Replacing a lost letter
Answers
Usually a five minute problem, unless the clinician who wrote it has gone.
Start with the clinician
The clinician who wrote it holds the record and can reissue. That is the whole answer in most cases, and it does not usually require a fresh assessment where the original is recent.
If it was issued here
Sign in to your portal and download it again. The letter carries an ESA ID and the verification page reflects its current status, so a housing provider can confirm it is genuine and current even from a copy, and even if you never find the original.
What a provider actually needs
- Documentation establishing that a disability exists and that the animal is needed.
- Enough detail to check the licence.
- Not the original paper. There is no requirement anywhere that documentation be an original, and a scan or photo is ordinarily fine.
Keep a copy somewhere that is not a tenant portal and not an email account tied to a former employer. The most common version of this problem is not a lost file but a lost account.
Common questions
- Is a photo of the letter enough?
- Ordinarily yes. Nothing requires an original, and a provider who insists on one while accepting scans for everything else is being difficult rather than careful.