Start with a free online screening. A clinician licensed in New York then evaluates you by telehealth and, when your situation supports it, writes a housing letter for your ESA, or a PSD letter, addressed to your landlord, co-op board or management company. Below it, the rules that shift from one New York region to the next.
The screening is a short online questionnaire. It costs nothing and shows whether an evaluation makes sense before you pick a plan.
Tell us what you live with day to day, which animal steadies you and where in New York the two of you live, from a Queens rental to a Rochester duplex.
Once you choose a plan at checkout, a clinician holding a New York license reads your answers, then meets you in a private telehealth session.
A supported letter lands in your account in digital form. Without support, the clinician explains the reason, and the refund policy covers the plan you bought.
Pricing
Compare the current evaluation fees, read live from our checkout. Screening for New Yorkers costs nothing. You pay for a plan at checkout, before the clinician's evaluation; if a New York-licensed clinician decides a letter is not supported, a refund can be requested for up to 30 days after the purchase. Questions? Read our FAQ page or contact us.
Clinical review for one emotional support animal and a New York housing letter.
$149.00/ one-time
One evaluation covering the support provided by each of your animals in a New York home.
$159.00/ one-time
A psychiatric service dog evaluation with a clinician licensed in New York.
$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.
Boards and management offices in New York read a housing letter closely. Here is why people from Staten Island to Plattsburgh start with us.
The person who evaluates you is a mental health professional licensed by New York State, and that license appears on your letter.
There is no list to join and no ID card to buy. A letter exists only after a clinician evaluates you and supports it.
The letter is written for whoever rules on your request: a landlord, a management company, a co-op board or a condo board.
You meet the clinician online, so a Bronx walk-up and a Finger Lakes farmhouse go through the same process.
Plan prices sit in the table above and are charged a single time at checkout, with no monthly fee.
When a letter is not supported, you hear the reason and may ask for a refund within the 30 days the policy allows.
Inside the five boroughs the City Human Rights Law adds its own layer, and the NYC Commission on Human Rights spells it out in its disability guidance. The points below come from that guidance.
The chance of incidental damage rarely amounts to an undue hardship. If a particular animal causes a real health or safety problem or a nuisance, the provider has to explore alternatives with you before asking that it leave. NYC Commission on Human Rights disability guidance
Where you live in New York decides which office takes a complaint, who licenses your dog and which local group gives free fair housing help.
Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island
Nassau and Suffolk counties
Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange and Dutchess
The capital and its neighbors
Syracuse, Utica, Binghamton and the North Country
Buffalo, Rochester and Niagara Falls
Call the Division at (844) 697-3471. Its Housing Investigations Unit, at One Fordham Plaza in the Bronx, investigates housing complaints from the whole state.
A license is about the dog, not its job, so an emotional support dog is licensed like any other dog. Only the office and the fee change with where you live.
MTA rules split animals into two groups: trained service animals, and everything else. An emotional support animal falls in the second group.
A pet or emotional support animal rides in a bag or other container, carried so it does not annoy other riders.
The container has to be small enough to fit on your lap.
A kennel or similar container, or a leash held securely for the whole trip, and the animal must not be offensive to other riders.
The MTA's definition covers animals individually trained to do specific tasks for a person with a disability, psychiatric disabilities included. They ride without a container but must be harnessed or leashed. Therapy, comfort and emotional support animals are left out of that definition.
Email the letter to the management office or board with a short request to keep the animal, and save a dated copy.
In the city, the building may ask for vaccination details or a photo of the animal, but not for your diagnosis or records.
A New York City housing provider must end the dialogue with a written final determination naming what it granted or denied.
Our New York page lists where to file and the deadlines for the State Division and the City Commission.
Read the New York filing guideMany New Yorkers answer to a board rather than a landlord. The City Human Rights Law reaches owners, lessors, sublessees, managing agents and anyone with the right to approve a sale, rental or lease, a description that fits a co-op board reviewing a purchase or a sublet. Real estate brokers and salespeople are covered as well.
Under the NYC pet law, Administrative Code 27-2009.1, a building that learns of a dog and does not start a court action within three months waives its no-pet rule for that dog.
In 2025 the Appellate Division, First Department, applied the pet law to a co-op's pit bull ban, even though the proprietary lease had a no-waiver clause.
The rule does not protect a pet that damages the premises, creates a nuisance or substantially interferes with other residents' health, safety or welfare.
An ESA request stands apart from the pet law: the accommodation can be requested whenever you need it, three months in or not. 360 E. 72nd St. Owners Inc. v Wolkoff (2025)
Eight answers for renters, owners and riders across New York.
Yes, unless it would cause an undue hardship. The NYC Commission on Human Rights says housing providers must make exceptions to no-pet rules, pet fees and breed, weight or size limits for an emotional support animal, which it does not treat as a pet.
A board with the right to approve a sale, rental or lease is covered by the City Human Rights Law, so it must hold a cooperative dialogue and answer in writing. It may refuse for an undue hardship, such as a law that bans that animal, and must look for alternatives with you before acting on a health, safety or nuisance problem.
Often. Under Administrative Code 27-2009.1, a building that learns of your dog and does not start legal action within three months waives the no-pet rule, unless the dog causes damage, a nuisance or a serious problem for neighbors. Courts apply it to co-op proprietary leases too.
Yes, in a bag or other container, carried so it does not annoy other riders. The MTA Rules of Conduct free trained service animals from the container rule and leave emotional support animals out of the service animal definition.
Yes. Every dog in the city needs a license, and the Health Department no longer issues service dog tags. Outside the city, towns and cities may waive their license fee for guide, hearing, service and therapy dogs.
It is $8.50 a year once a dog is spayed or neutered and $34 a year for an unaltered dog over four months old, and licenses are sold for one to five years.
Long Island Housing Services serves all of Nassau and Suffolk at 631-567-5111, and the Fair Housing Justice Center also covers both counties. The State Division of Human Rights has offices in Hempstead and Hauppauge.
Yes. HOME, at 1542 Main Street in Buffalo (716-854-1400), works on fair housing across Western New York, and CNY Fair Housing in Syracuse, (315) 471-0420, serves Central and Northern New York.
Where to go next, in New York and next door.
Questions before you start?Call (650) 942-0005Email support@americanserviceanimals.com
This guide gives general information for people across New York, is current as of October 2026, and is not legal advice. Its sources are the NYC Commission on Human Rights disability guidance, NYC Administrative Code 27-2009.1, Agriculture and Markets Law 109 and 110, the MTA Rules of Conduct and the offices named above. Rules, guidance and building policies change, so read the current version before you act. Screening does not guarantee a letter. In a crisis, call or text 988.
Begin with the free screening. Once a New York-licensed clinician supports your request, the ESA letter or PSD letter goes straight to your account, ready for the landlord or board.
