Illinois ESA Letter Online

The Assistance Animal Integrity Act (310 ILCS 120) took effect on January 1, 2020. It treats emotional support animals and service animals together as assistance animals when they qualify as a reasonable accommodation under the federal Fair Housing Act or the Illinois Human Rights Act.

Under Section 10, a housing provider may ask for documentation only when the disability or the disability-related need is not readily apparent or already known. The documentation has to be in writing, describe the disability-related need for the animal, and come from someone who has a therapeutic relationship with the resident. The Act defines that as care given in good faith by a physician, a mental health provider, or another reliable party with actual knowledge of the disability. It expressly leaves out entities that hand over a certificate or similar document without conducting a meaningful assessment.

A provider may offer its own standardized form but may not turn a request down only because the resident did not use it. No specific diagnosis has to be disclosed. The provider may check that what was submitted is authentic.

On money, the Act is direct: a housing provider may not require a pet-related deposit, pet fee or related pet assessment for an assistance animal, and may not demand special liability insurance for it. The resident still answers for damage beyond normal wear and tear on the same terms as any other resident. The Act does not create a criminal penalty of its own for false paperwork; its safeguard is the verification right.

The Act also lists when a request may be denied or withdrawn: undue financial or administrative burden, a fundamental change to the provider's operations, or reliable objective evidence, after an individualized assessment, of a direct threat, substantial property damage or uncontrolled behavior. Since HUD's May 22, 2026 memo, the federal agency acts only on complaints involving individually trained animals, so this state statute and the Illinois Human Rights Act now carry more of the weight for Illinois renters. A letter supports a request; it does not guarantee approval.

The Act's definition of housing provider is wide. It reaches owners and property managers, and also condominium boards, associations and government housing entities, along with their agents and employees. That matters in a market like Chicago, where many rentals sit inside buildings governed by an association with its own pet rules.

Separately, the Illinois Human Rights Act (775 ILCS 5/3-104.1) makes it a civil rights violation to refuse to rent to a person who is blind, hearing impaired or physically disabled because of a guide, hearing or support dog, or to charge extra for the dog apart from actual damage.