Louisiana Landlord-Tenant Law: 2026 Guide to Rent, Deposits & Notices

A Louisiana landlord who shrugs off the deposit refund is staring at the sharpest small penalty in the South: a tenant can recover whatever was wrongfully kept plus $300 or double that amount, whichever is greater, and the court can tack on attorney fees. The rest of Louisiana law runs unusually landlord-friendly, which is exactly why the deposit statute is where most owners here get burned. So let's start there, and do it properly.

Taking and holding deposits under the Lessee's Deposit Act

Louisiana sets no cap on deposit size. Charge one month, two months, whatever your market bears; the Lessee's Deposit Act (La. R.S. 9:3251) only cares what happens to the money afterward. There's no interest requirement and no separate escrow account rule either, which makes Louisiana lighter-touch than most states on the holding side.

Two things are worth building into your move-in routine anyway. First, the statute lets you apply the deposit only to the tenant's defaults and to "unreasonable wear" of the premises, so a documented move-in condition record (photos, a signed checklist) is what later separates unreasonable wear from ordinary aging you can't charge for. Second, the law tells the tenant to furnish a forwarding address at termination; put a line for it on your move-out form, because mailing the statement to the address you have is part of your defense.

One quirk worth knowing: the one-month return rule does not apply when a tenant abandons the unit without giving required notice or skips out before the lease term ends (La. R.S. 9:3251(C)). That exception covers the true midnight move-out, not a tenant who left on schedule and simply annoyed you.

Returning the deposit: one month, an itemized statement, and the $300-or-double stick

Within one month after the lease terminates, return the deposit or send an itemized statement accounting for every dollar retained (La. R.S. 9:3251(A)). Louisiana courts take the word itemized seriously: a lump sum labeled "cleaning and repairs" is how landlords lose. List each deduction, tie it to specific damage, and keep the invoices.

The penalty section is the one to memorize. Willful failure to comply lets the tenant recover the wrongfully retained portion plus $300 or twice the amount wrongfully retained, whichever is greater (La. R.S. 9:3252), and failing to remit within 30 days of the tenant's written demand is automatically willful. Courts may add costs and attorney fees (La. R.S. 9:3253). Keep $900 in bad faith on a $1,000 deposit and the exposure is $900 plus $1,800 more, before fees.

This is the one corner of Louisiana law that just changed. Act 63 of the 2026 session (HB 292), effective August 1, 2026, loosens the itemization timing when you retain part of the deposit: the accounting may go out within the familiar one month, or up to fifteen days after that one-month mark. Treat the extra window as a cushion for genuine repair-estimate delays, not a new normal; the 30-days-after-demand willfulness trigger in R.S. 9:3252 hasn't moved. Rentari's compliance alerts track this deadline per lease so the statement never goes out late.

For contrast, Texas also runs a 30-day return with no cap, Oklahoma allows 45 days after a written demand, and Arkansas caps deposits at two months' rent for covered landlords with 60 days to return. Louisiana's month is on the quick side; calendar it.

Rent, late fees, and the 10-day month-to-month clock

No statutory grace period and no late-fee cap: rent is due when the lease says, and late charges are enforceable as written so long as they're genuine estimates of harm rather than punishment. Put the fee in the lease or you can't collect it at all.

Periodic tenancies run on Civil Code timing that's shorter than most states expect. A month-to-month lease terminates on written notice given at least 10 calendar days before the end of the month (La. Civ. Code art. 2728); leases measured by periods longer than a month take 30 days, and week-to-week takes five. Rent increases ride the same rail: on a month-to-month, deliver the new rate at least 10 days before month's end and it applies to the next period, because a tenant who declines is simply receiving a termination. No Louisiana city has rent control, so there's no local percentage cap to check in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Shreveport.

Eviction in five days: art. 4701 and the waiver most leases contain

Louisiana's eviction path is among the fastest in the country. When rent goes unpaid or the lease otherwise ends, deliver a written notice to vacate allowing not less than 5 days (La. C.C.P. art. 4701). No pay-and-stay window is built in: the statute doesn't oblige you to accept cure, though many landlords take payment and drop the case as a business decision.

Here's the part out-of-state owners miss: a written lease can waive the notice to vacate entirely (art. 4701), and most professionally drafted Louisiana leases do. With a waiver in place you can file the eviction (a rule for possession) the day after default. The court sets the hearing as early as the third day after service (La. C.C.P. art. 4732), and a tenant who loses and doesn't leave within 24 hours of judgment faces a warrant for possession (La. C.C.P. art. 4733). Start to finish, an uncontested New Orleans or Jefferson Parish eviction can run under two weeks.

Speed is not permission for shortcuts. Changing the locks, cutting utilities, or hauling out belongings without a judgment is a wrongful eviction under Louisiana jurisprudence, and courts award actual damages for it. The docket is fast precisely so you'll use it.

Entry, repairs, and the civil-law twist

Louisiana has no landlord-entry statute: no 24-hour rule, nothing. Your lease is the entire law of entry at your property, so write a real clause (24 hours' notice at reasonable times, emergencies excepted) and follow it. A lease that's silent invites a privacy fight you don't want to have in front of a judge.

Repairs are where the civil-law tradition shows. The lessor must maintain the premises in a condition suitable for their intended use (La. Civ. Code art. 2691) and warrants against vices and defects (art. 2696). If you don't make necessary repairs within a reasonable time after the tenant demands them, the tenant may hire the work out and apply the reasonable cost to rent, the classic repair-and-deduct (La. Civ. Code art. 2694). The warranty can be waived in writing within limits, but courts read waivers narrowly, especially for defects that threaten health or safety.

Disclosures are mercifully short: the federal lead-based paint disclosure and pamphlet for pre-1978 buildings is the only universal one; Louisiana adds no statewide mold, flood, or crime disclosure for rentals. Two footnotes: tenants in buildings of six or more units have special lease-termination rights as domestic-abuse victims (La. R.S. 9:3261.1), and New Orleans now requires rental registration and minimum standards under its Healthy Homes ordinance, phased in citywide during 2024. Louisiana-specific leases and notices are in our forms library, and the Louisiana quick-reference page keeps the day counts in one table.

What changed in Louisiana: 2024 to 2026

Three things, one per year. In 2024, SB 466 made squatting a crime, effective August 1, 2024: occupying property without any possessory right, including staying more than five days past a notice to vacate, now sits under the burglary statute with real jail exposure, and owners can seek a fast restraining order to regain use of the property. In 2024 New Orleans also finished phasing in Healthy Homes registration for rentals. And in 2026, Act 63 gave landlords the fifteen-day cushion on deposit itemization described above, effective August 1, 2026. The eviction articles, entry silence, and deposit penalty are otherwise unchanged going into 2027.

Louisiana landlord FAQ

When must a Louisiana landlord refund the security deposit?

One month after the lease terminates, with an itemized statement for anything retained (La. R.S. 9:3251). From August 1, 2026, Act 63 allows the itemized accounting up to fifteen days beyond that one-month mark when you retain funds. Ignoring a written demand for 30 days is automatic willful failure under R.S. 9:3252.

Can I really evict a tenant in five days?

The notice to vacate is a minimum of 5 days (La. C.C.P. art. 4701), and a written lease can waive it entirely. Court steps add time: hearing no earlier than the third day after service, then 24 hours to comply with a judgment. Fast, but only through the court.

What notice ends or raises a month-to-month tenancy?

Written notice at least 10 calendar days before the end of the month (La. Civ. Code art. 2728). The same timing works for a rent increase on a month-to-month, since the tenant's alternative is termination on identical notice.

Is there a cap on deposits or late fees?

No and no. Louisiana caps neither deposit size nor late fees, requires no deposit interest, and has no rent control statewide or locally. The constraints are procedural: itemize, mail on time, and keep fees proportionate enough to survive a judge's reasonableness read.

What can I do about a squatter?

Since August 1, 2024, squatting is criminal in Louisiana under SB 466, so law enforcement can act, and owners can seek a temporary restraining order to recover use of the property. For anyone who ever had a lease or permission, use the art. 4701 eviction path instead.

This is general information for Louisiana rental owners, not legal advice. Louisiana's civil-law system has its own vocabulary and its statutes keep moving, so before relying on any deadline here, read the current text at legis.la.gov or ask a Louisiana attorney who works leases for a living.