A landlord can deny a request for an ESA for the following reasons:

• Invalid or fraudulent documentation: The tenant fails to provide a legitimate, recent ESA letter (typically within one year) from a licensed healthcare provider (LMHP) who has a proper care relationship with the tenant. (Note: Missouri law, under R.S.Mo. § 209.204, makes misrepresenting an ESA or using fraudulent provider letters a criminal offense). 

• Direct safety or health threat: The specific animal has a history of dangerous behavior (such as unprovoked aggression or biting) or poses a direct threat to the health or safety of other residents that cannot be reduced by another reasonable accommodation. 

• Substantial property damage: The animal has caused or is causing significant physical damage to the property of others. 

• Fundamentally alters operations: The accommodation imposes an undue financial and administrative burden or fundamentally changes the nature of the landlord's business (e.g., housing an exotic or dangerous animal like a farm animal or wild animal in a standard urban apartment). 

You must notify the landlord of all pets and they must be approved by management before they can be on the premises.