Begin with a free screening, then a telehealth evaluation by a clinician who holds a Florida license. When the evaluation supports it, your clinician writes an ESA letter or a PSD letter that a Florida landlord can rely on, never a registry entry. What Florida law lets a landlord charge for the animal comes next.
Charges for an assistance animal
The Florida rule once an ESA is approved, and for a trained service animal
A Florida landlord may ask for reliable information from a licensed practitioner, and getting it starts with a short online screening.
Online and at no cost: your symptoms, the animal you live with and the Florida home you rent.
A Florida-licensed clinician takes your file and evaluates you by secure telehealth, with no office visit.
A supported request ends with a digital letter in your account; an unsupported one ends with an explanation, and a plan bought in advance can be refunded under our policy.
Pricing
Compare the current evaluation fees, read live from our checkout. The Florida screening costs nothing. You pay for a plan at checkout before the clinician's evaluation, and if your Florida-licensed clinician concludes a letter is not supported, you can ask for your money back under our refund policy; the window for that request is 30 days from purchase. Questions? Read our FAQ page or contact us.
Clinical review for one emotional support animal and a Florida housing letter.
$149.00/ one-time
One evaluation covering the support provided by each of your animals in a Florida home.
$159.00/ one-time
A psychiatric service dog evaluation with a clinician licensed in Florida.
$199.00/ one-time
Compare the combined letter and document options.
An ESA letter and certificate together in one document package.
$199.00/ one-time
A PSD letter, certificate and ID card in one package.
$225.00/ one-time
Need help choosing? Take the free screening first or compare every plan. Documentation depends on clinical approval; optional certificates and cards do not establish access rights.
Whether you need an emotional support animal letter for housing or a psychiatric service dog letter, it only helps in a fee dispute if a Florida landlord can rely on it.
Can a landlord rely on it? Each part of our service is built so the honest answer is yes, or so you learn early that a letter cannot be supported.
We match each Florida client with a clinician who holds a Florida license, which you can confirm as active through MQA License Verification, the Florida Department of Health's public search.
Under section 760.27, a practitioner's information counts as reliable only if it rests on firsthand knowledge of your disability and falls within that practitioner's field. Your clinician evaluates you directly to meet that test.
A Florida landlord may not demand to know what your diagnosis is, how severe it is, or what your medical records say, and a letter can show your need for the animal without any of that.
Clinician unable to support a letter? Ask within 30 days of buying your plan and our refund policy returns the payment.
Florida answers the fee question twice, once for emotional support animals and once for trained service animals. Both statutes use the same two words, extra compensation, and both say a tenant cannot be required to pay it for the animal.
The rule applies once the housing provider approves your request to keep the animal.
Under section 760.27(4), you answer for harm the animal causes, whether to the property or to someone on it.
Your landlord may also want proof of the animal's license and shots wherever state or local law requires them.
Someone with a disability who relies on a trained service animal gets the same access to rental housing as any other tenant, and no charge may be added for the animal.
The landlord may ask for proof that its vaccinations are current, and the handler pays for any damage.
Where common lease charges land for an approved emotional support animal or a trained service animal.
A fee only for reviewing your animal request is worth questioning, since it exists only because of the animal.
No. Section 413.08 treats trained service animals separately from emotional support animals, and its housing rule leaves no room for pet charges.
Not a pet
Florida's statute says it plainly: a service animal is not a pet.
An animal with individual training for work or tasks tied to its handler's disability. Emotional support and comfort do not count as tasks.
Proof that the animal's vaccinations are current, the one document section 413.08(6)(b) names for housing.
No pet deposit, pet rent or pet fee, but you are liable for damage the animal does.
Knowingly and willfully passing yourself off as a service animal user is a second-degree misdemeanor under section 413.08(9), and the sentence includes 30 hours of community service.
Section 83.49(3) runs the same clock for every tenant, with or without an animal.
Leaving early or renting month to month? Unless the lease says otherwise, give at least 7 days' written notice by certified mail or personal delivery, with an address where you can be reached. Without that notice the landlord no longer has to send the claim notice, though your right to the deposit remains.
No claim? The whole deposit, with any interest owed, is due back within 15 days after the rental agreement ends.
To keep any of it, the landlord must send a written claim notice giving the reason within 30 days, by certified mail or, if you both signed Florida's e-mail notice addendum, by e-mail. A missed notice means the claim against the deposit is lost, although the landlord may still sue for damages after returning it.
Object in writing within 15 days of receiving the notice. If you do not, the landlord may deduct the claim, and you keep the right to sue for a refund later.
Whatever is left of the deposit is due within 30 days after the date of the claim notice.
Court costs and a reasonable attorney fee go to whoever wins a deposit lawsuit, under section 83.49(3)(c). A renewed lease counts as a new rental agreement, and a deposit carried into it counts as a new deposit.
A Florida landlord holding a deposit or advance rent picks one of three methods under section 83.49(1).
Kept in a Florida financial institution for the tenants, never mixed with the landlord's own money or pledged.
No interest to youYou receive at least 75 percent of the account's annualized average interest rate, or 5 percent a year simple interest, whichever the landlord chooses, paid or credited at least once a year.
Interest to youPosted with the clerk of the circuit court for the total held or $50,000, whichever is less, with 5 percent yearly simple interest to the tenant.
5% simple interestLandlords renting five or more units must tell you in writing, in the lease or within 30 days of receiving the money, where it is held and whether you earn interest.
Since July 1, 2023, a Florida landlord may let tenants pay a fee instead of a security deposit, under section 83.491.
For an approved assistance animal, the fee is simply your alternative to the regular deposit. A separate animal fee charged on top of it would be extra compensation for the animal.
A short written request, sent with your letter, gives the landlord what section 760.27 lets it ask for and nothing more.
ToYour property manager
SubjectReasonable accommodation request for my assistance animal, unit [number]
Please accept this request for a reasonable accommodation: I live with an assistance animal at [address], and my Florida-licensed clinician's letter is attached.
From the approval date, please stop charging the monthly pet rent ([amount]) and refund or credit the pet deposit ([amount]).
I will keep the animal's license and vaccinations current and will pay for any damage it causes.
Thank you, [your name], [phone or e-mail]
You do not have to use the landlord's own form: Florida bars requiring a specific form or a notarized statement.
No extra charge at move-in does not mean no responsibility at move-out.
Under both statutes the person keeping the animal pays for any harm it does, to the unit or to people in it.
A landlord may claim against the ordinary deposit for real damage, through the section 83.49 claim notice.
Photograph every room at move-in and move-out, keep the dated files, and walk through with the manager if you can.
A flat cleaning fee charged only because of the animal looks like an extra charge for it rather than a claim for damage.
If a damage claim looks too high, the 15-day objection window in the day count above is where you push back.
Work through it in writing first, and keep paying rent while you do.
Find when the request was approved and which charges were posted after it.
Write to the landlord, cite section 760.27 or section 413.08, list the amounts and ask for a reply by a set date.
Holding back rent over a fee dispute can give a landlord grounds for an eviction case, so pay on time and pursue the refund separately.
The Florida Commission on Human Relations accepts written housing complaints within one year of the discriminatory act; its housing line is (850) 488-7082.
Eight answers on pet charges, deposits and assistance animals in Florida rentals.
Pet charges and assistance animals
Not once the landlord approves the animal. Under section 760.27, nobody whose emotional support animal is approved as a reasonable accommodation can be made to pay extra compensation for it, so a pet deposit, pet rent and pet fees are off the table. The regular security deposit still applies.
Not for an approved emotional support animal. Monthly pet rent is extra compensation for the animal, which section 760.27 rules out once the accommodation is granted. Since HUD's May 2026 memo, whether a landlord must approve an untrained animal is less settled, so ask in writing and keep the answer.
The letter supports your request; the landlord's approval of that request is what removes the pet deposit. Send the letter with a written accommodation request and ask that pet charges stop from the approval date.
No. Section 413.08 lets no Florida housing provider charge extra for a trained service animal. The landlord may ask for proof of current vaccinations, and any damage the animal does is still yours to pay for.
Deposits, damage and the fee in lieu
Yes. The ordinary security deposit that every tenant pays is not extra compensation for the animal, and Florida sets no cap on its amount. What cannot be added is a charge that exists only because the animal lives with you.
You do. Under section 760.27, the person with the emotional support animal is liable for harm it does to the unit or to anyone in it, and the landlord can claim against the regular deposit through the section 83.49 notice.
Fifteen days after the rental agreement ends if there is no claim. To keep any part, the landlord must send a written claim notice within 30 days, by certified mail or by e-mail if you both signed an e-mail notice addendum, and you have 15 days from receiving it to object.
An optional fee a Florida landlord may offer instead of a security deposit under section 83.491, for leases entered into or renewed since July 1, 2023. You can switch to the regular deposit at any time. It replaces the deposit; it is not a charge for an animal, and it does not cover damage you cause.
More Florida pages on renting, condo life and the documents landlords see.
General information for Florida renters, current as of October 2026, and not legal advice. It draws on Florida Statutes 760.27, 413.08, 83.49, 83.491 and 83.505; statutes, federal guidance and leases change, so confirm the details for your home. Screening does not guarantee a letter. In a crisis, call or text 988, day or night.
Start with the free screening. A clinician licensed in Florida weighs your situation, and if it supports a letter, you have documentation to attach to your request.
