AvalonBay Allows Two Pets per Home and Leaves Other Rules to Each Community

AvalonBay's pet page says most communities allow cats and dogs, up to two pets per home, and lists restricted breeds, but it publishes no fees, weight limit or rule for assistance animals. Ask your community for those. ESA Card has no connection to AvalonBay: its registration is the ID card and certificate you carry beside your provider's letter.

AvalonBay's pet rules are on one page, Pet Friendly Apartments | WAG The Pet Program, which carries no date of its own. Everything below about AvalonBay comes from that page, read on November 5, 2026, with its quotes exact. Its site is avaloncommunities.com, so searches for "Avalon" and "AvalonBay" lead to the same company.

What is AvalonBay's pet policy?

AvalonBay says most communities allow cats and dogs and accept a maximum of two pets per home, and it restricts a list of breeds and animals. The page says "most communities allow cats and dogs and accept a maximum of two pets per home" and that pets "must be on a leash at all times when outside the apartment home." It adds that AvalonBay "reserves the right to deny residency to any animal deemed aggressive whose breed is not explicitly listed."

Does AvalonBay allow emotional support animals?

AvalonBay's pet page does not mention emotional support animals or assistance animals, so its answer has to come from the community you are applying to. The page's limits are written for pets, and it says "please contact our community for details," so the questions below go to the community in writing:

What does AvalonBay charge for pets?

AvalonBay's pet page gives no amount for a pet fee, deposit or monthly rent. Ask the community for the figures in writing, and ask which of them, if any, apply to an assistance animal. HUD's own statement on fees is below.

How do you ask AvalonBay for an emotional support animal?

AvalonBay publishes no request process on its pet page, so the request starts with a written message to the community's leasing office. Five steps keep it clean:

1. Contact the community's leasing office before the animal moves in.
2. Ask for its assistance animal request process and any form it uses.
3. Put your request in writing and keep a copy of everything you send.
4. Give a letter from your provider when the community asks for documentation.
5. Ask in writing whether any pet charge applies, and keep the answer.

What do HUD's own documents say about an emotional support animal at an AvalonBay community?

The Fair Housing Act covers AvalonBay like any other landlord, and HUD's own statement says a housing provider may ask for reliable proof of the disability and the need, but may not charge extra fees or deposits for an accommodation. HUD and the Justice Department's joint statement on reasonable accommodations, dated May 17, 2004 and still on hud.gov when we read it, says a provider "may request reliable disability-related information" when a disability is not obvious, and that "housing providers may not require persons with disabilities to pay extra fees or deposits as a condition of receiving a reasonable accommodation." It adds that a tenant can still be billed for damage the animal causes. AvalonBay's pet page gives no fee amounts and does not say whether any charge applies to an assistance animal.

HUD has since changed how it enforces this. It withdrew its 2013 and 2020 assistance animal notices, effective September 17, 2025, and since May 22, 2026 its fair housing office pursues an animal complaint only when the animal is trained to do disability-related work or tasks (HUD's enforcement memo). The Fair Housing Act itself, your right to go to court and state laws did not change, and a 2025 federal decision attached to the memo found that waiving one $400 animal fee was not required on its facts, so fees are decided case by case. Our page on HUD's emotional support animal rules has the documents, and our guide to pet deposits, pet rent and fees for an ESA has the cases.

What should an ESA letter include when you give it to AvalonBay?

A letter from a licensed provider who evaluated you and can be reached, on letterhead with their license number and a signature, gives a leasing team something it can check. Our free sample ESA letter shows each part, and our guide to who can write an ESA letter covers which licenses count. The quickest route is a therapist, psychiatrist or doctor who already treats you, because they know you and can confirm the letter if AvalonBay calls. AvalonBay's pet page does not list the documents it asks for, so ask the community what it needs to see. The checks anyone can run on a letter are in how to verify an ESA letter.

No provider of your own? In Florida, New Jersey and New York we can book you a live video evaluation with an independent therapist licensed in your state: $120, with $80 back if they can't approve you, and the therapist alone decides on the letter. You can book in Florida, book in New Jersey or book in New York.

Other managers publish different rules. Our guides to Maymont Homes, Camden and Equity Residential read each company's own pages the same way, our study of what 16 large landlords publish about emotional support animals counts all sixteen, and our guide to how PetScreening reviews an ESA request covers the screening service many properties use.

Alongside the letter, ESA Card registration gives your animal a digital ESA Card with its photo, a certificate and a number anyone can check at esacard.com/verify, for $39$59$79$99 once, in about three minutes. It is handy for the everyday questions; the letter from your provider is the document a housing provider can ask for.