Louisiana Landlord-Tenant Law 2026: The Plain-English Guide
Louisiana runs its rentals under a Civil Code tradition instead of a standard landlord-tenant act, which gives the state a distinctive flavor: a one-month cap on security deposits, a fast 5-day nonpayment eviction notice, no rent control anywhere, and lease-driven late fees with no statutory grace period. But the Civil Code vocabulary — reconduction, putting in default, notice to vacate — makes the lease itself the most important legal document you own. The governing law is Louisiana Civil Code (La. C.C.) arts. 2668–2729, with La. R.S. 9:3251 controlling security deposits and Code of Civil Procedure art. 4701 controlling eviction notice.
Security deposits
- Capped at one month's rent — Louisiana caps the deposit at one month's rent (La. R.S. 9:3251). Many online sources get this wrong or conflict; this is the statute. Don't collect more, and don't label extra charges as something else to dodge the cap.
- Return within 30 days after the lease terminates, with a written itemized statement of every deduction. That clock is short — start the move-out accounting the day the unit is vacant.
- Allowed deductions: unpaid rent, damages beyond normal wear and tear, and other lawful charges under the lease. Normal wear and tear cannot be deducted.
- No separate account required: unlike most states, Louisiana does not require you to hold deposits in a separate account — commingling with your operating funds is legally allowed. Best practice is still to track deposits as their own ledger so the 30-day return doesn't trip you up.
- Forwarding address matters: you can't mail the itemization to someone you can't find. Collect the tenant's forwarding address in writing at move-out (or the last move-out walkthrough) and mail the statement certified to that address within days of vacancy.
- Practical habit: Louisiana gives you half the return time most states do. Photo-document every unit at move-in and move-out, generate the itemized statement from those photos, and mail it certified within the first week after vacancy — don't wait for week four. See our move-in/move-out inspection checklist.
Use our Security Deposit Deadline Finder and deductions guide.
Rent rules
- No rent control — Louisiana has no statewide rent control, and no city has it either. You can raise rent freely between lease terms.
- Rent-increase notice: the statute sets no notice period for rent increases. On a month-to-month tenancy, use the 10-day written notice standard to be safe (it mirrors the month-to-month termination rule). Put increases in writing and document delivery. See how to raise rent legally.
- No mandatory grace period: Louisiana law sets no required grace period for rent payments. If your lease says rent is late at 12:01 a.m. on the 2nd, it's late. Most landlords give a 3–5 day grace period anyway, but write whatever you choose explicitly into the lease.
- No late-fee cap: there is no statutory cap on late fees — they're entirely lease-driven. State the fee (flat amount, daily amount, or both), when it kicks in, and any maximum, directly in the lease. Keep fees reasonable enough to survive a judge's scrutiny.
- Rent is due on time, in full: Louisiana doesn't give tenants a statutory right to withhold rent for repair problems, and the lease controls. See how to handle late rent.
Eviction in Louisiana
Self-help evictions are illegal in Louisiana — no changing locks, no shutting off utilities, no removing belongings. You file a rule for possession (eviction of tenant and occupant) in the parish court or justice of the peace court and let the court process run.
- Nonpayment: 5 days' written notice to vacate (La. C.C.P. art. 4701). Important wrinkle: Louisiana leases commonly contain a waiver of this notice requirement — if your lease has a valid waiver, you can file for eviction immediately after the tenant's right of occupancy ends, without serving the 5-day notice first. That's a major lease-drafting reason to write the waiver in correctly the first time.
- Lease violations (non-payment aside): 5 days' written notice (La. C.C.P. art. 4702) — and you, the landlord, choose whether the notice gives the tenant a chance to cure the violation or is incurable (vacate only). Put cure expectations in the lease so the tenant can't claim confusion.
- Month-to-month termination: 10 days' written notice before the end of the rental month, by either party (La. C.C. art. 2728).
- Fixed-term leases end on their own: no notice is needed — the lease terminates automatically at expiration (La. C.C. art. 2720). But if the tenant stays and you don't object, the lease is reconduced — it silently converts to a month-to-month tenancy on the same terms (La. C.C. art. 2721). Want them out at expiration? Serve written notice before they hold over.
- The lease-language shortcut: the 5-day nonpayment notice waiver is one of Louisiana's most landlord-friendly features, but it has to be in the lease in proper form — sloppy lease language can cost you the shortcut. See our lease agreement guide.
Full process: how to evict a tenant.
Repairs and habitability
- Louisiana gives the tenant a warranty against vices or defects in the premises (La. C.C. art. 2696). You must deliver the unit in good condition and maintain it so it's fit for its intended use — a habitability duty with Civil Code teeth.
- Tenants must notify you promptly of defects that need repair. Make this easy: give every tenant a written maintenance-request channel at move-in and log every report with a date. See how to handle maintenance requests.
- Repair-and-deduct is narrow: tenants have repair-and-deduct rights only under the specific Civil Code procedures in La. C.C. arts. 2693–2696. The tenant must put you in default in writing first and follow the statutory steps — this is not a casual "fix it and dock the rent" right. If a tenant announces they're deducting, ask to see the written notice of default and treat any skipped steps as a defense.
- Retaliation protections apply — you cannot punish a tenant for reporting habitability problems to you or to code enforcement, or for exercising rights under the law.
Entry rights
Louisiana is an outlier here — and not in the tenant-friendly direction, so read carefully:
- No statutory entry-notice period. Louisiana has no law setting how much notice you must give before entering, and no law saying entry must be at a reasonable time. Entry rights are governed by the lease and by the tenant's right of peaceful possession.
- That makes the lease clause everything. Best practice: write a 24-hour written-notice rule into every lease — 24 hours' written notice for non-emergency entries, at reasonable times, plus a clause defining emergencies and abandonment as exceptions. You get most of the protection a 24-hour statute would give, in writing.
- Emergencies and abandonment are the exceptions — fire, flooding, gas leak, or a unit that appears abandoned justifies immediate entry.
- Contrast with other states: in places like South Carolina, a 24-hour rule is the statute and repeated unreasonable entries let the tenant terminate and sue. In Louisiana, without a lease clause, you're arguing about what "peaceful possession" means after the fact. The lease clause is cheaper than the argument.
- Document every entry: notice date, reason, time in, time out. If a tenant refuses lawful access, you want a paper trail for court.
Discrimination
The federal Fair Housing Act applies in full, and Louisiana has its own fair housing act that mirrors the federal protected classes: race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. Screen every applicant with the same written criteria and document your decisions. Our fair housing guide covers what you can and can't ask.
The bottom line
Louisiana is landlord-friendly on paper: the one-month deposit cap keeps deposit exposure low, 5-day nonpayment evictions move fast, there's no rent control, late fees and grace periods are whatever your lease says, and reconduction rules reward a diligent landlord who serves notice before a lease expires. The trap is the vocabulary — reconduction, put in default, notice to vacate — combined with a 30-day deposit-return clock that punishes slow paperwork and an entry rule that exists only if you write it yourself.
Write the lease carefully: get the 5-day notice waiver in correctly, spell out your late fees and grace period explicitly, include a 24-hour entry-notice clause, and set expiration reminders so no holdover tenant quietly reconducts. Photo-document move-in and move-out, mail the deposit itemization certified within days of vacancy, and never touch self-help. Do that, and Louisiana treats landlords very well.
One more Louisiana-specific note for out-of-state investors: this is a Civil Code state, not a common-law one. "Standard" landlord-tenant clauses lifted from another state's lease may not mean what you think they mean here — the concepts of tacit reconduction and putting a party in default have specific Louisiana meanings. Have a Louisiana landlord-tenant attorney review your lease before you deploy it across a portfolio.
This is general information, not legal advice. Consult a Louisiana landlord-tenant attorney for specific situations.