ESA housing letter
The standard Fair Housing Act verification for apartments, leases, HOAs, and rental homes across Texas. Covers one or more animals.
Pricing and what's includedESA Letter Texas · licensed clinicians
Texas ESA Letter, online from a licensed Texas clinician
Applying for an ESA letter in Texas takes a single video appointment. Meet a licensed Texas clinician and, if an emotional support animal is right for you, receive your Fair Housing Act letter the same day. No registry fees, and no charge at all unless you are approved.
Start my ESA letter
From $129 · refund if not approved
SAMPLE
Reasonable Accommodation Verification
24 C.F.R. § 100.204 · Assistance animal
To: Property Manager,
My patient, , is currently under my care and has a mental health impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities as defined by the Fair Housing Act.
As part of the treatment plan, I have prescribed the continued presence of an emotional support animal in the residence. The animal alleviates identified symptoms and supports the patient's ability to use and enjoy the dwelling.
I am available to verify this letter directly. No diagnosis is disclosed, and none is required.
Landlord called to verify?We answer verification requests for you at no charge.
What we do
Four documents, one clinical standard
Every assessment is performed by a clinician licensed in Texas. What differs is which accommodation your situation actually calls for.
Campus housing letter
Written for university disability services offices, which review requests on their own timelines and forms. Common at UT, A&M, Texas State, and UH.
Campus housing guidePsychiatric service dog assessment
For dogs individually trained to perform tasks. Broader public access under the ADA, plus the documentation airlines require.
How PSDs differRejection support
If a landlord denies, delays, or demands more than the law allows, we respond to verification requests and point you to the right complaint process.
If you were deniedThe process
Four steps, and the third one is a real appointment
This is a clinical service with an intake, a licensed provider, a documented encounter, and a record. The timeline is typical, not promised.
01
Complete the intake
A screening questionnaire covering your symptoms, history, living situation, and the animal. Plain English, no clinical jargon.
10 minutes02
Get matched
We route your file to a clinician licensed in Texas whose scope fits your needs, and send you appointment times.
Same day03
Meet by video
A live telehealth appointment, usually 20 to 30 minutes. The clinician decides independently whether an ESA is clinically appropriate.
1–3 business days04
Receive the letter
A signed PDF on the clinician's letterhead with license details, plus free landlord verification for the 12 months it covers.
Same day as your visitMeet your doctor
Meet your doctor
A real, licensed doctor does your evaluation personally over video — no call centres, no rubber stamps. You get an honest answer every time.
Dr. Johnathan Chance Miller, MD
Licensed Physician
Dr. Johnathan Chance Miller is a licensed doctor who helps people live healthier, longer lives. He pairs strong medical training with a practical, whole-person approach to care.
He earned his medical degree from Columbia University in New York City and finished his residency at Washington University in St. Louis — two of the top medical schools in the country.
A former college athlete and rugby captain, he knows how much nutrition and daily habits matter. He listens, keeps an open mind, and looks for the real cause instead of quick fixes.
License Verification
Texas Medical Board →
Pricing
Texas ESA letter pricing: one flat fee, priced by pets
No registration fees, no subscription, and no charge at all if the clinician does not approve your request.
$129
Housing & rental protection · up to 2 pets
- Covers one or two pets on a single letter
- Live telehealth appointment with a Texas-licensed clinician
- Signed PDF on clinician letterhead, license number included
- Landlord and HOA verification for 12 months
- Full refund if the clinician does not approve
$199
Housing & rental protection · 3 or more pets
- Covers three or more pets on a single letter
- Extended appointment — each animal assessed
- Every animal named by species and name
- Everything in the standard ESA letter
- Refund of the difference if fewer animals are approved
See what each letter includes, plus service dog assessments →
The rules that actually apply
What the law says, with citations
Most confusion about emotional support animals comes from mixing up four separate bodies of law. Here is the short version.
42 U.S.C. § 3604 · FHA
Housing is where ESAs are protected
Housing providers must consider a reasonable accommodation for an assistance animal, and HUD's 2020 guidance (Notice FHEO-2020-01) sets out how requests should be evaluated. Approved assistance animals are not pets, so pet fees do not apply.
Tex. Prop. Code · SB 1204 (2021)
Texas regulates the paperwork
Texas law lets a landlord request written verification from a licensed health professional who has personal knowledge of the tenant's need, and makes knowingly providing fraudulent assistance animal documentation a criminal offense. Instant online "certificates" are exactly what this targets.
28 C.F.R. § 35.104 · ADA
Public places are different
Under the ADA, a service animal is a dog individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. Emotional support alone does not qualify, so restaurants and stores may lawfully exclude an ESA.
14 C.F.R. Part 382 · DOT 2021
Air travel changed in 2021
Airlines are no longer required to accommodate emotional support animals and generally treat them as pets. Trained psychiatric service dogs still travel as service animals, with the DOT's air transportation form.
Who we work with
Built for the situations Texas renters actually run into
Most clients arrive because something specific happened: a new lease requiring pet rent, a dorm move-in date, an HOA letter, a property manager asking for documentation that meets the Texas standard.
So we write for those readers — the property manager, the disability services coordinator, the compliance department. They are the ones who have to accept the letter.
- Renters in large managed complexes in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Fort Worth, where accommodation requests go through a corporate portal.
- College students facing a residence hall no-pet policy and a disability services deadline.
- Homeowners in HOA communities with breed or weight restrictions in the covenants.
- People with a trained dog who need a psychiatric service dog assessment rather than an ESA letter.
What you get with every letter
Clinician letterhead, license type and number, the state of licensure, the date of clinical contact, a statement of disability-related need with no diagnosis disclosed, and a direct line for verification. Twelve months of coverage and free re-issue if a property manager needs it re-addressed.
What we will never sell you
Registration numbers. Certificates. ID cards. Vests. Lifetime memberships. "Instant approval." A letter without an appointment. If a competitor offers those, they are selling a keepsake — and in Texas, documentation that misrepresents its source can carry legal consequences for you.
Honest limits
Some housing is exempt from the Fair Housing Act, including owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units and single-family homes rented by the owner without a broker. We tell you before you pay if your situation looks like one of those.
Client experiences
What clients say after the appointment
“The leasing office dropped the $300 pet deposit two days after I sent the letter. Every cost was explained before I paid anything.”
“The clinician actually asked questions instead of rubber-stamping a form. It felt like a real appointment, not a checkout page.”
“Scheduling took a day longer than I hoped, but the letter had the license number my property manager wanted and went through first try.”
“Straight answers about what the law does and does not cover. Nobody tried to sell me an ID card or a certificate.”
Guides
Know where you stand before you book
Four situations account for most of the questions we get. Each guide is written for the person who has to accept your letter, not just for you.
Psychiatric service dogs in Texas
A psychiatric service dog is defined by trained tasks, not by paperwork. What counts as a task under the ADA, the only two questions a business may ask you, and what changed for air travel in 2021.
Read the PSD guideESA or psychiatric service animal?
Both help with psychiatric disabilities, but only one requires training and only one carries public access rights. A side-by-side comparison and a three-question decision guide.
Compare the twoESAs in Texas campus housing
Dorm requests run through disability services, on their forms and their deadlines. What reviewers need to see, how many weeks to allow, and where your animal may go on campus.
Read the campus guideIf your letter is rejected
Most denials are curable. Get the reason in writing, sort it into a paperwork defect or an improper demand, then work the five steps in order — including where to file a complaint.
Fix a rejected letterWhere we work
ESA letters across Texas, city by city
Statewide telehealth, but housing works differently in each market — institutional portfolios in Dallas, deed restrictions in Harris County, HOA covenants across Collin and Williamson. Each page covers the local reality.
- ESA letter Houston
- ESA letter San Antonio
- ESA letter Dallas
- ESA letter Austin
- ESA letter Fort Worth
- ESA letter El Paso
- ESA letter Arlington
- ESA letter Corpus Christi
- ESA letter Plano
- ESA letter Lubbock
- ESA letter Laredo
- ESA letter Irving
- ESA letter Garland
- ESA letter Frisco
- ESA letter McKinney
- ESA letter Amarillo
- ESA letter Grand Prairie
- ESA letter Brownsville
- ESA letter Killeen
- ESA letter Denton
- ESA letter Pasadena
- ESA letter Mesquite
- ESA letter McAllen
- ESA letter Waco
- ESA letter Midland
- ESA letter Carrollton
- ESA letter Lewisville
- ESA letter Abilene
- ESA letter Round Rock
- ESA letter Pearland
Common questions
ESA Letter Texas questions, answered straight
The questions we get most, answered the way we would answer them on the phone.
Do I have to register my emotional support animal in Texas?
No. There is no state or federal ESA registry, and no registration number, certificate, ID card, or vest carries legal weight in Texas. Under the Fair Housing Act, a housing provider who asks for verification is entitled to written documentation from a licensed health professional confirming that you have a disability and that the animal provides disability-related support. That letter is the only document that does any work.
How long does it take to get an ESA letter in Texas?
Most clients finish the intake questionnaire in about 10 minutes and meet a licensed Texas clinician by video within one to three business days. If the clinician approves the accommodation, your signed PDF letter is emailed the same day as the appointment, with a printed copy by mail on request.
Will my landlord accept the letter?
Texas law requires that assistance animal verification come from a licensed health professional who has personal knowledge of your need, so our letters are written to satisfy that standard: license number and type, jurisdiction, date of the clinical contact, and a statement of disability-related need without disclosing your diagnosis. We also respond directly to reasonable landlord verification requests at no extra charge. No provider can promise a specific landlord's decision, and if yours pushes back, our rejection guide walks through the next steps.
Can my landlord charge pet rent or a pet deposit for an ESA?
Generally, no. When an assistance animal is approved as a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, it is not treated as a pet, so pet fees, pet rent, and pet deposits do not apply, and blanket breed or weight limits usually cannot be enforced against it. You remain financially responsible for any actual damage the animal causes and for its behavior on the property.
Does an ESA letter let my animal fly in the cabin or come into restaurants?
No. Since the Department of Transportation's rule took effect in January 2021, airlines are no longer required to treat emotional support animals as service animals, and most now handle them as pets. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, only dogs individually trained to perform tasks qualify as service animals in restaurants, stores, and other public places. If your dog performs trained tasks for a psychiatric disability, read our psychiatric service dog guide instead.
What if the clinician decides an ESA letter isn't appropriate for me?
Then you are not approved and you are refunded in full. The assessment is a real clinical evaluation, not a formality, and a provider who approves everyone produces documentation that housing providers learn to distrust. Some clients are better served by a psychiatric service dog assessment, a different accommodation, or a referral for ongoing care, and the clinician will tell you so.
Next step
Find out whether an ESA letter is appropriate for you.
Start with the 10-minute intake. If the clinician does not approve an accommodation, you pay nothing.