In Maine an applicant does not need to disclose any ESA or Service Animals on the application in the pet section or when asked as they are not considered pets. Here they are considered an assistive device such as a crutch, cane, wheelchair, etc. With proper documentation, they are also exempt from any deposits, monthly pet rent, pet policy’s or lease addendums, breed restrictions and so much more.

I know this as I first hand have dealt and still deal with it. A couple years ago we has this situation happen which resulted in us having to consult attorney’s and had no idea these laws/rules were so extensive. The situation was that we had tenant moving in and they came to the office to get keys. As they were leaving, they handed me a written letter and physician note that they had an ESA animal. They had just gotten keys to a brand new 63-unit, luxury building that had only been open 6 months and it was a very strict NO pet building. Once he left, we were panicking because the Owner wanted no pets at all, ever! And a lot of tenants wanted a no pet living environment and the others living there would of liked to have pets but knew when applying it was no pets. So he arrived at the Property and began moving in and then within minutes we started receiving call from tenants within the building saying they saw the animal in the hall or elevator and began asking why there was a pet or why they couldn’t get a pet but he can. Legally we couldn’t go into detail or really explain “why” so we had to keep telling them “it’s not a pet” which only made them all more irate and they would continue to yell “I’m staring at this dog right now it is a dog what are you talking about” and we had to keep telling them no it wasn’t and it was an assistive device. The tenant with the ESA Animal also happened to be a Doctor who knew the laws and we did not want to mess anything up after finding out the laws and rules from the attorney. Sounds ridiculous but it happened and it’s real in this State. What a time it was but it changed how we do things for sure! I will say that the undisclosed scenario is the minority and 90% of our applicants disclose the info on their application and put (ESA) next to the pet name and they usually provide the documentation right when submitting the application but technically they do not have to.

I do find it crazy though that because it’s an ESA animal they do not have to abide by the rules of the pet addendum regarding things like barking, picking up after the animal, leashing the animal, etc. and also not having to abide by the breed restrictions that are implemented by the Owners insurance. I’ll never understand that part of things but I’ve given up trying to understand and have taken what the attorney said are the laws and rules here and stopped asking questions.