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Ask for what helps you keep your home

A rule that is fine for most tenants can put a disabled person’s home at risk: rent due before your benefits arrive, notices you can only answer by phone, a “no pets” rule when you need your assistance animal. Under the U.S. Fair Housing Act, you can ask your landlord or housing provider to change a rule, policy, practice or service because of a disability, including a mental-health condition. This tool helps you write that request clearly and calmly, without having to name your diagnosis.

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This builder needs JavaScript. You can still write the request yourself: say you are asking for a reasonable accommodation because of a disability, name the rule, policy or service that causes the problem, say what change you are asking for and how it relates to your disability, offer to talk, and keep a dated copy.

Good to know before you send it

What it covers

A reasonable accommodation is “a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces.” Your request should show the link between the change and your disability. HUD/DOJ Joint Statement on Reasonable Accommodations, Q6

You can ask in any form

A request “can be made orally or in writing,” and the person asking “does not need to mention the Act or use the words ‘reasonable accommodation.’” A family member or someone acting for you can make it. Writing it down is “usually helpful,” and a provider must consider it even if you don’t use its own form. Joint Statement, Q12

Proof, but not your file

If your disability is not obvious, the provider may ask for “reliable disability-related information.” That can come from you (for example, proof that you are under 65 and get SSI or SSDI), a doctor, “a peer support group, a non-medical service agency, or a reliable third party.” “In most cases,” your medical records or details of your disability are “not necessary,” and what you share “must be kept confidential.” Joint Statement, Q18

No extra fees, and no long wait

Housing providers “may not require persons with disabilities to pay extra fees or deposits as a condition of receiving a reasonable accommodation.” They must respond promptly: “An undue delay in responding … may be deemed to be a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation.” Joint Statement, Q11 and Q15

A provider can say no if there is no disability-related need, or if the change would be an “undue financial and administrative burden” or “fundamentally alter” how it operates. If it says no for that reason, it “should discuss” an alternative that would meet your need (Joint Statement, Q7). The Fair Housing Act has a few narrow exemptions, and your state or city may give you more protection.

After you send it

Keep a copy of what you sent, how you sent it (email, mail, the office) and the date. If you hand it in, ask for a dated receipt or take a photo.
Keep paying rent and following the lease while you wait, unless and until they agree to the change.
Write notes after every call or meeting about it: the date, who you spoke to, and what was said. Confirm it in a short email or letter.
If they offer something different, ask yourself whether it meets the same need. The goal is a change that works.
If you get no answer, follow up politely in writing and keep that copy too.
If you have an eviction notice or a court date, don’t wait: contact legal aid today (see below), and bring your request and any reply with you.

Free help

If you think your rights were broken

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) takes housing discrimination complaints, including a wrongful denial of a reasonable accommodation. Call HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at 1-800-669-9777 or report online; HUD takes relay calls for deaf and hard-of-hearing callers. There is a deadline: a HUD complaint must be filed within one year, and a lawsuit within two years. HUD also says retaliating against you for reporting is illegal.

Legal aid and local help

A free legal aid office can read your lease, help with the request and stand with you if an eviction has started. Find one near you at LawHelp.org. Dial 211 for local housing help anywhere in the U.S., or 311 in New York City. If you are about to lose your home tonight, see Food and a roof tonight.

Information, not legal advice. This is a free writing tool, not a lawyer. It covers the federal Fair Housing Act in general terms; your state, your city, the kind of housing you live in and your situation can change what applies. If your home is at stake, talk to legal aid, a fair housing organization or a lawyer. If you are struggling right now, call or text 988, or see Get help now. In an emergency, call 911.

The quoted lines come from the Joint Statement of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice: Reasonable Accommodations under the Fair Housing Act (May 17, 2004). HUD’s number, online form and retaliation note come from Report Housing Discrimination, and the one-year and two-year limits come from the Fair Housing Act itself, 42 U.S.C. § 3610 and § 3613. All were checked on 29 September 2026. The page and its letter wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy) and are not affiliated with HUD or the Department of Justice. The ideas list is our own, and a few items follow the Joint Statement’s own examples. There is a matching letter builder for accommodations at work. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].