Only 6 of 16 Big US Landlords Publish Their Pet Fees, and Only 4 Name Emotional Support Animals

Of 16 large US landlords and property managers, only 6 publish a dollar amount for a pet fee, deposit or monthly pet rent, and only 8 say anything about an emotional support, assistance or service animal. Just 4 name emotional support animals, 3 list a fee waiver for them, and 1 (Tricon) says it does not accept letters from online providers. Every number comes from the company's own public pages, read November 5, 2026.

We counted what each company states on its own pages, not what its leasing offices do. Each company's name below links to our guide to it, with the exact words and the pages they come from, and the method is at the bottom.

Only 6 of the 16 publish a dollar amount for pet fees or rent, and only 4 name emotional support animals.

Only 8 of the 16 publish a limit on pets per home, and every limit is 2 or 3.

The 8 that publish a limit set it at 2 or 3 pets. AMH, Maymont Homes and Willow Bridge say 3 (Maymont Homes counts 3 non-ESA pets). Tricon, AvalonBay, Cortland and UDR say 2. Camden's pages disagree: 2 at its Cedar Hills community and 3 at most communities in a 2021 post. The other 8 name no number.

All 8 that name restricted dog breeds list a pit bull type, and 5 also name Rottweilers and Dobermans.

8 of the 16 publish a list of restricted dog breeds: AMH, Tricon, AvalonBay, Maymont Homes, Camden, Equity Residential, Cortland and UDR. AMH, Tricon, Maymont Homes, Cortland and UDR also name Rottweilers and Dobermans. Greystar, Willow Bridge and Bell Partners say some breed limits apply and name none, and RPM Living says its pet-friendly communities have no breed or age restrictions.

Only 6 of the 16 publish a dollar amount, and monthly pet rent runs from $25 to $95 a pet.

Across the 6 that publish figures, monthly pet rent runs from $25 to $95 a pet, and one-time fees or deposits run from $99 to $500. Cortland lists the lowest rent, $25 a month at its Cary community, and UDR the highest, $95 a month at 399 Fremont, where its $99 refundable deposit is also the lowest one-time figure. Willow Bridge lists a $500 fee and Essex a pet deposit of up to $500, the highest. All 6 give a one-time figure and a monthly one.

3 of the 6 (Cortland, UDR and Willow Bridge) give figures for one community only, so another community of the same company may list different ones. The other 10 publish no amount: Greystar, AMH, AvalonBay, Camden, Equity Residential, RPM Living, Bell Partners, Avenue5, Asset Living and Bozzuto.

Only 8 of the 16 say anything about an emotional support, assistance or service animal, and 8 say nothing at all.

• Name emotional support animals (4): Greystar, Tricon, Maymont Homes and Essex.
• Use assistance or service animal wording only (4): AMH, Equity Residential, Cortland and UDR.
• Say nothing about any of them (8): AvalonBay, Camden, Willow Bridge, RPM Living, Bell Partners, Avenue5, Asset Living and Bozzuto.

Only 3 of the 16 list a fee waiver for emotional support animals, and only 1 says it rejects online letters.

Tricon and Maymont Homes state a waiver outright, and Essex says fees may be waived with documentation. Tricon lists a waiver of pet fees for verified service and emotional support animals. Maymont Homes lists pet fees ($0), monthly pet rent and breed restrictions as exempt for certified emotional support animals. Essex says "fees may be waived with documentation" and does not say which fees or which documents.

The other 13 do not say. 3 of those publish a fee amount (Cortland, UDR and Willow Bridge) and none of the 3 says whether it applies to an assistance animal.

Tricon is the only one of the 16 that addresses online providers: its page says it "does not accept documents from online providers." It asks for "a valid letter from a qualified, licensed physician or health care professional" and says it is needed when you apply and again when you renew your lease.

Only 7 of the 16 publish a company-wide page of pet rules, and 6 tell renters to ask their own community.

On the pages we read, 7 companies publish a company-wide page or document with pet rules, 4 publish rules only on one community's page and 5 publish no pet rules at all. Company-wide: Greystar, AMH, Tricon, AvalonBay, Maymont Homes, Equity Residential and Essex. One community's page: Camden, Cortland, UDR and Willow Bridge. No pet rules: RPM Living, Bell Partners, Avenue5, Asset Living and Bozzuto.

6 of the 16 say in their own words that rules differ by community or tell renters to ask the community for the exact rules: Greystar, AvalonBay, Equity Residential, Essex, UDR and Asset Living.

Here is what each of the 16 publishes, company by company.

HUD's 2004 statement addresses extra fees for an accommodation, and its May 2026 memo narrows which animal complaints it pursues.

The Fair Housing Act covers the 16 companies 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. Of the 16, 3 list a fee waiver for emotional support animals on their own pages, and the other 13 do not say.

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.

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.

We read each company's own pages on November 5, 2026 and counted only what they state.

• Who: 16 of the largest US landlords and property managers, chosen from public rankings of the biggest. We skipped 9 more because their sites block automated reading or publish no pet text.
• What we read: each company's own public pet pages: its pet policy or renter guide where it has one, and a community page where it does not. Each company's guide names the exact pages and the date on them.
• What counts as published: a statement on those pages. "Not published" means the pages we read say nothing on the point, not that the company never does.
• What we counted: a pet limit is a number of pets per home. A breed list names dog breeds. A dollar amount is a figure for a one-time pet fee, a deposit or monthly pet rent. Assistance animal wording is any sentence about an emotional support, assistance or service animal.
• What we left out: what leasing offices say on the phone, what leases contain and what communities charge in practice.
• Cite it: ESA Card Editorial Team, "Only 6 of 16 Big US Landlords Publish Their Pet Fees, and Only 4 Name Emotional Support Animals," esacard.com/blog/landlord-emotional-support-animal-study-2026, pages read November 5, 2026.