Service animals, ESAs and pets in Florida rentals: what you can ask

Florida sorts animals in a rental into three categories with three sets of rules. A service animal is a trained dog, and you may not charge for it or demand medical proof. An emotional support animal is covered by F.S. 760.27: if the disability or the need is not obvious, you may request reliable supporting information from a licensed practitioner, you may not ask for a diagnosis, and you may not charge a pet fee or deposit for it. A pet is whatever you decide to allow on whatever terms you set. HUD's May 22, 2026 memo changed federal enforcement on ESAs, but it did not change F.S. 760.27.

What is the difference between a service animal, an ESA and a pet?

F.S. 760.27(5) says the section does not apply to a service animal as defined in F.S. 413.08. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, as Duane Morris summarized in June 2026, a service animal is a dog, or in limited cases a miniature horse, individually trained to do work or perform tasks directly related to a person's disability. Comfort by presence is not a task.

An emotional support animal is defined in F.S. 760.27(1)(a) as "an animal that does not require training to do work, perform tasks, provide assistance, or provide therapeutic emotional support by virtue of its presence which alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person's disability." Any species qualifies and no training is required.

A pet has no legal status; your lease decides whether pets are allowed and on what terms.

What can I ask when a tenant requests an ESA?

Under F.S. 760.27(2), if the disability "is not readily apparent," you may request "reliable information that reasonably supports that the person has a disability." The statute lists what counts: a disability determination from a government agency, receipt of disability benefits or services, proof of eligibility for a housing voucher because of a disability, or information from a licensed health care practitioner or telehealth provider. An out-of-state practitioner counts only if that person "has provided in-person care or services to the tenant on at least one occasion." In every case the information is reliable only if the practitioner "has personal knowledge of the person's disability and is acting within the scope of his or her practice."

If the need for the animal is not readily apparent, subsection (2)(c) lets you request reliable information that supports the need for "the particular emotional support animal being requested." If the tenant asks for more than one animal, subsection (2)(d) lets you ask about the specific need for each one. Subsection (2)(e) lets you require proof of licensing and vaccination. And subsection (2)(a) lets you deny a request if the animal "poses a direct threat to the safety or health of others or poses a direct threat of physical damage to the property of others" and no other reasonable accommodation would reduce that threat. Sea Dog asks these questions in writing with the same letter every time, so no applicant is treated differently.

Key point: The statute gives you a real checklist, not a blank check. You may ask whether the person has a disability and whether the animal helps with it, from someone who actually knows the person. You may not ask what the disability is.

What am I not allowed to ask or require?

F.S. 760.27(3)(a) says a housing provider "may not request information that discloses the diagnosis or severity of a person's disability or any medical records relating to the disability," though the tenant may volunteer it. Subsection (3)(b) lets you set up a routine method for handling requests but says you "may not require the use of a specific form or notarized statement, or deny a request solely because a person did not follow the housing provider's routine method." Subsection (3)(c) says an ESA registration "obtained from the Internet is not, by itself, sufficient information to reliably establish" a disability or a need.

Money is the other limit. Subsection (2) says a person with a disability-related need "may not be required to pay extra compensation for such animal," which rules out fees, pet rent and deposits for an approved ESA. Subsection (4) makes the tenant "liable for any damage done to the premises or to another person on the premises" by the animal, and that damage is claimed from the ordinary security deposit under F.S. 83.49 like any other damage. On the tenant's side, F.S. 817.265 makes falsifying ESA documentation or misrepresenting a disability a second-degree misdemeanor plus 30 hours of community service.

Did HUD's 2026 memo change the rules in Florida?

On May 22, 2026, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity permanently rescinded its 2020 assistance animal notice, FHEO-2020-01, along with its 2013 predecessor. According to Duane Morris's June 12, 2026 analysis, FHEO will now find reasonable cause on an animal complaint only where the animal has been individually trained to perform work or tasks related to the disability, so untrained ESA requests are no longer "presumptively reasonable" federally. The memo preserves private lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act, states that state and local laws are unaffected, and signals formal rulemaking to come.

That last point is the one that matters here. F.S. 760.27 has not been amended, the Florida Commission on Human Relations still investigates housing complaints under Chapter 760, and a complaint can be filed within one year of the act. An owner who treats an ESA request as a pet application because of the HUD memo is taking on state-law risk to save a pet fee. Keep processing requests under 760.27 and keep the file.

How should I handle pets if I allow them?

Pets are a business decision, and the trade-offs are laid out in Should I allow pets in my rental in Florida? and in Sea Dog's pet policy. Whatever you decide, put the terms in the lease: which animals, how many, the fee or rent, and the cleaning standard at move-out. An unauthorized pet is a curable violation under F.S. 83.56(2)(b): a 7-day notice to correct it, and termination without a second notice if it recurs within 12 months. Applicants see the policy on the rental criteria page before they apply, and the full screening process is in How to screen a tenant in Florida without breaking fair housing rules.

What this means in Central Florida and on the Space Coast

Two local facts shape the risk. First, the Florida Commission on Human Relations handles fair housing complaints statewide except in a handful of jurisdictions, and the City of Orlando is one of them: its Office of Human Relations takes complaints inside city limits. Orange County outside the city, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and Brevard all go to the state commission.

Second, the vacancy math favors a written animal policy over a blanket refusal. Apartments.com put the average Orlando three-bedroom house at $2,419 in October 2026, which is about $80 a day empty. Zumper's October 10, 2026 report put the Merritt Island house median at $2,725, roughly $91 a day. A no-animals rule narrows the applicant pool for every one of those days and does nothing to block an ESA request, because 760.27 overrides it. A clear pet policy plus a 760.27 process keeps the pool wide and the file defensible.

Next step

Before you set or change an animal policy, know what the home should rent for and how comparable listings in your submarket handle pets. Sea Dog's free rent analysis gives you that number for a specific address in Central Florida or on the Space Coast, so the policy decision is made against real rent, not a guess.