Louisiana residential lease agreement

Before you accept an application fee, you must give the applicant written notice of the fee amount; whether you consider credit scores, employment history, criminal history or eviction records; and that the applicant may share a statement of 200 words or less about financial hardship from a declared disaster or emergency. The hardship notice must mention the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes.

La. R.S. 9:3258.1

• The rule covers every lessor of a home the tenant will use as a primary residence, except an owner-occupied building of no more than four units. La. R.S. 9:3258.1
• The notice may be delivered, stored and shown electronically if the method meets the Louisiana Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. La. R.S. 9:3258.1
• The law gives no one a right to sue over a violation of this section, and the sections read set no limit on the amount of the fee. La. R.S. 9:3258.1

Louisiana's fair housing law bars refusing to rent, or setting different terms, because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, military status, or natural, protective or cultural hairstyle. It also bars discriminatory advertising.

La. R.S. 51:2602 La. R.S. 51:2606

• Some dwellings and religious or private organizations are exempt; the exemptions are listed in R.S. 51:2604(B) and 51:2605. La. R.S. 51:2604 La. R.S. 51:2605
• Familial status covers households with children under eighteen living with a parent, legal custodian or their designee. La. R.S. 51:2603
• A tenant with a disability who has a service dog may not be charged extra for the dog, though the tenant is liable for any damage the dog does, and interfering with that right is a misdemeanor carrying a $100 to $500 fine, up to six months in jail, or both, plus the tenant's actual damages. La. R.S. 46:1954 La. R.S. 46:1956
• Louisiana fines healthcare providers who issue support animal documentation without a therapeutic relationship of at least thirty days, and people who misrepresent a need for a support animal, but that law does not limit a tenant's fair housing right to a reasonable accommodation. La. R.S. 46:1974 La. R.S. 46:1977 La. R.S. 46:1978
• It is also unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with anyone for exercising a fair housing right or helping someone else do so. La. R.S. 51:2609
• For housing covered by the state act, necessary reasonable changes to rules, policies, practices or services can be required so a person with a disability has an equal opportunity to use and enjoy the home. Necessary reasonable physical modifications are a separate duty and are at that person's expense under this provision. Where reasonable, a rental owner may require an agreement to restore the interior, with ordinary wear and tear excepted. La. R.S. 51:2606(A)(6)(c)(i), (ii)
• Disability protection reaches beyond the applicant. It also covers a resident or intended resident of the home and anyone associated with the buyer or renter. Consider whose disability is involved when reviewing access, rental terms or an accommodation request; the named applicant need not be the person with a disability. La. R.S. 51:2606(A)(6)(a), (b)

Before and during a residential lease, you must disclose in writing any pending foreclosure on the home and the tenant's right to be notified of a foreclosure. Before taking an application fee, give the written application fee notice.

La. R.S. 9:3260.1 La. R.S. 9:3258.1

• Within seven calendar days after you are served with a notice of seizure in a foreclosure, give every tenant a signed written notice naming the court, case name and docket number, with the statement the law sets out saying it is not a notice to vacate. La. R.S. 9:3260.1
• A tenant who proves a violation of the foreclosure rule recovers $200 in damages on top of any other remedies. La. R.S. 9:3260.1
• The application fee notice must list the fee, the screening factors you consider and the hardship statement option. La. R.S. 9:3258.1 See Application and screening fees on the Louisiana page
• If the lease gives the tenant an option to buy, the Residential Property Disclosure Act applies, so complete the Real Estate Commission's property disclosure document and deliver it no later than when the tenant exercises the option. La. R.S. 9:3197 La. R.S. 9:3198

None of the Louisiana laws read for this page requires a flood disclosure in a residential lease. R.S. 9:3258, sometimes cited for one, is the lessor's property rights section and requires no disclosure.

La. R.S. 9:3258

• Laws outside the sections read were not searched for a flood disclosure duty. La. R.S. 9:3258

Louisiana's lease laws do not require you to disclose the owner's or manager's name and address to the tenant. Give the tenant an address for paying rent, though: without one, rent is payable at the tenant's address.

La. Civ. Code art. 2703

• The Civil Code lease title and the Revised Statutes lease sections contain no owner or agent disclosure rule. La. Civ. Code arts. 2668 to 2729 La. R.S. 9:3251 to 9:3261.2

Louisiana does not cap the amount of a security deposit. Its deposit law covers what happens to the deposit, not how large it may be.

La. R.S. 9:3251 to 9:3254

• If you sell or transfer the property during a lease, you must pass the deposit on to the new owner, who then becomes responsible for returning it; once you do, you are released from liability for it. La. R.S. 9:3251
• Any waiver of the tenant's deposit rights is null and void, so a lease clause giving them up has no effect. La. R.S. 9:3254
• If you sell the home during a lease, the lease does not end, but the buyer is bound by your lease obligations only if the buyer assumes them, a lease affects third persons such as a buyer only from the time it is filed for registry, and the tenant can recover from you any loss the sale causes. La. Civ. Code art. 2711 La. Civ. Code art. 2712 La. Civ. Code art. 2681.1

Return the deposit within one month after the lease ends. You may keep only what is reasonably necessary to remedy the tenant's default or unreasonable wear to the home. If you keep any part, send the tenant an itemized statement of what you kept and why within one month after the tenancy ends, or within fifteen days after that one-month date.

La. R.S. 9:3251

• The tenant must give you a forwarding address when the lease ends so the statement can be sent there. The one-month clock runs from the end of the lease, not from receiving the address. La. R.S. 9:3251
• These return rules do not apply when the tenant abandons the home without giving the required notice or before the lease ends. La. R.S. 9:3251
• A willful failure to follow the return rules lets the tenant recover the amount wrongfully kept plus $300 or twice that amount, whichever is greater. Failing to pay within thirty days after the tenant's written demand for a refund counts as willful. La. R.S. 9:3252
• The tenant may sue in the parish where you are domiciled or where the property is, and the court may award costs and attorney fees to whichever side wins. La. R.S. 9:3252 La. R.S. 9:3253

Louisiana does not require you to hold the deposit in a separate account or to pay interest on it.

La. R.S. 9:3251 to 9:3254

• The deposit sections address only return, transfer on sale, penalties and waiver; none mentions a bank account, a trust account or interest. La. R.S. 9:3251 to 9:3254

Louisiana requires no move-in checklist or inspection form. You must deliver the home on time and in good condition suitable for living in, and the tenant must return it in the same condition, except for normal wear and tear.

La. Civ. Code art. 2683 La. Civ. Code art. 2684

• Because the tenant's return duty is measured against the condition at delivery, a dated record of that condition is your best evidence when you keep part of the deposit. La. Civ. Code art. 2683 La. R.S. 9:3251
• Unless you agree otherwise, a tenant may remove improvements they made if they restore the home; for improvements left behind, you may reimburse the lesser of their cost or added value, or demand removal within a reasonable time. La. Civ. Code art. 2695

Louisiana's lease laws set no cap and no grace period for late fees, so the lease sets them. Under the general contract rules, the parties may stipulate the damages owed for late performance, and a court may change stipulated damages only if they are so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy.

La. Civ. Code arts. 2668 to 2729 La. Civ. Code art. 2005 La. Civ. Code art. 2012

• Unless the lease says otherwise, rent is due at the beginning of the term, or at the beginning of each period when it is paid in installments, and is payable at the address you give. La. Civ. Code art. 2703
• If the tenant fails to pay rent when due, you may dissolve the lease and regain possession in the manner the law provides. La. Civ. Code art. 2704 See Eviction process on the Louisiana page
• Under an oral lease, a tenant who does not pay delinquent rent within twenty days after a written demand stating the correct amount owes reasonable attorney fees if you win a judgment for it. La. R.S. 9:3259
• Under the general contract rules, damages for delay in paying a sum of money are measured by interest at the agreed rate or the legal rate, and attorney fees may be added to them where a written contract expressly fixes the fees in a fixed or determinable amount. La. Civ. Code art. 2000

When you make written demand for payment of a check returned for nonsufficient funds, you may charge a service charge of up to $25 or five percent of the face amount of the check, whichever is greater. You must post a notice of the charge in a conspicuous place on your business premises.

La. R.S. 9:2782

• If the writer of the check does not pay within fifteen working days after receiving a written demand sent by certified or registered mail, you may sue for twice the amount owed, at least $100, plus attorney fees and court costs. La. R.S. 9:2782
• Before claiming those damages, the demand must be in substantially the form the statute sets out and be mailed to the address on the check. La. R.S. 9:2782

No Louisiana statute read sets a notice period or a limit for raising rent. During the lease, the rent is the amount the parties fixed; a month-to-month lease ends only on the written termination notice the Civil Code requires.

La. Civ. Code art. 2676 La. Civ. Code art. 2728

• The rent must be fixed by the parties in a sum certain or determinable by an agreed method. La. Civ. Code art. 2676
• An amendment to a lease made without intent to create a new contract does not create a new lease. La. Civ. Code art. 2726

Louisiana sets no notice period for entering a rented home, so put entry terms in the lease. You must protect the tenant's peaceful possession for the whole lease.

La. Civ. Code art. 2682

• If a repair cannot be postponed until the lease ends, you may make it even if it inconveniences the tenant, who may then get a rent reduction or dissolution of the lease depending on the circumstances. La. Civ. Code art. 2693
• You may not make alterations to the home during the lease. La. Civ. Code art. 2690

You must deliver the home in good condition and keep it suitable for living in, making every repair that becomes necessary except those the tenant owes. You also warrant that the home is free of vices or defects that prevent its use, including defects that arise after move-in and ones you did not know about.

La. Civ. Code art. 2682 La. Civ. Code art. 2691 La. Civ. Code art. 2696 La. Civ. Code art. 2697

• The tenant must repair damage caused by their fault or by people on the premises with their consent, and deterioration beyond normal use. La. Civ. Code art. 2692
• The tenant must tell you without delay when the home is damaged or needs repair; you can recover damages caused by a failure to tell you. La. Civ. Code art. 2688
• In a residential lease, the warranty protects everyone who lives in the home under the lease. La. Civ. Code art. 2698
• The warranty can be waived only by clear language brought to the tenant's attention, and a waiver never works for defects that seriously affect health or safety, or for defects you knew or should have known about and the tenant did not. La. Civ. Code art. 2699
• If the lease makes the tenant responsible for the condition of the home, you are not liable for injury from a defect unless you knew or should have known of it, or were told, and did not fix it within a reasonable time. La. R.S. 9:3221
• For a New Orleans rental, also check the Healthy Homes program: the city publishes minimum rental standards and requires a Certificate of Compliance. Its cooling standard and the program link are summarized under local rules below. These city requirements should not be treated as a statewide Louisiana checklist. City of New Orleans: Healthy Homes program

If you do not make a necessary repair within a reasonable time after the tenant demands it, the tenant may have it made and either demand immediate reimbursement or deduct the cost from rent, to the extent the repair was necessary and the cost reasonable.

La. Civ. Code art. 2694

• If the home is partly destroyed or its use is substantially impaired without the tenant's fault, the tenant may get a rent reduction or dissolution of the lease, whichever fits the circumstances, and damages if you were at fault, but only dissolution when the cause is outside the home, and a total loss without either side's fault ends the lease with no damages owed. La. Civ. Code art. 2715 La. Civ. Code art. 2714
• When a tenant has been constructively evicted and the home was made uninhabitable through no fault of the tenant, you must mitigate your damages. La. R.S. 9:3260

Louisiana's lease laws set no rule on locks, rekeying or other security devices.

La. Civ. Code arts. 2668 to 2729

• The general duty to keep the home suitable for its purpose and free of defects still applies. La. Civ. Code art. 2682 La. Civ. Code art. 2696 See Repairs and habitability on the Louisiana page

Every existing one- or two-family dwelling must have, at the time it is leased, at least an operable smoke detector with a ten-year sealed lithium battery and an operable carbon monoxide detector with a long-life sealed battery. The two may be combined in one device.

La. R.S. 40:1581

• Larger buildings are covered by state fire marshal rules and building codes, which were not read for this page. La. R.S. 40:1575

None of the Louisiana lease and eviction laws read for this page bars retaliation in general, but the fair housing law bars interfering with anyone for exercising fair housing rights. In a building of six or more homes, you may not end a lease, refuse to renew or issue a notice to vacate because domestic abuse occurred on the premises and the victim is a tenant or household member.

La. R.S. 9:3261.1 La. R.S. 51:2609

• The Civil Code lease title, the Revised Statutes lease sections and the eviction articles read for this page contain no general anti-retaliation rule. La. Civ. Code arts. 2668 to 2729 La. C.C.P. arts. 4701 to 4735
• Louisiana's fair housing law makes it unlawful to coerce, intimidate, threaten or interfere with anyone because they exercised a fair housing right, such as filing a discrimination complaint, or helped someone else exercise one. La. R.S. 51:2609

To remove a tenant, you must use the court eviction process; the court's warrant is carried out by the sheriff, constable or marshal. The one exception is abandonment after the required notice to vacate. The law on utility shutoffs was not read for this page; a separate law requires landlords who use third-party utility billing to share the original bills on request.

La. C.C.P. art. 4731 La. C.C.P. art. 4733 La. C.C.P. art. 4734

• In its paragraph on federally declared disasters, article 4731 gives a residential tenant the right to recover $500 or twice the monthly rent, whichever is greater, when the lessor fails to comply with that article, and lets the tenant seek a restraining order or preliminary injunction to enforce it. La. C.C.P. art. 4731
• The Civil Code lease title and the eviction articles say nothing about cutting off utilities; Public Service Commission rules and other utility law were not read. La. Civ. Code arts. 2668 to 2729 La. C.C.P. arts. 4701 to 4735
• If you use third-party billing for a home with its own utility meter, you must give the tenant copies of the original utility bills within thirty days of a written request that meets the statute, and each violation can bring a fine of up to $500. La. R.S. 51:3272 La. R.S. 51:3273 La. R.S. 51:3274

Either side ends a month-to-month lease with written notice given at least ten calendar days before the end of a monthly period. The lease then ends at the end of the period named in the notice or, if none is named, at the end of the first period for which the notice was timely.

La. Civ. Code art. 2727 La. Civ. Code art. 2728 La. Civ. Code art. 2729

• A lease of a home with no agreed term is month to month. La. Civ. Code art. 2680
• For a lease measured by a period longer than a month, the notice is due thirty calendar days before the end of the period; for a weekly lease, five calendar days. La. Civ. Code art. 2728
• A tenant who surrenders possession by the notice deadline has given notice of termination. La. Civ. Code art. 2729
• If the lease reserves a right to end it early, the longer of the lease's notice and the Civil Code notice applies, and that right to notice cannot be given up in advance. La. Civ. Code art. 2718

A fixed-term lease ends when its term expires, without notice. If the tenant stays on for one week after the term without a notice to vacate or other objection, the lease is reconducted month to month on the same terms. Louisiana gives servicemembers and some victims of abuse or sexual assault a right to end a lease early.

La. Civ. Code art. 2720 La. Civ. Code art. 2721 La. Civ. Code art. 2723

• An active or reserve servicemember (including the National Guard and Coast Guard), or the member's spouse, may end the lease on orders to move 35 miles or more, temporary duty orders of more than three months, discharge or retirement, orders to live in government quarters, or a service injury needing more than fifteen days in hospital, among other listed grounds. Written notice must take effect at least thirty days after it is served. La. R.S. 9:3261
• Before the termination date the servicemember must give you a copy of the official orders or a confirming letter from the commanding officer (or the listed proof of a hospitalization or death), and a lessor who violates this section owes $200 in damages on top of other remedies. La. R.S. 9:3261
• The servicemember then owes no more than one month's rent if under six months of the lease are complete, or half a month's rent otherwise, and gets the full deposit if the lease was otherwise followed. These rights cannot be waived. La. R.S. 9:3261
• A qualifying victim of domestic abuse, stalking or sexual assault may end the lease on an agreed date within thirty days of a written request. La. R.S. 9:3261.1 La. R.S. 9:3261.2 See Protections for victims of abuse and sexual assault on the Louisiana page
• A lease does not end when either party dies. La. Civ. Code art. 2717
• A reconducted lease is ended by the month-to-month notice. La. Civ. Code art. 2724 See Ending a month-to-month lease on the Louisiana page
• Unless the lease expressly prohibits it, the tenant may sublease or assign, a ban on one is treated as a ban on the others unless the lease says otherwise, a ban is read strictly against you, and a subtenant gets no greater rights than the tenant. La. Civ. Code art. 2713 La. Civ. Code art. 2713.1

Before filing an eviction, deliver a written notice to vacate that gives the tenant at least five days from delivery to leave. Because the period is shorter than seven days, legal holidays are not counted, and under Louisiana law Sundays are legal holidays and Saturdays are whole or half holidays.

La. C.C.P. art. 4701 La. C.C.P. art. 5059 La. R.S. 1:55

• A tenant can waive the notice to vacate in a written lease clause; you may then file for eviction as soon as the right of occupancy ends. La. C.C.P. art. 4701
• If the lease has no definite term, the termination notice the law requires serves as the notice to vacate. La. C.C.P. art. 4701 See Ending a month-to-month lease on the Louisiana page
• An application for, or receipt of, rent assistance is not payment of rent and is not a defense to an eviction. La. R.S. 9:3259.2

Louisiana sets no fixed cure period for a lease violation. When a tenant fails to perform, you may seek dissolution of the lease under the general contract rules and then deliver the same five-day written notice to vacate used for unpaid rent.

La. Civ. Code art. 2719 La. C.C.P. art. 4701

• You may serve a notice to perform within a reasonable time, warning that the lease will be considered dissolved if the tenant does not comply. La. Civ. Code art. 2015
• A contract may not be dissolved when a substantial part has been performed and the unperformed part does not substantially impair your interest. La. Civ. Code art. 2014
• No notice to perform is needed when late performance would no longer be of value or it is evident the tenant will not perform. La. Civ. Code art. 2016
• If the tenant misuses the home or uses it in a way that may damage it, you may seek an injunction, dissolution of the lease and damages. La. Civ. Code art. 2686

After the notice to vacate expires, you file a rule to show cause, stating the grounds, in a court with jurisdiction. The hearing is set no earlier than the third day after service; if you win or the tenant does not appear, the court renders a judgment of eviction immediately, and if the tenant has not left within 24 hours, the court issues a warrant for possession.

La. C.C.P. art. 4731 La. C.C.P. art. 4732 La. C.C.P. art. 4733

• For a lease with a definite term, a notice to vacate may be given no more than thirty days before the term expires. La. C.C.P. art. 4701
• A judgment of eviction stays effective for at least ninety days. La. C.C.P. art. 4732
• The sheriff, constable or marshal carries out the warrant in the presence of two witnesses and may break open locked doors or gates. La. C.C.P. art. 4734
• An appeal stops the eviction only if the tenant answered under oath with a defense entitling them to stay, and applied for the appeal and posted the bond within 24 hours of the judgment. La. C.C.P. art. 4735
• City and parish courts, and justice of the peace courts, hear residential evictions whatever the rent amount. La. C.C.P. art. 4844 La. C.C.P. art. 4912
• Prepare a hearing folder with the lease, notice to vacate, court papers, delivery records and a clear rent ledger. Add dated photographs, receipts and relevant messages for the issue being disputed. Keep the documents in date order and connect each item to the stated reason for possession; this is an organizational checklist, not a substitute for the court's evidence requirements. La. C.C.P. art. 4732 Louisiana Access to Justice: eviction response guide
• A payment-plan or move-out discussion does not by itself cancel the hearing. The Access to Justice instructions distinguish negotiating an agreement from asking the court for more preparation time. Follow the scheduled date unless the court confirms a change, and understand any consent judgment before agreeing: failure to follow it can lead to eviction without another hearing. Louisiana Access to Justice: eviction response guide

After the required notice to vacate, you may take back the home without further court process if you reasonably believe the tenant has abandoned it. Signs of abandonment include the tenant no longer living there, returning the keys and removing furniture or belongings.

La. C.C.P. art. 4731

• In a parish under a federal disaster declaration, a tenant no longer living in the home is not evidence of abandonment for thirty days after the declaration. La. C.C.P. art. 4731
• You have a privilege (a security right) on the tenant's movables in the home to secure the rent, enforced through a court seizure while they are there and for fifteen days after removal if they can be identified; the seizure procedure was not read for this page. La. Civ. Code art. 2707 La. Civ. Code art. 2709 La. Civ. Code art. 2710
• No section read sets a storage period or a disposal procedure for belongings left in an abandoned home. La. Civ. Code arts. 2668 to 2729 La. C.C.P. arts. 4701 to 4735
• If the premises are abandoned or the tenant cannot be found, eviction notices and papers may be attached to a door of the premises. La. C.C.P. art. 4703

City court small claims divisions hear cases where the amount in dispute is $5,000 or less, not counting interest, court costs, attorney fees or penalties. Justice of the peace courts also hear civil cases up to $5,000.

La. R.S. 13:5202 La. C.C.P. art. 4911

• Each city court may set up small claims divisions by court rule; a small claims division cannot issue injunctions, and class actions, summary proceedings and executory proceedings are not allowed there. La. R.S. 13:5201 La. R.S. 13:5202
• A tenant's suit over a deposit may be filed in the parish where you are domiciled or where the property is. La. R.S. 9:3252

In a building of six or more homes (other than one of ten or fewer units where the owner or lessor lives), a lease may not limit anyone's right to call police or emergency help in an emergency or after domestic abuse on the premises, or penalize the call. In those buildings you may not refuse to rent, solely because of domestic abuse, to an applicant who provides reasonable documentation and otherwise qualifies (unless you evicted them before), or end a lease, refuse to renew it or issue a notice to vacate because domestic abuse against a tenant or household member occurred on the premises, and a qualifying victim may end the lease early.

La. R.S. 9:3261.1

• The domestic abuse rules apply only to buildings of six or more homes, and not to a building of ten or fewer units where the owner or lessor lives in one. La. R.S. 9:3261.1
• To end the lease early, the tenant must say so in writing, give a Uniform Abuse Prevention Order or a sworn Certification of Domestic Abuse showing abuse on the premises within the past thirty days (for stalking elsewhere, with a written statement of why staying is unsafe), and agree not to let the offender back in. The lease then ends on an agreed date within thirty days, and the tenant owes rent only through that date. La. R.S. 9:3261.1
• A tenant who was a victim of sexual assault in Louisiana within the past sixty days, after the lease was signed, has a similar right to end the lease, with no building size limit. That right cannot be waived. La. R.S. 9:3261.2
• You may still evict if the offender's continued presence leads to further violent disturbances that threaten the safety or peaceful possession of the tenant or other residents. La. R.S. 9:3261.1
• You are entitled to an immediate eviction of the domestic abuse offender by presenting the court with reasonable documentation of the abuse, and you are immune from the offender's claims arising from that eviction. La. R.S. 9:3261.1

Louisiana calls acquisition through qualifying possession acquisitive prescription. General Civil Code routes include ten years with good faith, just title and property capable of being acquired by prescription, or thirty years without needing just title or good faith. These are ownership rules, not a promise that an unauthorized occupant may stay for that long. The calendar alone does not establish a claim; other possession requirements and special property rules can matter.

La. Civ. Code art. 3475 La. Civ. Code art. 3486

• Start with the occupancy history: how the person entered, what permission or lease existed, and whether ownership is actually disputed. Keep title records, leases, dated photographs, correspondence and a timeline of the claimed use. Seek advice about the appropriate possession or ownership proceeding; do not assume every occupant is a tenant or that one ten-day notice fits every case. La. Civ. Code art. 3475 La. Civ. Code art. 3486 La. C.C.P. art. 4731 See Eviction process on the Louisiana page
• For genuinely vacant homes, maintain doors and windows, arrange lawful checks and keep a contact for reports of damage or unexpected activity. If someone is occupying the property, preserve records and determine the lawful response before changing access or removing belongings. Vacancy care is not authority to bypass the court process that applies to a tenant. La. C.C.P. art. 4731 La. C.C.P. art. 4733 La. C.C.P. art. 4734 See Lockouts and utility shutoffs on the Louisiana page

No statewide rent control appears in the Louisiana laws read for this page. A state law says a lessor's rights under the Civil Code lease title may not be altered, abridged or diminished except by state law, subject to the reasonable exercise of the police power. Local codes were not read.

La. R.S. 9:3258

• Parishes and cities have their own housing, building and fire codes; none was read for this page. La. R.S. 9:3258