Landlords cannot charge deposits when it comes to emotional support animals. If you previously paid a pet deposit and the landlord has approved your pet as an ESA, you should be able to get the refund back. You can find what HUD has to say about deposits here: https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUDAsstAnimalNC1-28-2020.pdf

Hello, my dog was recently approved as an ESA. My landlord updated my rent to remove the monthly pet fee, however they will not refund me the pet deposit until I move out. They said “Any deposit, like pet deposit and the unit deposit stay with the unit. At the time of move out you will receive the deposits base of the condition of your unit at the time.”

I understand keeping my rent deposit until I move out but shouldn’t they be required to give me my pet deposit back now since my dog is a legally recognized assistance animal? Is there a specific law or clause that would help enforce this?

From the time your landlord accepts your ESA letter, they should stop charging any pet fees. You would also be entitled to a refund of any pet deposit. You would not however get a refund of any monthly pet fees paid until that point.

If the pet fee was paid while the animal was still a normal pet, it is likely not refundable. However, any pet deposits that were paid should be refundable.

If you provided your landlord with an ESA letter that they approved, they should have returned your deposit.

Landlords are not allowed to request tenant’s complete specific forms, and they are also expected to process a tenant’s ESA request promptly, within 10 days. This is a very odd situation where you complied with your landlord’s request but are still being denied. Nevertheless, you still need a valid ESA letter: https://esadoctors.com/how-to-get-emotional-support-animal-letters/