The Fair Housing Act still requires landlords to make reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities, and a trained service dog is still the textbook case. What changed in 2026 is HUD's enforcement: it withdrew its 2020 assistance animal notice and now pursues animal cases only when the animal is individually trained. For emotional support animals, your state's law is now the main source of protection.
The short version
- Trained service dogs: a no-pets rule generally has to bend. HUD's own regulation uses a guide dog as its example, and HUD says requests for trained animals are "presumptively reasonable".
- Emotional support animals: federal enforcement pulled back in May 2026, but the statute, private lawsuits and state law remain. Colorado passed a 2026 law to restore the old approach. Other states set their own letter rules.
- Paperwork: a landlord may ask for reliable information when a disability or need is not obvious. A registration, certificate or ID card, ours included, is not that information.
What changed at HUD in 2025 and 2026
HUD withdrew its 2020 assistance animal notice, FHEO-2020-01, effective September 17, 2025. The withdrawal was published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2026 and says the withdrawn documents "should not be relied upon as authoritative." On May 22, 2026, HUD's fair housing office issued an enforcement memo that says: "Effective immediately, for complaints related to animal-related reasonable accommodations, FHEO will find reasonable cause and recommend charges only for those cases involving animals trained to provide disability-related assistance."
The memo also says HUD intends to write new rules "with the aim of harmonizing our regulations, to the maximum extent possible, with those of the ADA." Nothing has been proposed yet that we found. Many websites still cite the 2020 notice as current. It is not. The details are in ESA letters for housing after HUD's 2026 change.
What did not change
- The Fair Housing Act itself, including the reasonable accommodation duty in 42 U.S.C. 3604(f)(3)(B).
- HUD's regulation, 24 CFR 100.204, whose only example is a blind applicant with a seeing eye dog in a no-pets building.
- Your right to sue. The memo says: "Nothing in this enforcement guidance affects the rights of parties to seek redress through a private action in court."
- State and local law. Law firms reading the memo agree it changes federal enforcement policy, not the statute or state law.
- HUD-assisted housing for elderly or disabled people and public housing, where pet policies may not be applied to animals "necessary as a reasonable accommodation" (24 CFR 5.303 and 960.705).
Service dogs and ESAs are now treated differently
HUD's memo draws the line at training: "FHEO no longer expects housing providers to categorically extend accommodations for trained assistance animals to untrained ESAs." If your dog is trained to perform a task for your disability, read service dogs in apartments. If your animal helps by being with you, read can a landlord deny an emotional support animal? Not sure which you have? Start with emotional support animal vs service dog.
Why your state matters more now
With federal enforcement narrowed, state law does most of the work for ESAs:
- Colorado HB26-1045, effective August 12, 2026, states its purpose is "to restore the rescinded federal guidance by codifying it in state law".
- California, Florida, Iowa, Montana, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Tennessee and others set rules on who may write an ESA letter. See ESA letters.
- California, Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, Wisconsin and Minnesota bar pet fees or extra charges for assistance animals in their statutes or regulations.
Find yours on the state laws index.
Dorms, condos and HOAs
A federal court held that the Fair Housing Act applies to university housing, and courts have heard many assistance-animal cases against condo associations. In 2024 a New York co-op settled a Justice Department case over a resident's emotional support animals for $165,000. See emotional support animals in college dorms, and the HOA section of service dogs in apartments.
Registrations do not help with landlords
No registry, certificate or ID card is documentation a landlord relies on. Florida and Montana say so in their statutes. Our voluntary registry exists for other reasons (an emergency contact, a record, a card with the ADA's two questions on it) and we say so on every card. For housing, what matters is your situation, your state's law and, where needed, a letter from your own clinician.
All guides in this section
- ESA letters for housing after HUD's 2026 changeHUD withdrew its 2020 ESA guidance and now enforces only for trained animals. What still protects ESA owners, how to ask a landlord, and pet rent and fees.
- Can a landlord deny an emotional support animal?Sometimes, and more often since HUD's 2026 memo. The grounds a landlord can rely on, breed and size limits, more than one animal, fees, and state law.
- Service dogs in apartments: can a landlord say no?Generally no. Why the Fair Housing Act, not the ADA, usually applies, what a landlord may ask, fees and deposits, and service dogs in condos and HOAs.
- Emotional support animals in college dormsDorms are housing under the Fair Housing Act, but HUD's 2026 memo changed federal enforcement for ESAs. How colleges handle requests, and service dogs on campus.
Common questions
Is HUD's 2020 assistance animal guidance still in effect?
No. FHEO-2020-01 was withdrawn effective September 17, 2025, and HUD's May 2026 memo says it is permanently rescinded.
Do landlords still have to accept emotional support animals?
It depends on your state. HUD now pursues federal cases only for trained animals, but private lawsuits and state laws, such as Colorado's 2026 law, remain.
Can my landlord refuse my service dog because of a no-pets rule?
Generally no. The Fair Housing Act requires reasonable accommodations, and HUD's regulation uses a guide dog in a no-pets building as its example.
Does the ADA cover my apartment?
Housing is governed mainly by the Fair Housing Act and state law. The ADA's two-question rule for businesses is not the housing standard.
Sources
- HUD FHEO enforcement guidance on animal accommodations, 2026-05-22
- Federal Register, withdrawal of FHEO guidance documents (FR Doc. 2026-06624)
- 42 U.S.C. 3604, Fair Housing Act
- 24 CFR 100.204, reasonable accommodations
- Colorado HB26-1045
- Holland and Knight, HUD rescinds emotional support animal guidance (2026-06-05)
General information, not legal advice. Policies and laws change; follow the sources. Last checked September 25, 2026.