Many people have more than one emotional support animal (ESA) at home for various reasons. It may be that they need multiple ESAs to cope with their mental or emotional health condition. Or, it could be a household where more than one person has their own emotional support animal.
Whatever the case may be, you are allowed to have more than one ESA in your home as long as you meet the U.S. Department of Housing’s document requirements. If you have multiple ESAs covered by the appropriate documents, they are exempt from policies that limit the number of pets you can have in one household.
The reason for that is because emotional support animals are not considered pets—they are considered assistance animals. Therefore, property owners and other housing providers are not allowed to charge fees and deposits for ESAs.
Why Do Some People Need More than One ESA?
There are many good reasons that someone might need more than one emotional support animal. In fact, HUD’s guidelines recognize that some people will need more than one ESA to deal with their mental or emotional disability.
For example, someone may have two emotional support animals that serve different purposes. A person may have a cat that provides a calming influence for their anxiety and a dog that provides them with a reason to get out when they feel depressed. Each animal MUST provide unique and different things to help alleviate the symptoms of your disability. If they provide the same or similar relief, then a person would only qualify for one.
It is also common for households to have more than one emotional support animal if multiple people have an ESA. For example, there may be a home with a husband and wife with different emotional support animals; or a home may have roommates that have their own ESA.
Is There a Limit to How Many ESAs I Can Have?
There are situations where you might have too many ESAs. After all, property owners and housing providers must reasonably accommodate emotional support animals under Fair Housing rules, meaning there are some limits.
In addition, you must be able to safely and humanely accommodate them in your home. For example, if you have a large ESAs in a very confined space, that may not be considered reasonable. If your ESAs are wild animals, that would also certainly be an issue. Your ESA situation cannot threaten the safety or health of other tenants in the building.
Above all, you need to consider the living conditions of all animals and the effects of living with multiple animals. In addition, you must take into account the emotional and psychological well-being of the animal as well.
When can my landowner deny my ESAs?
In some cases, a landowner can deny your request for living in apartments with more than one Emotional Support Animal as they can ask you for the reasons behind keeping more than one pet.
Property owners and building owners must make reasonable accommodation for an Emotional Support Animal. Your landlord can deny you or evict you if your ESA mistreats you or other people and turns out to be a threat.
However, you need to fulfill some requirements, make sure that:
- Your ESAs is well behaved.
- Must be quiet to provide a safe living environment to other tenants.
- Must not provide any harm to the property.
- It causes financial or administrative hardship to the property owner.
For more information about emotional support animals please click the link. And if you need an ESA or PSD letter please click the link for details.
