Emotional support animal letter (UK)
A letter from a GMC-registered UK doctor confirming that your animal supports your mental health. It can back up a request to a landlord or university. It is not a registration, and it does not give your animal a right to go anywhere.
- Written and signed by a GMC-registered UK doctor
- A letter, not a registration: there is no official ESA register in the UK
- Can support a request to a landlord or university
- Delivered as a signed PDF to your inbox
- Full refund if a doctor cannot issue a letter on clinical grounds
£49 · No appointment needed · UK-registered doctors
£49
What your letter contains
- Your name and the animal it relates to
- Confirmation that the animal supports your mental health
- Doctor’s name, GMC number, signature and date
- Issued on headed paper as a PDF
MedicalCert reviews across all its services, not only ESA letters.
The short answer. An emotional support animal (ESA) letter is a letter from a doctor saying that your animal helps your mental health. It is not a registration: there is no official ESA register in the UK. It gives no access rights to shops, transport or flights. What it can do is support a request, most usefully to a landlord.
Looking for the benefit? Employment and Support Allowance is a benefit that is also shortened to ESA. This site is about animals. For the benefit, see GOV.UK: Employment and Support Allowance.
What an ESA letter is, and what it is not
Three things get sold and talked about as if they were the same. They are not.
A doctor’s letter
Written by a GMC-registered doctor after reviewing your health. It is evidence you can put in front of a landlord or another organisation when you ask for your animal to be allowed. It has no legal status of its own.
An online “registration”
Sold by a private website, usually as a card, a certificate or both, for a set period. There is no official register of emotional support animals in the UK, so there is nothing for it to be a record in.
An assistance dog
A dog trained to assist a disabled person, as defined in section 173 of the Equality Act 2010. Training is the whole test. An emotional support animal is not an assistance dog, however much it helps.
The confusion is understandable. Search for an emotional support animal letter and most of what comes back offers to “register” your animal, with an ID card to prove it. Those sites are private businesses, and the Equality Act 2010 does not define emotional support animals at all. We have set out what ESA registration sites sell and why none of it is official on a page of its own.
Where a letter can help
A letter is evidence for a request. It helps most where somebody has to make a decision about your animal and is allowed to weigh the reasons.
Renting privately in England
This is where a letter now does the most work. Since 1 May 2026, every private assured tenancy in England carries an implied term under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025: you may keep a pet if you ask in the right way and your landlord consents, and the landlord must not unreasonably refuse. It covers existing tenancies as well as new ones.
- Your request must be in writing and must describe the pet.
- Your landlord must say yes or no in writing within 28 days. They can ask you for more information in that time, which moves the deadline to 7 days after you provide it.
- Consent must not be unreasonably refused. If it is, a court can order the landlord to comply.
The Act does not ask you for a letter from anyone. A doctor’s letter is still useful: it tells your landlord why the animal matters to your health, which a landlord can take into account. It does not decide the outcome. The pet request, step by step.
Two limits. The pet rules do not cover council or housing association tenancies: the Act excludes social housing. And they apply in England only, so they do not cover renting in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. A letter can still go with a request to a landlord anywhere in the UK. ESA letters for housing.
Universities, halls and other organisations
Emotional support animals are not defined in the Equality Act 2010, so there is no automatic right to bring one anywhere. The Equality and Human Rights Commission says that, depending on the facts of each case, it may be a reasonable adjustment for an organisation to allow a disabled person’s emotional support animal. If a university, a hall of residence or another organisation has a process for animal requests, a letter from a doctor can go with yours. Ask them what they need before you apply.
Flying: a letter does not help
UK airlines must accept recognised assistance dogs in the cabin. The Civil Aviation Authority’s guidance says a recognised assistance dog does not include dogs that solely provide emotional support. British Airways, for example, says an emotional support dog will need to travel as a domestic pet. No letter changes that, and we would rather tell you before you pay than after.
What the letter contains
Your letter is written for you by the doctor who reviewed your answers. It includes:
- your name, and the animal or animals it relates to (up to two per letter: a dog, a cat or another animal)
- the doctor’s confirmation that the animal supports your mental health
- the doctor’s name, GMC number, signature and the date
It arrives as a signed PDF, so you can email it to a landlord or letting agent, attach it to an online form or print it. It is valid for 12 months.
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1
Answer the questions online
Tell us about your health and the animal the letter is for. There is no appointment to book.
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2
A GMC-registered doctor reviews your answers
The doctor decides whether a letter is clinically appropriate. If they cannot issue one, you get a full refund.
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3
Your letter arrives by email
A signed PDF sent to your inbox. Where medically appropriate, most letters are issued the same day or by 9am the next day.
Who can get an ESA letter?
No law sets out which conditions “qualify” for an emotional support animal, because UK law does not define emotional support animals. The question is clinical: whether a doctor, having reviewed your health, thinks your animal supports your mental health. If they do not, they will not write the letter. Who qualifies for an emotional support animal.
Where the Equality Act 2010 comes into a request, for example when you ask an organisation for a reasonable adjustment, the test it uses is disability. That means a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Long-term means it has lasted, or is likely to last, at least 12 months, or for the rest of your life. A letter does not decide whether you meet that test. We mention it so you know what the law looks at.
Can your own GP write one?
Yes, a GP can. But a letter like this is not part of NHS care, which makes it non-NHS work. The BMA says that, with certain exceptions in their contract, doctors do not have to do non-NHS work, and they can charge for it. Each practice sets its own fee. Some GPs will write one; others will not. Free and NHS options, and what to ask your surgery.
Can I write my own ESA letter?
You can write your own request, and for a private tenancy in England you should: the Renters’ Rights Act only asks for a written request that describes the pet. What you cannot write is medical evidence about yourself. A letter is worth something to a landlord because a registered doctor has put their name and GMC number to it.
Price and what is included
£49 for the letter, paid once. That covers the doctor’s review, the signed PDF and up to two pets. There is no subscription and nothing to renew each year, unlike “registration” packages sold for a fixed period.
- Full refund if the doctor cannot issue a letter on clinical grounds.
- No refund once the letter has been written and sent.
- Valid for 12 months from the date it is signed.
Common questions
How do I prove I have an emotional support animal?
There is no official register or ID that proves it, because UK law does not define emotional support animals. What you can show is evidence: a letter from a doctor explaining that the animal supports your mental health. Whoever you are asking still makes their own decision.
Is an ESA letter legally binding?
No. Nobody is legally required to accept a letter. It supports a request. If you rent privately in England, the legal duty sits with your landlord under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025: to answer a written pet request within 28 days and not to refuse it unreasonably. That duty applies with or without a letter.
Does my landlord have to accept my letter?
No landlord has to accept a letter as such. For a private tenancy in England, the landlord must reply to your written request within 28 days (longer if they ask you for more information) and must not unreasonably refuse. The Act does not make them give reasons, although GOV.UK guidance says they should. How the pet request works.
How long is the letter valid?
Our letter is valid for 12 months from the date the doctor signs it.
Can I get an ESA letter for a cat?
Yes. A letter can cover a dog, a cat or another animal, up to two pets per letter. Emotional support cats in the UK.
Is this the same as registering my dog?
No. There is no official register of emotional support animals in the UK, so there is nothing to register with. We write a letter, not a registration. What ESA registration sites actually sell.
Related
Sources. The legal and clinical facts on this page were checked against these primary sources on 25 September 2026. Law and landlord, university and airline policies change, so check the source before you rely on it.
Get your emotional support animal letter
Answer a few questions online. A GMC-registered UK doctor reviews every request individually. £49, paid once.
Start your requestReviewed by a GMC-registered doctor. Full refund if a letter cannot be issued on clinical grounds.