Can an Indiana landlord charge a pet deposit?

Yes, for an actual pet. Indiana has no statute that caps a pet deposit and no statutory cap on the security deposit at all under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3, so a pet deposit, a pet fee, and monthly pet rent are all a matter of the lease and the market. No pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent may be charged for a service animal or an emotional support animal, because an assistance animal is not a pet under the federal Fair Housing Act. Always verify the current law before charging or paying a deposit.

Does Indiana have its own emotional support animal law?

Yes. Most guides say Indiana has no state ESA law, and they are wrong. Indiana Code Section 22-9-7, the Emotional Support Animals in Housing chapter enacted in twenty eighteen, sits on top of the federal Fair Housing Act. It lets a housing provider require written verification from a health service provider that the tenant has a disability, has a disability-related need for the animal, and that the animal helps manage the disability. It limits reliance on out-of-state or letter-only providers, and under Section 22-9-7-12 it makes misrepresenting an animal as an emotional support animal a Class A infraction that reaches both the tenant and a provider who verifies without adequate knowledge.

Can an Indiana landlord charge a fee for an emotional support animal?

No. An emotional support animal is an assistance animal, not a pet, under the federal Fair Housing Act, so no pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent may be charged for it, and no breed or weight limit applies. The landlord must make a reasonable accommodation to any no-pet policy to allow the animal. The tenant remains liable for actual damage the animal causes beyond ordinary wear and tear, which the landlord may recover from the ordinary security deposit, but never as an advance pet deposit or fee.

How much can a landlord charge for pet rent in Indiana?

There is no Indiana statute that caps pet rent for an actual pet, so it is set by the market and the lease. As a market norm, and not a legal limit, monthly pet rent in Indiana commonly runs from about twenty-five to seventy-five dollars per pet, a pet deposit often falls in the range of about two hundred to five hundred dollars and can reach seven hundred fifty dollars or more in higher-rent metros, and a nonrefundable pet fee is set by the lease. None of these may be charged for a service animal or emotional support animal, because an assistance animal is not a pet, so no pet rent, pet fee, pet deposit, or breed or weight limit may attach to it.

Can an Indiana landlord ban specific dog breeds?

For ordinary pets, yes. A private Indiana landlord may impose breed restrictions and weight limits on pets, often tied to the property's liability insurance carrier. Those restrictions never apply to a verified assistance animal. A landlord cannot refuse a service animal or emotional support animal because it is a pit bull, a Rottweiler, or any other breed, and cannot apply a weight limit to it. The only lawful basis to deny a specific assistance animal is individualized, objective evidence that this particular animal poses a direct threat or would cause substantial physical damage, not a breed-based rule.

What documentation can an Indiana landlord request for an ESA?

When the disability and the disability-related need are not obvious, an Indiana landlord may require written verification from a health service provider that the tenant has a disability, that there is a disability-related need for the animal, and that the animal assists the tenant in managing the disability, as Indiana Code Section 22-9-7-9 provides. The landlord may not demand a specific diagnosis, medical records, treatment details, or proof of severity, and may not require certification, registration, a vest, or an ID card. If the disability and the animal's role are readily apparent, such as a guide dog for a tenant who is blind, no documentation may be requested.

Does Indiana regulate instant online ESA letters?

Yes, more than most states. Indiana Code Section 22-9-7-10 lets a tenant who has recently moved to Indiana rely on documentation from an out-of-state provider only where there is an ongoing treatment relationship, and it excludes a provider whose sole service to the tenant is to supply a verification letter in exchange for a fee. Under Section 22-9-7-12, a health service provider who verifies a disability without adequate professional knowledge, or who charges a fee for verification without providing other services, commits a Class A infraction. That does not let a landlord reject a genuine letter or interrogate a tenant, but it sets a real floor for what reliable documentation looks like.

Does Indiana have a fake service animal or ESA law?

Yes. Under Indiana Code Section 22-9-7-12, knowingly misrepresenting an animal as an emotional support animal, making a false statement to a provider, supplying false documentation to a landlord, or fitting a pet with an assistance-animal vest to obtain rights reserved for people with disabilities is a Class A infraction. A Class A infraction in Indiana carries a civil judgment of up to ten thousand dollars under Indiana Code Section 34-28-5-4. Separately, Indiana Code Section 35-46-3-11.5 makes it a Class A misdemeanor, and a Level 6 felony where serious harm results, to interfere with or harm a working service animal. The fraud statute does not authorize a landlord to deny an accommodation on mere suspicion.

What are the two questions an Indiana landlord may ask about a service animal?

When it is not obvious that a dog is a service animal, staff may ask only two things under the Americans with Disabilities Act rule at Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 36.302: whether the animal is required because of a disability, and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform. The landlord may not ask about the nature or extent of the disability, may not demand certification, a registration number, or a vest, and may not require the animal to demonstrate the task. If the disability and the animal's role are readily apparent, such as a guide dog for a tenant who is blind, the landlord may not ask even those two questions.

Can an Indiana landlord deny an assistance animal?

Only on an individualized basis. An Indiana landlord may deny a specific assistance animal if it poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others that cannot be reduced by another accommodation, or if it would cause substantial physical damage to property that cannot be reduced, based on that animal's actual conduct, not on its breed or on speculation. A denial may also rest in rare cases on an undue financial or administrative burden or a fundamental alteration, both nearly theoretical for a single animal. The denial must rest on an individualized assessment supported by objective evidence. A general no-pet policy or a fear of a breed is not a lawful reason.

Can an Indiana landlord charge for damage caused by an assistance animal?

Yes. No advance pet deposit or pet fee may be charged for a service animal or emotional support animal, but the tenant remains liable for actual damage the animal causes beyond ordinary wear and tear. If the animal chews a door frame or saturates a subfloor, the landlord may charge for that real damage exactly as for any tenant-caused damage and may deduct it from the ordinary security deposit, provided the landlord gives an itemized statement within the forty-five-day deadline under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3-12. The prohibition is on charging in advance for the animal, not on holding the tenant responsible for harm the animal actually does.

Can an HOA in Indiana ban an emotional support animal?

No. Homeowners associations, condominium associations, and cooperatives are housing providers under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Indiana Fair Housing Act at Indiana Code Section 22-9.5. An association cannot enforce a breed ban, a weight limit, a pet quantity cap, or a pet assessment against a resident's verified assistance animal, and it must run the same reasonable-accommodation process a landlord runs. If an association denies an accommodation on the basis of its restrictive covenants alone, the liability belongs to the association, not to a landlord who granted the tenant's request in good faith.

How much security deposit can an Indiana landlord charge?

Indiana sets no statutory maximum on a security deposit under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3, so the amount, including any pet deposit for an ordinary pet, is set by the lease and the market rather than by law. Any money collected up front is generally treated as part of the security deposit under state law. After a tenancy ends, the landlord must return the deposit, less itemized lawful deductions for damage beyond ordinary wear and tear and unpaid charges, within forty-five days under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3-12. A landlord who misses that deadline can forfeit the right to keep the deductions.

Can an Indiana landlord require liability insurance for a service animal or ESA?

No, not as a condition of the accommodation. The federal Fair Housing Act treats an insurance requirement imposed specifically because of an assistance animal as the equivalent of a prohibited pet fee. A landlord who already requires every tenant to carry renter's insurance with liability coverage may keep that neutral, generally applicable requirement, but may not add an assistance-animal-specific rider, raise the coverage limit, or demand a separate policy because of the animal. The tenant remains responsible only for actual damage the animal causes.

Home › Pet and ESA Laws › Indiana

Indiana Pet and ESA Laws: The Landlord and Tenant Guide

No Statutory Deposit Cap · Pet Deposit, Fee and Rent Allowed for a Pet · No Fees for a Service Animal or ESA · Indiana Code Section 22-9-7

Updated Q3 2026 By Tenant Screening Background Check Editorial Team Applies Indiana ~18 min read

Animals in an Indiana rental fall into two very different legal buckets, and confusing them is where most landlord liability arises. An ordinary pet is governed by the lease, so an Indiana landlord may set pet rules and charge a pet deposit, a pet fee, and monthly pet rent, because Indiana sets no statutory cap on the security deposit. A service animal or emotional support animal is not a pet under the federal Fair Housing Act, so the pet rules, fees, breed limits, and weight limits simply do not apply to it. Indiana also layers its own emotional-support-animal housing statute, Indiana Code Section 22-9-7, on top of the federal floor. This guide walks the whole framework so you can stay compliant.

Below you will find how Indiana treats pet deposits, pet fees, and pet rent for an actual pet, the difference between a service animal and an emotional support animal, the single federal rule that an assistance animal is not a pet, Indiana’s own written-verification and anti-fraud statute, the documentation you may and may not request, when you may deny a specific animal, and a step-by-step compliant process for both landlords and tenants. Where the analysis touches deposits, the details ride on the Indiana security deposit laws.

Because the housing analysis turns on one distinction, the safest posture for a landlord is to run two separate tracks: a written pet policy for actual pets, and a reasonable-accommodation process for every assistance-animal request. The strongest position for a tenant is to know that a service animal or emotional support animal cannot be charged a pet deposit, a pet fee, or pet rent, and cannot be met with a breed or weight limit. Treat every figure and rule here as a starting point and verify the current law before you charge, pay, or dispute anything.

Indiana Pet and ESA Rules at a Glance

Pet Deposits

Allowed for a pet; no statutory cap

Pet Rent

Allowed for an actual pet

Assistance Animals

No fees for a service animal or ESA

Indiana ESA Law

Indiana Code Section 22-9-7

Bottom line: For an actual pet, an Indiana landlord may set pet rules and charge a pet deposit, a pet fee, and pet rent, because Indiana Code Section 32-31-3 sets no statutory cap on the security deposit and no separate cap on pet charges. For a service animal or emotional support animal, the analysis flips: an assistance animal is not a pet under the federal Fair Housing Act, so no pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent may be charged and no breed or weight limit applies. A landlord must make a reasonable accommodation, may require written verification from a health service provider only when the need is not obvious, and may deny only on an individualized direct-threat or substantial-damage finding. Indiana also has its own statute, Indiana Code Section 22-9-7, that codifies the documentation rule, limits reliance on instant online letters, and makes misrepresenting an animal as an emotional support animal a Class A infraction. These are general rules; verify the current law before charging or disputing anything.

Pet Policies and No-Pet Clauses in Indiana

For an ordinary pet, an Indiana landlord has broad discretion. You may adopt a no-pet policy, limit the number or type of pets, set reasonable rules on size or behavior, and require a pet agreement as part of the lease. A pet clause that is clear and applied consistently is enforceable, and a tenant who keeps a pet in violation of it can be required to remove the animal or face the lease consequences. None of that is unusual; it is the ordinary contract freedom a landlord has over the terms of a tenancy for an actual pet.

The critical exception, the one that reshapes everything else on this page, is that an assistance animal — a service animal or an emotional support animal — is not a pet under federal law, so none of these pet rules apply to it. A no-pet clause does not bar an assistance animal. A breed or weight limit does not reach it. A pet deposit or pet rent cannot attach to it. The moment a request is for a service animal or emotional support animal, the pet policy stops being the governing document and the reasonable-accommodation framework takes over. Indiana reinforces that result with its own emotional-support-animal housing statute, which is discussed in detail below.

Takeaway

For an actual pet, an Indiana landlord may set a no-pet policy, limit pets, and enforce a pet clause. But an assistance animal is not a pet, so none of those pet rules apply to a service animal or emotional support animal — the accommodation framework governs instead.

Indiana Pet Deposits, Fees, and Pet Rent

Pet deposits, pet fees, and pet rent are the most common points of daily confusion between Indiana landlords and tenants, and the single most common reason tenants file fair housing complaints. The rules break into two very different tracks depending on whether the animal is a pet or an assistance animal.

The Security Deposit Baseline in Indiana

Indiana’s security deposit framework is set by Indiana Code Section 32-31-3, and it is notable for what it does not do: it sets no statutory maximum on the amount a landlord may collect. Any money collected up front, no matter what the landlord calls it, is generally treated as part of the security deposit under state law, and the whole deposit is governed by the same return rules. After a tenancy ends, the landlord must give the tenant an itemized statement of any deductions and return the balance within forty-five days under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3-12. A landlord who misses that deadline can lose the right to keep the deductions, which is why the move-out accounting matters as much as the amount collected at move-in.

Indiana Pet Deposit, Pet Fee, and Pet Rent Rules

Because Indiana caps neither the security deposit nor a pet charge, a pet deposit, a nonrefundable pet fee, and monthly pet rent are all a matter of the lease and the market rather than a statutory number. In practice the dollar amounts Indiana landlords actually charge track the local rental market. As a market norm, and not a legal limit, a pet deposit commonly runs from about two hundred to five hundred dollars per pet and can reach seven hundred fifty dollars or more in higher-rent metros, monthly pet rent commonly runs from about twenty-five to seventy-five dollars per pet, and a nonrefundable cleaning or pet fee is whatever the lease clearly discloses. Whichever structure a landlord chooses, the lease must clearly identify what each charge covers and whether it is refundable, because a charge labeled nonrefundable without a clear purpose can be treated as part of the refundable deposit under state deposit law.

Zero pet deposit, fee, or rent for an assistance animal

This is the rule Indiana landlords most often get wrong. Assistance animals — both service animals and emotional support animals — are not pets under federal housing law. A landlord cannot charge a pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent for a verified assistance animal, even if the lease reserves the right to do so for ordinary pets. A landlord may still hold the tenant responsible for actual damage the animal causes, deducted from the ordinary security deposit, but the up-front, pet-specific charges are prohibited. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has treated pet fees charged on assistance animals as a recurring source of enforcement actions.

Charge	Actual pet	Service animal or ESA
Pet deposit	Allowed; no statutory cap under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3	Prohibited — an assistance animal is not a pet
Pet fee	Allowed if clearly disclosed in the lease	Prohibited
Pet rent	Allowed; set by the lease and the market	Prohibited
Breed or weight limit	Allowed as a reasonable pet rule	Prohibited — deny only on individualized conduct
Charge for actual damage	Recoverable from the deposit, itemized	Recoverable — tenant remains liable for real damage

Takeaway

Indiana sets no statutory deposit cap under Indiana Code Section 32-31-3, so a pet deposit, pet fee, and pet rent are all allowed for an actual pet and set by the lease. But no pet deposit, fee, or rent and no breed or weight limit may attach to a service animal or emotional support animal, and any deposit must be returned with an itemized statement within forty-five days.

Service Animals Versus Emotional Support Animals in Indiana

A service animal, under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Indiana Code Section 16-32-3-1.5, is a dog — or in some cases a miniature horse — individually trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability, such as guiding a person who is blind, alerting a person who is deaf, pulling a wheelchair, or interrupting a panic episode. The defining feature is the trained task tied to the disability. An emotional support animal, or ESA, is an animal that provides therapeutic support for a person with a mental or emotional disability but is not trained to perform a specific task; its benefit comes from its presence rather than from a trained behavior, and it may be any commonly kept domestic animal.

For housing, that training difference matters far less than people assume. The federal Fair Housing Act, and Indiana Code Section 22-9-7, treat both a service animal and an emotional support animal as assistance animals entitled to a reasonable accommodation. So while the service-animal-versus-ESA line is sharp in a public-accommodation setting — where a service animal enjoys broad access under Indiana Code Section 16-32-3.5 and an ESA does not — in a rental the two collapse into a single category for the fee and accommodation analysis: neither is a pet, and neither may be charged a pet deposit, pet fee, or pet rent. The Indiana Civil Rights Commission publishes guidance drawing exactly this line. For a deeper comparison of the two categories, see our guide to the difference between a service animal and an ESA for landlords.

Takeaway

A service animal is trained to perform a task for a person with a disability; an emotional support animal provides therapeutic support without a trained task. For housing, both the federal Fair Housing Act and Indiana Code Section 22-9-7 treat both as assistance animals entitled to accommodation, so neither is a pet.

An Assistance Animal Is Not a Pet in Indiana

Assistance-animal law is primarily federal, and three statutes create overlapping obligations for every Indiana rental owner. The Fair Housing Act prohibits disability discrimination in housing, including the refusal to make a reasonable accommodation, and it is the primary source of emotional-support-animal protection. The Americans with Disabilities Act governs service animals in places of public accommodation, such as a leasing office or a pool open to the public. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act reaches housing that receives federal financial assistance, including public housing and voucher properties. State law can add protection on top of these; it cannot subtract from them. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development once set out how to evaluate assistance-animal requests in Notice FHEO-2020-01, but it rescinded that notice on September 17, 2025 and permanently reconfirmed the rescission in a signed FHEO enforcement memorandum dated May 22, 2026, so it is no longer controlling federal guidance and should not be cited as a documentation standard. The law is unchanged: the Fair Housing Act at Title forty-two, United States Code, Section 3604(f)(3)(B) and its regulation at Title twenty-four, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 100.204 still require the accommodation, and in HUD-assisted housing Title twenty-four, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 5.303 — a regulation rather than guidance — still exempts animals used to assist, support, or provide service to a person with a disability from pet rules, in wording that is not limited to trained animals.

Under that framework, an Indiana landlord must make a reasonable accommodation to a no-pet policy to allow a tenant with a disability to keep an assistance animal, and may not charge a pet deposit, a pet fee, or pet rent for it, and may not apply a breed or weight limit. The no-pet clause that would bar an ordinary dog does not bar a service animal or emotional support animal, because the accommodation duty overrides the pet policy.

That does not leave the landlord without recourse for real harm. If the assistance animal causes actual damage beyond ordinary wear, the landlord may charge for that damage just as for any tenant-caused damage, and the tenant remains liable for the animal’s behavior. The prohibition is on charging in advance because the animal is present — a pet deposit or pet fee — not on recovering the cost of harm the animal actually does. A landlord may look to the ordinary security deposit for genuine, documented damage the same way it would for any tenant.

Two tracks, never merged

Run the pet policy and the assistance-animal accommodation as two separate tracks. The pet policy governs actual pets and can carry a deposit, a pet fee, pet rent, and breed or weight limits. The accommodation track governs service animals and emotional support animals and carries none of those charges or limits. The one thing both tracks share is that the tenant is liable for actual damage. Merging the two — charging an assistance-animal tenant a pet fee — is the classic Indiana violation.

Update · HUD rescinded Notice FHEO-2020-01

This is a documented, dated, signed HUD action, not a rumour. HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity rescinded Notice FHEO-2020-01, and its 2013 predecessor, on September 17, 2025, and permanently reconfirmed the rescission in a signed enforcement memorandum dated May 22, 2026, which limits FHEO reasonable-cause findings to animals individually trained to do work or perform a task related to a disability. What matters in Indiana is that this is a question of federal enforcement priorities, not of the underlying law: the Fair Housing Act statute, Section 504, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Indiana Fair Housing Act at Indiana Code Section 22-9.5, and Indiana’s own emotional-support-animal statute at Indiana Code Section 22-9-7 all continue to protect an emotional support animal in an Indiana rental. An Indiana landlord who denies or charges an emotional support animal still faces state-law liability regardless of any shift in federal enforcement.

Takeaway

Under the Fair Housing Act an assistance animal is not a pet, so an Indiana landlord must make a reasonable accommodation and may charge no pet deposit, fee, or rent for it — while the tenant still remains liable for any actual damage the animal causes.

Indiana’s Own ESA Housing Statute: Indiana Code Section 22-9-7

Many national guides state flatly that Indiana has no state emotional-support-animal law. That is wrong, and it is one of the most consequential errors a landlord or tenant can rely on. Indiana enacted its own Emotional Support Animals in Housing chapter, Indiana Code Section 22-9-7, in twenty eighteen. It does not replace the federal Fair Housing Act; it sits alongside it and, in a few respects, is more specific about what a housing provider may require and what counts as reliable documentation.

Written verification a housing provider may require

Under Indiana Code Section 22-9-7-9, when a tenant requests an accommodation for an emotional support animal and the disability or the disability-related need is not readily apparent, a housing provider may require written verification from a health service provider establishing three things: that the individual has a disability, that there is a disability-related need for the animal, and that the animal assists the individual in managing the disability. This is the same substance the federal guidance describes, but Indiana codifies it, which gives an Indiana landlord a clear statutory anchor for the one thing they may ask for and the tenant a clear statement of what a sufficient letter must say.

The limit on instant online letters

Indiana went a step further than most states on the reliability of documentation. Indiana Code Section 22-9-7-10 lets a tenant who has recently relocated to Indiana rely on documentation from an out-of-state provider only where there is an ongoing treatment relationship, and it expressly excludes a provider whose sole service to the tenant is to supply a verification letter in exchange for a fee. In plain terms, an instant certificate purchased online from a website the tenant has never otherwise consulted is not the reliable documentation the statute contemplates. This does not let a landlord reject a genuine letter from a real treating provider, but it gives a statutory shape to the difference between a real evaluation and a purchased form.

Misrepresentation is a Class A infraction

Under Indiana Code Section 22-9-7-12, it is a Class A infraction to knowingly misrepresent an animal as an emotional support animal, to make a false statement to a provider to obtain documentation, to supply false