the state Fair Housing Act's accommodation duty is
not the provision doing the work. Something else has to be, and something
else is.

## Read the conditions one at a time

The opening clause of W.S. 40-26-110(a) sounds enormous: an owner of **not
more than three single-family houses**. A tenant could stop reading there
and conclude the Act never touches them. The conditions that follow are what
keep the exemption small.

The rental must be made **without a licensed real estate broker or agent**.
Bring in a property manager holding a license and the exemption is gone. It
must also be made **without an advertisement prohibited by W.S. 40-26-104**:
the Act's advertising section, which stays live regardless. A discriminatory
listing therefore breaks the rule and costs the owner the shelter they stood
under.

## The twenty-four-month sentence is the narrow part

Then comes the condition that does most of the work. The exemption is
available for **one sale or rental in a twenty-four-month period** where the
owner was **not the most recent resident** of the house.

Read that as a rate rather than a status. It is not "a landlord who owns three houses is exempt."
It is closer to "an owner who let one house, once, in two years, and did not live in it last." An
owner with three houses turning over on ordinary one-year leases is transacting well above that
rate. So is an owner who filled two vacancies last spring. The clause is written for the person who
inherited a house, or moved and kept the old one, or rented out a single property once and has not
done it again, not for anyone running rentals as a going concern, however few doors they hold.

## Two disqualifiers that end the argument outright

Two more limits sit on top. The exemption is **unavailable to anyone who
owns a dwelling designed for five or more families**, and unavailable to
anyone who **has been a principal in three or more dwelling transactions in
the preceding twelve months**.

Either one disqualifies on its own, and neither depends on the three-house count. An owner with two
rental houses and a share in a small apartment building is out on the first. An owner who bought,
sold, or let three properties in the past year is out on the second, even if the three houses they
hold today would otherwise have fit. Put the whole subsection together and the picture is a long
way from "small landlord, no rules."

## What the exemption cannot reach

The exemption gets described as though it settled everything. It does not,
and the chapter says so itself.

**W.S. 40-26-113(b)** says the chapter "does not affect a requirement of nondiscrimination in any
other state or federal law." W.S. 40-26-110(a) is a provision of that same chapter, exempting an
owner from sections of that same chapter. It is not a general licence, and by the chapter's own
terms it leaves other law standing.

Two bodies of law stand outside it. **W.S. 35-13-201(c)** is in a different title altogether,
Title 35, not Title 40, and it says a person "shall not be discriminated against in the leasing or
rental of residential property because the person has an assistance animal, which shall be
permitted in leased or rented residential property in accordance with the federal Fair Housing
Act." No exemption in chapter 26 switches that sentence off. And the federal duty at **42 U.S.C.
§ 3604(f)(3)(B)** is federal law, which a Wyoming exemption has no power over at all; whether a
particular small owner is reached by the federal Act is its own question, and a good one to put to
a housing lawyer rather than answer from a blog.

## The animal the statute names, without training

Wyoming does one thing here that several states in this corpus do not. **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 carries no training
requirement, and because the section opens "As used in this article," the definition governs
W.S. 35-13-201(c) in that same article.

That is why the emotional support animal is not an argument about categories
in Wyoming. It is named. What has to be established is the two findings the
subsection describes, and those are findings about a person, not paperwork
about an animal.

## Where to get help in this city, and what it can do

Wyoming 211 lists the **Rock Springs Housing Authority** at 233 C Street,
Rock Springs, WY 82901, (307) 352-1471. It is one of only six public housing
authorities the directory lists in the entire state, alongside Cheyenne,
Casper, Jackson/Teton, Evanston and Hanna, so a tenant here has something
most Wyoming towns do not.

For the rest, three statewide organisations take Rock Springs calls: **Legal
Aid of Wyoming** on housing, **Wyoming Housing Network** for counselling,
and **Protection and Advocacy System, Inc.**, Wyoming's disability-rights
organisation. None of them is the state fair-housing agency, because Wyoming
does not have one: the Act's "enforcing authority" at **W.S.
40-26-102(a)(viii)** means a body HUD has accepted, and HUD has accepted
none.

## Which statute your landlord is actually under

Work it in order. Ask how many houses the owner holds, whether a licensed
agent handled the lease, how many properties they have transacted in the
last year and two years, and whether they own anything built for five
families or more. The answers tell you whether W.S. 40-26-107(c)(ii) is on
the table or whether W.S. 35-13-201(c) and federal law are carrying the
request alone. In most Rock Springs tenancies the exemption will turn out
not to fit, but you want to know, not assume.

What the branch does not change is the evidence. Whichever provision applies
to your tenancy, W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv) asks for the same pair of conclusions
about you: a disability, and an animal that eases one or more **identified**
parts of it. Neither is something a tenant can supply about themselves.

A treating clinician is the best-placed person to reach those conclusions,
so ring yours before anything else. Be ready for what usually happens next.
Outside Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie there is not much specialist capacity
in this state, a Sweetwater County appointment may be weeks out, and a
clinician who has met you a couple of times can quite properly say they are
not in a position to make a disability finding. That is careful practice
rather than a refusal, and it leaves a renter with a real problem and no
document.

The other route is an evaluation booked for the purpose, with a licensed
professional who examines whether a disability is present and whether this
particular animal answers an identified part of it, writes up whichever
answer the assessment supports, and issues the letter when it supports one.
Sometimes it does not, and a provider promising the outcome up front is
trading in what **W.S. 35-13-203(b)** treats as a misdemeanor instead of the
assessment the statute is asking for.

Which statute your landlord falls under is settled by their paperwork.
Whether either statute has anything to bite on is settled by yours.

## What Rock Springs 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 Rock Springs

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

- [Wyoming 211 - Housing Authority directory](https://search.wyoming211.org/search?query=BH-8300.3000&query_label=Housing+Authority&query_type=taxonomy) (housing directory)
- [Wyoming Housing Network](https://whninc.org/housing-counseling/) (housing counseling)
- [Legal Aid of Wyoming - Housing](https://www.lawyoming.org/housing) (legal aid)
- [Protection and Advocacy System, Inc. (Wyoming P&A)](https://www.wypanda.com/programs-and-services) (disability rights)

## Frequently asked questions

### My Rock Springs landlord owns three houses. Are they exempt from the Wyoming Fair Housing Act?

Probably not, and the opening clause of W.S. 40-26-110(a) is the least of it. The exemption lifts W.S. 40-26-103 through 40-26-109 off an owner of not more than three single-family houses, but only where the rental is made without a licensed real estate broker or agent, without an advertisement prohibited by W.S. 40-26-104, and only for one sale or rental in a twenty-four-month period in which the owner was not the most recent resident. An owner turning over three houses on ordinary leases is transacting well above that rate. Count the transactions, not the houses.

### What disqualifies a small owner from the exemption entirely?

Two disqualifiers, each fatal on its own. The exemption in W.S. 40-26-110(a) is closed to an owner of any dwelling built for five or more families, and closed again to anyone who has acted as principal in three or more dwelling transactions during the previous twelve months. Neither turns on the three-house count that the subsection opens with. An owner with two rental houses and an interest in a small apartment block fails the first test outright, however few houses they hold.

### If the exemption does apply, does my assistance animal lose its protection?

No. W.S. 40-26-113(b) says the chapter "does not affect a requirement of nondiscrimination in any other state or federal law," and W.S. 40-26-110(a) is a provision of that same chapter exempting an owner from parts of that same chapter. W.S. 35-13-201(c) sits in Title 35, a different title, and says a person shall not be discriminated against in the leasing or rental of residential property because the person has an assistance animal. The federal duty at 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)(B) is federal law and a Wyoming exemption has no power over it, though whether a particular small owner is reached by the federal Act is a separate question worth putting to a housing lawyer.

### Which sections does W.S. 40-26-110(a) actually take away?

W.S. 40-26-103 through 40-26-109. That range contains W.S. 40-26-107, which is where the Wyoming Fair Housing Act's reasonable-accommodation duty lives at subsection (c)(ii) and its terms-and-conditions provision at (b). So for a tenancy inside the exemption those are not the provisions doing the work, and a Rock Springs tenant needs to know that before naming them in a written request. W.S. 40-26-104, the advertising section, is also the section a prohibited advertisement would cost the owner the exemption over.

### Is there a housing authority in Rock Springs?

Yes. Wyoming 211 lists the Rock Springs Housing Authority at 233 C Street, Rock Springs, WY 82901, telephone (307) 352-1471. It is one of only six public housing authorities the directory lists in the whole state, alongside Cheyenne, Casper, Jackson/Teton, Evanston and Hanna. A housing authority administers assisted housing rather than investigating discrimination complaints, so it is the place to start on a voucher or a unit and not the place a fair-housing claim is filed.

### Does Wyoming law cover an emotional support animal specifically?

By name, and with no training requirement attached to it. The definition at W.S. 35-13-205(a)(iv) reaches an animal that "provides emotional support" alleviating "identified symptoms or effects" of a disability, alongside the working and task-performing animals it also covers. What makes that definition bite in a Rock Springs tenancy is its opening phrase, "As used in this article" - the same article holds W.S. 35-13-201(c), the leasing and renting sentence, so nothing separates the two.

### Is refusing an assistance animal a crime in Wyoming?

W.S. 35-13-203(a) makes denying or interfering with any place or facility referenced in W.S. 35-13-201(a) through (c) a misdemeanor with a fine of not more than $750. Read its limits carefully before relying on it. It is criminal, so it is charged by a county or district attorney rather than by a tenant; it carries no private right of action and no damages; and no Wyoming prosecution of a landlord under it was located. It is a fact about the statute book, not a remedy a Rock Springs renter can invoke on their own.

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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%2Frock-springs