Find out whether a therapist can write an ESA letter in California, what qualifications may apply, and what documentation an accommodation request may need.
When you have a therapist and are wondering whether they can sign your ESA letter for you, the quick answer is “yes,” but with a few unique conditions added by California, compared to other states where similar services are advertised on online websites. Knowing exactly who is allowed to sign an ESA letter, what “licensed” actually stands for in this case, and what steps need to be taken will help you save time and obtain a letter that cannot be challenged by your landlord at some point.
This article answers such questions as who can sign an ESA letter in California, what should occur before issuing the letter, and what to do when your current therapist cannot provide such documents.
At California ESA Pet Letter, we help you find licensed mental health specialists who will be able to evaluate you and provide you with an ESA letter. If you do not have a therapist currently, or if your current mental health specialist cannot issue an ESA letter for you, continue reading below.
A licensed therapist can most certainly provide an ESA letter, and what’s more, a LMHP (licensed mental health professional) is the only type of provider that is allowed by law to write such a letter in California. It is essential that the therapist has to be licensed in California and issues the letter after conducting a full evaluation of your psychological condition and not using just a simple form or checklist.
The important thing here is that it does not matter whether your visit was an online one or an in-person visit, as remote assessments are widely accepted in ESA letter writing in California.
The word “therapist” is commonly used as an umbrella term, but actually, there are different license types in California that have the authority to provide ESA letters, provided that providing such a letter is included in their scope of practice:
The important thing here is not the exact name of the license, but the fact that this individual is a licensed healthcare practitioner or licensed mental health practitioner working within his scope of practice and is licensed in California. An individual who has a license from another state cannot provide an ESA letter in California.
This is what makes California legislation unique from legislation in the rest of the country. Pursuant to Assembly Bill 468 (AB 468), as enacted by California Health & Safety Code §§ 122317–122319, an ESA letter will only be issued if the following criteria are met:
That is why any valid ESA letter in California cannot be obtained in less than 30 days. In case you have come across advertisements claiming to provide an ESA letter within 24 hours of your application, then the chances are very high that it does not conform to the AB 468 guidelines.
Not all therapists will offer ESA letters despite being well-equipped with the ability to offer them. Some do not offer them by practice policy for the reason that it may not be within the structure of their care approach, or simply because they wish to deal with different kinds of therapies. This is a perfectly acceptable professional approach and doesn’t necessarily mean that your therapist is incompetent; it only means that ESA letter writing is not in their scope of practice.
If you are currently seeing a therapist and he/she doesn’t offer ESA letters, you can either get a referral to one of his/her colleagues who can do it or contact a service that helps you connect with an ESA letter-writing provider.
Once your therapist fulfills the qualifications stated above, the appropriate ESA letter must include:
Any letter that does not have the above-stated components gives the landlord grounds to ask for more information.
One may ask why California complicates things in such a way instead of just asking your therapist for a letter. The reason for that is the adoption of AB 468 back in 2021, which was introduced because of an influx of websites providing immediate ESA “certification” without any involvement from a professional, a form that can be filled out, paid for, and received in a PDF format, regardless of the actual necessity of the person. Such a practice confused landlords and brought negative reviews from disability organizations since it reduced the credibility of the documents.
With AB 468, California makes sure that there is an established clinical relationship and an evaluation. This makes the letter more valuable and meaningful. For those tenants who really need an ESA letter, it is only beneficial as a properly formed document will be hard to question.
If you have just moved to California, but your ESA letter was provided by an organization that is licensed in another state, then this letter probably won’t be considered legitimate in California anymore. As per the provisions of AB 468, which states that the issuing provider must be licensed in California, it would mean that any letter provided by such an organization outside of California, even in the case of an actual examination, should normally be updated to a California-licensed one. This means that if you are planning to move, consider spending additional money on 30 days of a new evaluation process.
While prices for a legitimate ESA letter will vary from provider to provider, as a rough guideline, you’ll be paying for the actual clinical time involved: the initial evaluation, the relationship that must take place over the 30 days, and the follow-up evaluation after which the letter is generated. Beware of anyone offering a cheap ESA letter delivered on the very same day, since this is a surefire indicator that the necessary process mandated by AB 468 is simply not taking place.
If you do not have a therapist or a mental health care provider who offers ESA letters, the quickest way to get an authentic letter is to find a California-licensed mental health professional who performs ESA evaluations. Through the California ESA Pet Letter, we will help you receive an ESA letter after being evaluated by a California-licensed mental health professional and having the 30-day relationship period, all with a legitimate ESA letter, including everything the California landlords want to see.
Yes, an ESA letter can be issued by a therapist in California, but only if he or she is licensed in California, has conducted a proper clinical evaluation of the patient, and has maintained a minimum of a 30-day relationship with the patient before issuing the ESA letter. This applies to both LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, as well as psychologists and psychiatrists. In order for a patient not to waste his or her time and money, he or she needs to know this prior to the procedure.
Your regular therapist can do this, provided that he or she is licensed in California and this is within their scope of work. Some therapists provide ESA letters as part of their services, while others don’t, so it would be better to ask first.
According to AB 468, the state of California requires you to have a legitimate client-provider relationship for 30 days before receiving an ESA letter. It is impossible to obtain an ESA letter faster than this legally.
Yes, they can. The evaluation conducted via telehealth is quite popular these days, as long as the provider is licensed in California and evaluates your case clinically and not just through a questionnaire.
In some cases, yes, if mental health falls within your existing treatment relationship with them. Generally, though, licensed mental health professionals are the more common and reliable source.
No. A valid letter confirms you have a qualifying condition and that the ESA helps manage it, without necessarily disclosing the specific diagnosis to a landlord.
A landlord may legitimately question or deny the accommodation request. Non-compliant letters, especially instant online ones, are one of the most common reasons ESA requests get challenged in California.
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