Clinical evaluation · Full refund only if the clinician does not approve a letter · Housing only
Clinical evaluation · Full refund only if the clinician does not approve a letter · Housing only
Clinical evaluationFull refund only if the clinician does not approve a letter
Start evaluationClinical evaluation · Full refund only if the clinician does not approve a letter · Housing only
Leon County · Statewide Florida service
Tallahassee and Leon County renters, including students near FSU, FAMU, and Tallahassee Community College, use the same statewide clinical evaluation as the rest of Florida. Housing only. Not a registry.
Tallahassee is the state capital and a college town. Much of the rental market is off-campus student housing, with longer-term apartments and houses for people who work in state government, the universities, and the hospitals. The Florida law is the same as in every other county.
Student leases near FSU, FAMU, and TCC are often marked no pets and may be signed by a parent as guarantor. An off-campus landlord still has to consider a written housing request. If you live in campus housing, ask the school's housing office how it takes accommodation requests.
Many student leases follow the academic year, so a lot of people sign at the same time. If you plan to move in with your animal, send the written request with your application or before you sign, so the manager has the letter in the file when the lease starts.
Apartment communities and single-family rentals across Leon County use the same written packet: a request, a clinician letter, and ordinary lease paper such as vaccination records. A registration card or vest is not part of that packet.
The Florida Commission on Human Relations, which takes housing discrimination complaints under Florida law, is based in Tallahassee and takes complaints from every Florida county. Official ESA Letter does not file complaints and does not give legal advice.
Approval is a clinical decision. We never promise what a landlord or HOA will decide.
General information, not legal advice. Each request is decided on its facts.
No. Fla. Stat. 760.27 applies statewide, and every Florida city gets the same evaluation and the same letter. A Leon County landlord or association can check the clinician license on Florida MQA and the NPI lookup through the verify page.
A new evaluation is $149 and a renewal is $99, the same in every Florida city. Each extra animal is $49, and an optional priority call is $49 (set call and decision times, or the $49 comes back). Full refund only if the clinician does not approve a letter.
Fla. Stat. 760.27(2)(a) lets a housing provider deny a request if the animal poses a direct threat to the safety or health of others or a direct threat of physical damage to the property of others, which threat cannot be reduced or eliminated by another reasonable accommodation. A landlord saying no is not a refund.
Yes. The evaluation is by telehealth with a Florida licensed clinician, in English or Spanish. Letters for landlords are in English.
When the need is not obvious, reliable information from a practitioner with personal knowledge. Under Fla. Stat. 760.27(3)(a), a housing provider may not request information that discloses the diagnosis or severity of a disability or any medical records.
Florida residents, including students, can start the same Florida housing evaluation. The clinician decides whether a letter is clinically appropriate, and approval is never guaranteed. For campus housing, ask the school's housing office how it reviews accommodation requests.