This article was last updated on January 29th, 2025.
If you’re trying to understand Iowa’s emotional support animal laws, you might have heard about recent changes that affect both tenants and landlords. In 2024, Iowa updated its ESA law, Section 216.SB, Code 2024, which created new rules for how emotional support animals are handled in housing situations.
Under Iowa law, emotional support animals fall under the category of “assistance animals.” This is separate from service animals (like psychiatric service dogs). Iowa’s law works alongside existing federal protections — it doesn’t replace them. You still have all your rights under the federal Fair Housing Act; Iowa’s law just adds extra clarity and protection at the state level.
Under Iowa’s ESA law, you have the following rights:
- You can live with your emotional support animal in no-pet buildings
- Your ESA is exempt from pet fees and pet deposits
- Your landlord has to waive pet weight, breed, and size restrictions.
Iowa ESA Documentation Legal Requirements
Getting proper documentation for your ESA in Iowa involves working with a licensed healthcare provider to get an ESA letter. This could be your doctor, physician assistant, nurse, psychologist, social worker, or mental health counselor.
Your provider needs to write the documentation within 12 months of your lease start date. Once issued, it’s valid for either 12 months or the length of your lease, whichever is longer. So, if you sign a two-year lease, your documentation covers you for the full term.
Your healthcare provider needs to verify your health condition is eligible for an ESA and that an ESA helps with your mental health-related needs. They also need to confirm two things: (1) that they’ve been helping you for at least 30 days (either in person or through telehealth), and (2) that they’re familiar with you and your mental health before writing the letter.
The Civil Rights Commission has actually created a sample form for Iowa ESA documentation that meets all of these requirements, which you can see below.
Remember, you need an ESA letter from a licensed healthcare professional to qualify for an emotional support animal in Iowa. Their law specifically states that online registrations, ID cards, patches, or certificates you can purchase aren’t valid proof of ESA need.
Iowa Landlord Guidelines
For landlords, the law sets clear guidelines about handling ESA requests. When someone asks to have an ESA, the landlord needs to respond reasonably quickly and in writing. While the landlord can ask for documentation if the need for the ESA isn’t obvious, they cannot ask about specific medical details or diagnoses.
Landlords can require proof that an ESA has the necessary vaccinations and local pet licenses. However — and most importantly — this is completely different from requiring ESA registration or certification, which aren’t valid forms of documentation.
Landlords can deny an ESA request in certain situations: if the animal would cause major financial hardship, if it is dangerous, or if it would cause significant property damage that cannot be prevented through reasonable measures.
Iowa ESA Legal Cases
An Iowa Supreme Court case demonstrates that balancing competing tenant needs can sometimes be difficult. The court ruled that a landlord was liable for damages to a tenant with dog allergies after allowing another tenant’s emotional support animal in a no-pets building. While the landlord tried to accommodate both tenants by assigning separate stairwells and providing an air purifier, the court found these efforts insufficient.
The key factor was timing — the allergic tenant signed first. Notably, the court emphasized that this was a “highly fact-specific” ruling that might not apply in different circumstances. The case sparked significant debate among the justices, with some arguing this decision could conflict with fair housing laws and make it harder for landlords to navigate between their obligations to different tenants.
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