Get Your Florida ESA Letter (Emotional Support Animal) For Housing.

Guaranteed ESA Letter In Florida.

Known as assistance animals, Emotional Support Animals are not pets, rather they are companion animals providing therapeutic benefit to individuals with disabilities which significantly limits one or more major life activities. These animals can be recommended by a licensed mental health or medical professional as part of an individual’s treatment plan. The recommendation is an official document known as Florida ESA letter, or Emotional Support Animal letter. Allowed under HUD's Fair Housing Act (FHA), the document confirms that an individual has a legitimate need for the support that their companion animal provides and entitles them to certain rights under federal law.

The US Fair Housing Act (FHA) and your Florida ESA Housing Letter.

This all begins with the "perfect" Florida ESA Letter for Housing.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) makes it unlawful for a housing provider to refuse to make a reasonable accommodation that a person with a disability may need in order to have equal opportunity to enjoy and use a dwelling. One common request housing providers receive is for a reasonable accommodation to the landlord’s pet or no animal policies so that individuals with disabilities are permitted to use assistance animals in housing, including public and common use areas.

 There are two types of assistance animals:

• service animals, and
• other trained or untrained animals that do work, perform tasks, provide assistance, and/or provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities.

A housing provider may exclude or charge a fee or deposit for pets in its discretion and subject to local law but not for service animals or other assistance animals.

READ: That Cheap ESA Letter For Housing Bought Online Is Likely Problematic.

What is a Reasonable Accommodation Request?

A reasonable accommodation is a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to have equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces.

With your letter for Florida Emotional Support Animal in hand -- available to those with dogs, cats, and common household pets -- your landlord must waive the following rules:

• No pets allowed
• Breed, size, and weight restrictions
• Pet Fees and pet deposits

Making a Reasonable Accommodation Request.

Housing providers have certain obligations under the FHA with respect to animals that individuals with disabilities may request as reasonable accommodations.

According to HUD’s FHEO Guidance, “A resident may request a reasonable accommodation either before or after acquiring the assistance animal. An accommodation also may be requested after a housing provider seeks to terminate the resident’s lease or tenancy because of the animal’s presence, although such timing may create an inference against good faith on the part of the person seeking a reasonable accommodation. However, under the FHA, a person with a disability may make a reasonable accommodation request at any time, and the housing provider must consider the reasonable accommodation request even if the resident made the request after bringing the animal into the housing.”

We Have Therapists Throughout Florida.

ESAD Int’l has an extensive network of licensed, accredited, and truly exceptional clinicians who use animal-assisted therapy to help you deal with a range of issues including depression, anxiety, trauma, grief, and more.

Our role is to connect you with a licensed nearby clinical team member to assess your "disability and disability-related need" for an assistance animal. Disabilities, or functional limitations, include any mental or psychological disorder, such as intellectual disability, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities, including:

• seeing
• hearing
• walking
• breathing
• performing manual tasks
• caring for one’s self
• learning
• speaking
• working
• sleep
• concentration
• social interaction
• and focus

Your College ESA Dog and Cat Housing Experts.

Adjusting to the lifestyle can be difficult, and perhaps you're looking to qualify for an Emotional Support Animal letter. With the pressure with classes and tests, not to mention being away from home -- friends, family, and your furry companion who've you had for years, this might be the right answer.

Although many schools have relaxed policies on pet bans in recent years, many remain adamant about allowing students to bring animals on campus. Contrast to those in the mental health care business who have been advocating for the benefits provided by your Emotional Support Animal.

College students seeking on campus housing accommodations should click here.

What's Inside Our Florida ESA Letter.

• Recognition that you are a patient on a case-by-case basis under a licensed mental health professional’s care for mental or emotional disabilities.
• Verification that you are significantly limited by an individual disability, such as depression or a similar condition, affecting your mental well-being.
• Florida Emotional Support Animal letter of recommendation.

It's All About Your Disability and Disability-Related Need For Emotional Support Animals Florida.

According to the Fair Housing Act, an emotional support animal Florida can be prescribed if an individual has a “disability and disability-related need.”

For example, John’s anxiety (or any mental disability or mental illness as classified by the DSM) causes significant issues with his sleep (disability). Thankfully, his dog Rover ameliorates John’s anxiety (disability-related need), and by lowering the anxiety, John can sleep better. Conversely, if there’s no dog in the equation, John’s anxiety increases which impacts his sleep.

In this case, there is a connection, or nexus, between John’s disability (sleep) and his emotional support animal Florida ability to help improve that functional limitation. Thus, the dog is necessary for John to enjoy fair and equal access to housing.

This determination can be performed by mental health and certain medical professionals. To avoid being denied your request for a reasonable accommodation, we very strongly recommend this provider be licensed, residing, and practicing in your state.

If you’re not currently under the care of a licensed provider, a telehealth platform such as ESADoggy can improve access to mental health care, with a focus on providing services to individuals who are seeking animal assisted interventions as part of their treatment plan.

Unlike other online ESA platforms and their bogus 2-minute questionnaire, our proprietary intake exam is geared to assess and address an individual’s need for the assistance animal. Developed by leading experts in the mental health care field, our HIPAA-compliant exam will take about 15-30 minutes to complete.

Like Everything We Do Around Here, There Are No Shortcuts.

Once the order is placed and our intake completed, we’ll connect you with a team member located in your state. During a telephone or video call, our licensed provider will determine if an assistance animal would be a beneficial part of your treatment plan. Should that be the case, an ESA letter of recommendation (PDF file) is made available for download from our secured therapy portal.

In certain locations (California, Indiana, and Illinois for example), two or three sessions are required.

All of our emotional support animal letters are issued, signed, and dated by your assigned licensed provider, on their letterhead, and includes licensing and contact information. As our process fully complies with all state and Federal law, we’re totally confident our documentation will be accepted by your landlord or their pet screening agency. Many years and counting now, we very rarely run into any problems (hence our amazing reviews).

This entire process normally takes five to eight business days to complete. Expedited appointments are available (additional fees apply).

READ: Our No Worries Guarantee (tm) Takes the Worry Out of Your ESA Letter.

Don't Get Scammed with Emotional Support Animal Registration.

The assistance animal industry is rife with questionable business practices exploiting consumers, prejudicing the legal rights of individuals with disabilities, duping landlords, and generally interfering with good faith efforts to comply with the Fair Housing Act. Predatory vendors, ethically-challenged clinicians, and sketchy customers are readily, and all too easily, found across the Internet.

Says founder Chaz Stevens, "clients come to us burdened with turbo-charged anxiety, so why make their life worse?"

"Sure, anyone can string up a website peddling crappy, red-flag inducing, bot-generated garbage letters auto-signed by a schlocky therapist - just look at the first page of Google. It's no wonder why owners of those spammie websites go out of their way to hide their identities. And don’t get me started with Emotional Support Animal registration."

So, how do you avoid getting scammed? Here are a few simple rules to follow.

• Does the vendor operate from a physical location, or are they operating out of a PO Box? Can you find them on Google Maps?
• Call them up (800-372-4125 is our number) and speak to the someone. Ask them these questions - do you have a therapist who is licensed, practicing, and residing in your state. Who owns and operates your company? Chat with the owner.
• Ask them how long they've been in business (our holding company is going on its 26th year).
• Check out their reviews (we have loads going back on a decade now). Forget Trustpilot and hotpo reviews (they are easily faked and bought online from unscrupulous overseas operators).

READ: Learn About ESAD INT'L (ESADoggy).

Documentation from the Internet.

Some websites sell certificates, registrations, and licensing documents for assistance animals to anyone who answers certain questions or participates in a short interview and pays a fee. Under the Fair Housing Act, a housing provider may request reliable documentation when an individual requesting a reasonable accommodation has a disability and disability-related need for an accommodation that are not obvious or otherwise known. In HUD’s experience, such documentation from the internet is not, by itself, sufficient to reliably establish that an individual has a non-observable disability or disability-related need for an assistance animal.

By contrast, legitimate organizations such as ESAD Int’l and its team of licensed health care professionals ethically deliver services remotely. You’re going to connect with a nearby licensed provider, engage in one or more therapy sessions, and receive a letter of recommendation that’s been revised and upgraded thru the years.

Information Confirming Disability-Related Need for an Assistance Animal.

According to HUD, the following is the suggested guidance for confirming an individual’s need for an assistance animal.

• Reasonably supporting information often consists of information from a licensed mental health care or medical professional, general to the condition but specific as to the individual with a disability and the assistance or therapeutic emotional support provided by the animal.
• A relationship or connection between the disability and the need for the assistance animal must be provided. This is particularly the case where the disability is non-observable, and/or the animal provides therapeutic emotional support.
• For non-observable disabilities and animals that provide therapeutic emotional support, a housing provider may ask for information to conduct an individualized assessment of whether it must provide the accommodation under the Fair Housing Act. The lack of such documentation in many cases may be reasonable grounds for denying a requested accommodation.

What Types of Pets Can Be an Emotional Support Animal?

Emotional support dogs are the most common type of comfort animal. Cats, rabbits, and other common household pets are also allowed. HUD’s FHA 2020 rules against reptiles, and we follow their guidance, not permitting such creatures to be approved in our network.

Is a Registry Site or Emotional Support Animal Vest Required?

No, that’s a scam and the reddest of red flags. Run, don’t walk, away from sites that want to register your animal.

That said, many ESA owners choose to outfit their animal, clearly distinguishing it from an ordinary pet. An ESA ID card is also a common item these individuals make it a point to have on hand. We’ve found this card helps lower the handler’s overall stress level.

How Does ESAD Int'l Protect My Privacy?

Your privacy is our top concern. We’re a HIPAA-compliant online mental health care platform, which means we follow the same privacy laws as a brick and mortar location. ESADoggy just simplifies the experience by delivering exceptional mental health care on your terms.

ESAD Int'l offers virtual appointments with licensed professionals that are separate from your employer and insurer. So, you can find the help you need from the comfort and privacy of your own home.

Why Choose Us?

This is a labor of love; going on eight years now, not a single complaint, rated BBB A+ flawless, amazing reviews, all operated with world-class ethics. It takes a Herculean effort to deliver remote ethical, compassionate, empathetic care that passes regulatory muster.

Our clients enjoy amazing 24/7 customer support, state of the art data privacy protection, and an extensive therapeutic network.

For those in financial need, we offer pro-bono assistance animal assessments. Restrictions apply.

No Dog? No Cat? No Problem.

If you've not yet secured your assistance animal, but need documentation beforehand, not a problem, we've got you covered.

Our clinicians are evaluating your disability and disability-related need for an assistance animal, even for folks that don’t yet have a furry friend by their side. After you find your new furry friend, we can update your letter to include the animal's information.

Getting A Psychiatric Service Dog Letter For Air Travel.

Emotional support animals have been banned (Jan. 2021) from air travel. However, psychiatric service dogs enable clients to fly with their dog by their side with no pet fees. Psychiatric service dogs (PSD) are canines specifically trained to support individuals diagnosed with a mental illness by easing symptoms caused by mental disability(s). Please remember that a PSD recommendation is contingent on your animal being trained to do work or tasks to assist with your disability and trained to properly behave in public.

The ADA allows owners (US travelers only) to self-train their PSDs, so if this describes your situation, with your PSD letter in hand, you are good to go.

Learn more about psychiatric service dogs.

Before placing an order, please verify that we have active clinical coverage in your state/province.

Updated December 22, 2021.
The following service is only for U.S. residents only.