ESA Lease Addendum: What Renters Should Review Before Signing

Once your ESA accommodation is approved, many landlords ask you to sign an addendum. Most are fine. Some are pet agreements with the word pet crossed out, and they try to reintroduce charges the law says you do not owe. Here is what to look for.

What an addendum is for

A lease addendum is a document added to your lease that records the accommodation and sets out expectations. Landlords use it to protect themselves against damage and nuisance, and there is nothing improper about that. Approving an assistance animal does not mean approving an animal that destroys the carpet or bites the neighbours.

The addendum should reflect that the animal is an assistance animal, not a pet, and the terms should follow from that distinction.

Terms that are reasonable

Behaviour standards. The animal must be under your control, must not be a nuisance to other residents, and must not damage property. Reasonable and enforceable. Waste and cleanliness. Prompt clean-up, designated areas, sanitary conditions in the unit. Fine. Liability for actual damage. If the animal damages the unit, you pay for it, exactly as any tenant pays for damage they cause. This is permitted; a pre-charged deposit against possible damage is not. Vaccination and licensing. Local animal control rules apply to everyone, and a landlord may ask you to comply with them. Confirmation the animal matches the letter. The addendum may name the animal described in your documentation.

Terms that are not

Pet rent, pet deposits or pet fees, under any name. An assistance animal is not a pet. A charge relabelled as an 'animal fee' or 'accommodation administration fee' is still a fee, and HUD guidance says it may not be charged. Breed, size or weight restrictions. These may not be applied to an approved assistance animal. A landlord may refuse a specific animal that poses a direct threat based on its actual behaviour, not its breed. A requirement to register or certify the animal. No registry has legal standing, and requiring one is requiring something that does not exist. Additional insurance. A landlord may not require you to buy liability insurance for the animal as a condition of the accommodation, though your own renters insurance is a sensible idea regardless. Restrictions on where the animal may go. Confining the animal to your unit, or barring it from common areas, is generally not permitted beyond what applies to residents themselves. A waiver of your fair housing rights. Any clause saying you agree the animal is a pet, or that you waive accommodation rights, should not be signed.

Clauses that look harmless and are not

Watch for 'refundable animal deposit'. Refundable or not, it is a deposit, and it is not permitted. Watch for 'the tenant agrees to pay a monthly animal maintenance charge of $25'. That is pet rent. Watch for 'this accommodation may be revoked at the landlord's discretion'. Accommodations may be withdrawn only if the animal poses a direct threat or causes substantial damage, not at discretion.

Also watch for automatic termination clauses if you fail to provide updated documentation within a short window. An annual update request is reasonable; a 14-day demand with automatic loss of the accommodation is not.

What to do if the addendum overreaches

Do not sign it as drafted. Reply in writing, identify the specific clauses, and cite HUD's 2020 guidance on assistance animals. Most property managers will strike the clauses once they realise a tenant knows the rules; many use a generic pet addendum without having thought about it.

If they refuse, you can sign a modified version with the offending clauses struck through and initialled, or sign the lease without the addendum and note in writing that you decline the addendum's non-compliant terms while accepting the accommodation. Keep everything.

Before you sign anything

Read the whole document, not just the section about the animal. Check that the rest of your lease does not contain a separate pet clause that contradicts the accommodation. Confirm the addendum names the animal correctly. And make sure you have a copy of your ESA letter and the landlord's written approval, because the addendum should reference both.