District of Columbia: pet and assistance-animal laws

The Pets in Housing Amendment Act of 2024 became effective on March 21, 2025 but was held back by its own applicability section, which waited on its fiscal effect being included in an approved budget and financial plan. The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026 limited that condition to the act's shelter section as of October 1, 2026, through the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026, D.C. Law 26-189, effective October 2, 2026, after an emergency act had applied the change from August 13, 2026. For a lease beginning after October 1, 2025, a landlord may require a refundable pet security deposit of up to 15 percent of the monthly rent on top of any other lawful deposit and additional rent of up to 1 percent of the first full month's rent for each dog and 1 percent in total for all other common household pets, and may charge nothing else for a pet. For a lease beginning after October 1, 2026, a landlord may not restrict a tenancy or vary fees or rent because of a pet's breed, size or weight. No deposit or additional rent may be charged for a service or assistance animal. The published D.C. Code has not yet replaced the words Not Funded with the enacted text.

District of Columbia pet law at a glance

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, District of Columbia: pet and assistance-animal laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/pets/district-of-columbia/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified and what the topic covers). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Where the law's text lives today

The act is law and its rental rules apply from October 1, 2026, but the published D.C. Code does not yet carry their text: in place of each amended unit it still prints the words Not Funded, with a note that the amendment has not been implemented. The enacted words are in the act itself on the Council's law library. The surrounding sections, including the tenant-screening section's penalties and the general security deposit rules, are printed in full and are in force.

Whether it is in force

The act took effect on March 21, 2025, but its section 4(a) made it apply only once its fiscal effect was included in an approved budget and financial plan, which never happened. The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026 rewrote section 4(a) so that the funding condition now covers only section 3, the shelter duty, and that change applies as of October 1, 2026. From that date the rental rules in section 2 apply: the pet deposit and pet rent caps and the bar on other pet charges reach leases beginning after October 1, 2025, and the bar on breed, size and weight rules reaches leases beginning after October 1, 2026. The permanent act, D.C. Act 26-418, became D.C. Law 26-189 on October 2, 2026, after congressional review; the emergency version, D.C. Act 26-416, had applied the same change from August 13, 2026.

Where a change in this status would appear: D.C. Official Code § 42-3505.10, with its applicability note (title 42, chapter 35) — (b-3), (b-4) and the applicability block naming D.C. Law 25-308.

What would change it

The permanent budget support act became D.C. Law 26-189 on October 2, 2026, so the emergency act's expiry on November 11, 2026 no longer matters. The D.C. Code still prints Not Funded in place of the three amended units; the change will show when the code prints the enacted text.

The instrument

D.C. Law 25-308, the Pets in Housing Amendment Act of 2024, which amends the Rental Housing Act of 1985 at D.C. Official Code sections 42-3501.03, 42-3502.17 and 42-3505.10. It began as Bill 25-827, was adopted on first and second readings on December 3 and December 17, 2024, became D.C. Act 25-702 on January 24, 2025, was transmitted to Congress for review and became effective on March 21, 2025. Its section 4 made the act apply only once its fiscal effect was in an approved budget and financial plan; the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026, section 7259, limited that condition to section 3, the shelter duty, as of October 1, 2026, so the rental rules apply from that date. That act became D.C. Law 26-189 on October 2, 2026, after congressional review.

Who it binds

The rules bind every housing provider under the Rental Housing Act of 1985, with no threshold for the number of units and no limit to subsidized or income-restricted housing. What decides who is covered is the date the lease begins, not the size of the landlord.

Which leases it reaches

The act attaches by lease start date, on two dates, and applies from October 1, 2026. The pet deposit and pet rent caps and the bar on other pet charges reach residential leases beginning after October 1, 2025; the bar on breed, size and weight restrictions reaches residential leases beginning after October 1, 2026. The act does not say whether a pet charge collected before October 1, 2026 under a lease that began after October 1, 2025 must be returned.

Pet deposit

15 percent of the monthly rent, in addition to any security deposit otherwise authorized by law, under section 42-3505.10(b-3)(1)(A) as enacted. For a lease that began after October 1, 2025, a landlord may since October 1, 2026 require a refundable pet security deposit of up to 15 percent of the monthly rent on top of any other lawful deposit, may withhold it only for damage the pet caused beyond ordinary wear and tear, and may still hold the tenant liable for damage above the amounts withheld. No pet deposit may be required for a service or assistance animal a tenant with a disability needs as a reasonable accommodation.

Pet rent

1 percent of the first full month's rent per dog, and 1 percent of the first full month's rent for all other common household pets together, under section 42-3505.10(b-3)(2)(A) and (B) as enacted. For a lease that began after October 1, 2025, a landlord may since October 1, 2026 charge additional rent of up to 1 percent of the first full month's rent for each dog, and up to 1 percent in total for every other common household pet combined, and may charge no additional rent for a service or assistance animal needed as a reasonable accommodation.

Non-refundable pet fee

For a lease that began after October 1, 2025, a landlord may since October 1, 2026 charge no additional security deposit, fee or additional rent for a common household pet beyond the refundable deposit and the capped additional rent the act allows (section 42-3505.10(b-4)(1)), so a non-refundable pet fee is barred.

Breed, size and weight

For a residential lease beginning after October 1, 2026, a landlord may not impose restrictions on tenancy, or charge different fees or rent, because of a common household pet's breed, size or weight (section 42-3505.10(b-4)(2)). The act provides no exemption from that bar, whether for insurance, for a building's governing documents or for anything else.

What the lease must, or may not, say

The act requires nothing to be written in a lease and creates no waiver of a no-pets clause. It expressly preserves an owner's power to set reasonable pet policies for the safety and maintenance of the property, including limits on how many common household pets a unit may hold, and that power stands beside the charge and breed rules.

Assistance animals

The act carves assistance animals out of both of its charges: no security deposit and no additional rent may be required for a service or assistance animal a tenant with a disability needs as a reasonable accommodation under local or federal law. Those carve-outs apply with the rest of the rental rules from October 1, 2026. The D.C. Human Rights Act and the federal rules still answer what a landlord must allow and may ask.

Who enforces it and how

The act adds no penalty of its own. The tenant-screening section they sit in carries, in force, a penalty ladder of up to $1,000 for a provider with 1 to 10 rental units, up to $2,500 for 11 to 19 and up to $5,000 for 20 or more, doubled for a provider that violates the section more than twice in a calendar year or fails to carry out a corrective order of the Commission on Human Rights within 90 days, with warnings and correction orders instead of penalties for the first six months after an applicability date. The same section lets a prospective tenant sue in Superior Court within one year, for attorney's fees and costs, incidental damages and equitable relief, unless the tenant has filed with the Office of Human Rights instead. Whether that machinery reaches a pet violation is a question of the section's own scope and is not settled here.

How this fits with the law above the District

The District has no parent state. The structural equivalent is congressional review under section 602(c)(1) of the Home Rule Act, and it is not what held these rules back: the review period ran and the act became effective on March 21, 2025. Until October 1, 2026 the act's own applicability section held the rules back; the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026 limited that condition to the shelter section from that date. The general Security Deposit Act rules continue alongside the pet deposit, and the D.C. Human Rights Act answers the assistance-animal question.

Notes and caveats

• Effective, then applicable — The act took effect on March 21, 2025 but did not apply while its section 4 tied it to funding. The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026 cut that tie for the rental rules as of October 1, 2026.
• Pet deposits and the general deposit rules — The pet deposit sits on top of any security deposit the general District rules allow, and section 217 and the housing regulations still govern how it is held and returned. The security-deposits page carries those rules.
• The money is for the shelter, not the rental rules — The Chief Financial Officer costed the bill at $642,000 in fiscal year 2025 and $2.4 million over four years, and attributed it to standing up a pet-friendly low-barrier shelter; the rental provisions were costed at nothing because the complaint and appeal routes already exist. The budget support act now ties only the shelter section to funding, so the no-cost rental provisions apply.
• What a common household pet means — The act defines it as a domesticated animal traditionally kept in the home for pleasure rather than for commercial purposes, listing domestic dogs excluding wolf, coyote and jackal hybrids, domestic cats excluding ocelot and margay hybrids, domesticated rodents and rabbits, captive-bred common cage birds, non-venomous snakes, fish and turtles, and ferrets.
• Number limits survive — The act lets an owner set reasonable pet policies for the safety and maintenance of the property, including a limit on the number of pets in a unit.
• Assistance animals — The act's two carve-outs, no deposit and no additional rent for a service or assistance animal needed as a reasonable accommodation, apply from October 1, 2026; the D.C. Human Rights Act and the federal rules also answer what a landlord must allow and may ask.
• A shelter duty rides with it — The act also required at least one low-barrier shelter with space for a resident accompanied by a common household pet by October 1, 2026. That duty still waits on funding, because the narrowed applicability section keeps the funding condition for section 3; it is a homeless-services rule rather than a landlord rule.
• Federal rules — The Fair Housing Act, the housing regulations under it, the rules for assisted and public housing and the status of the federal assistance-animal guidance are on the federal section of the 50-state page.
• Legislation — The rental rules applied first through the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-416), in force from August 13, 2026. The permanent act (D.C. Act 26-418) makes the same change and became D.C. Law 26-189 on October 2, 2026, after congressional review.
• How this page will change — Watch for the code to replace Not Funded with the enacted text.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (October 1, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

• Correction, October 2, 2026 — City and county pages. San Diego: a sentence said the city has never limited the amount a landlord may charge; the city has capped utility pass-through fees since August 17, 2025, and the sentence now says only that the Residential Tenant Protections Ordinance does not limit rent. Jersey City: a note now says that Ordinances 25-099 and 25-105 of 2025 are law but not yet printed in the published code, which still shows the earlier section 260-6(C) and has no section 260-21. Montgomery County, Maryland: Bill 8-26 on rent-setting algorithms is listed for a committee worksession on October 5, 2026 and expires December 7, 2026 if not enacted. District of Columbia (pets): the emergency act that applies the rental rules expires November 11, 2026, and the Council's legislative record projects that the permanent act becomes law on November 20, 2026; the page states both dates and what happens between them if the Council does not act.

Citations

• D.C. Official Code §§ 42-3501.03, 42-3502.17, 42-3505.10 (title 42, ch. 35) · § 42-3501.03(6A); § 42-3502.17(d); § 42-3505.10(b-3), (b-4), (h), (i), and the applicability notes (verified 2026) Official source
• D.C. Law 25-308, Pets in Housing Amendment Act of 2024 (72 DCR 1076) · §§ 2(a), 2(b), 2(c)(2), 3, 4 (as amended), 6 (verified 2026) Official source
• Fiscal impact statement, Bill 25-827 (Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Nov. 21, 2024) · Conclusion; the cost table (verified 2026) Official source
• Council Budget Office, Subject to Funding Legislation quarterly report (July 15, 2026) · Currently unfunded laws, the row for L25-308 (verified 2026) Official source
• Council Budget Office, legislation passed subject to appropriations (index) (verified 2026) Official source
• D.C. Act 26-416, Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2026 · §§ 7259, 9001, 9003 (verified 2026) Official source
• D.C. Law 26-189, Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-418; enrolled original) · §§ 7259, 9001, 9003 (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Title 42, chapter 35 of the D.C. Official Code was read on September 21, 2026 as a single whole-chapter document on the Council's own law library, where sections 42-3501.03, 42-3502.17 and 42-3505.10 each print the words Not Funded in place of the amended unit and each carries an applicability block saying that the amendment made by D.C. Law 25-308 has not been implemented; the same section carries an older applicability note in the library's positive form for a different act, which shows what implementation looks like when it happens. D.C. Law 25-308 was read in full from the library's own law page, including its long title, its legislative history, its applicability section and its effective-date section. Currency was established from the credit lines rather than from a banner: the most recent credit line on section 42-3505.10 is D.C. Law 26-156 of August 14, 2026, and the permanent-law roll was read up to D.C. Law 26-177, with 26-178 and later returning nothing. The Chief Financial Officer's fiscal impact statement of November 21, 2024 was read in full from the Office of the Chief Financial Officer's own site, and the Council Budget Office's quarterly report of July 15, 2026 was read in full from its own site, including the row for this law. The Council's weekly legislation tables were read for the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act. On October 1, 2026 the Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Emergency Act of 2026 (D.C. Act 26-416) was read on the Council's law library, including section 7259, which limits the funding condition in section 4 of D.C. Law 25-308 to that law's section 3, and sections 9001 and 9003; the permanent act (D.C. Act 26-418) was read as enrolled; and section 2 of D.C. Law 25-308 was read again in full. On October 9, 2026 the Council's legislative record for Bill 26-661 was read on its own site: the permanent act was enacted without the Mayor's signature as D.C. Act 26-418 on August 14, 2026, transmitted to Congress on August 20, 2026, published at 73 DCR 11735 on August 21, 2026, and became D.C. Law 26-189, effective October 2, 2026; section 7259 of the enrolled act was read again; title 42, chapter 35 of the Code still printed Not Funded in the three units that day.

What was read to state each absence on this page: Title 42, chapter 35 of the D.C. Official Code was read whole on September 21, 2026 and the three units D.C. Law 25-308 amended, sections 42-3501.03(6A), 42-3502.17(d) and 42-3505.10(b-3) and (b-4), each print Not Funded rather than text; the applicability block under each of the three names the law and says the amendment has not been implemented. The terms run over the chapter were pet, pets, common household pet, animal, dog, service animal, assistance animal, support animal, emotional support, breed, weight, size, deposit, fee and additional rent, and outside those three units the chapter carries no pet rule. The permanent-law roll of Council Period 26 was read up to D.C. Law 26-177, the highest permanent law served, and carries no budget support act; the Council Budget Office's quarterly report of July 15, 2026 lists the law under currently unfunded laws; and the Chief Financial Officer's fiscal impact statement of November 21, 2024 found funds insufficient across fiscal years 2025 through 2028. On October 1, 2026 Bill 26-661 was read as enrolled, D.C. Act 26-418, from the Council's legislation system, and its emergency version, D.C. Act 26-416, on the Council's law library, including section 7259 and the applicability and effective-date sections; the code chapter still printed Not Funded in the three units that day.

This page records District of Columbia's own law on pets and assistance animals in rentals.