What a Landlord Cannot Do in Louisiana
The main limits Louisiana law puts on landlords — lockouts and utility shutoffs, entering without notice, retaliation, deposits, fees and discrimination — each with the statute or official source.
In short: a Louisiana landlord cannot evict without a court order, cannot punish a tenant for asserting legal rights where state law protects them, and must follow the state's rules on entry, deposits and fees shown below.
| Lockouts & utility shutoffs | Self-help eviction is not authorized. A landlord must use the court process (notice to vacate, rule to show cause, judgment, and a warrant executed by the sheriff, constable or marshal). The only exception is a reasonable belief that the tenant abandoned the premises. A landlord who locks out the tenant or removes belongings may be liable for wrongful-eviction damages. Art. 4731(B) allows retaking possession without further process only after the required notice and a reasonable belief of abandonment. Under art. 4731(C) (Acts 2022, No. 442), in parishes under a federal disaster declaration, leaving a residence is not treated as abandonment for 30 days. A landlord who violates that rule owes the residential tenant the greater of $500 or twice the monthly rent, and the tenant may get a TRO without bond. The AG guide confirms that lockouts and putting belongings on the street can create damages liability (https://aglizmurrill.com/Files/Shared/Documents/MovingInOut.pdf). No general statute specifically addressing landlord utility shutoffs was found. |
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| Landlord entry notice | No statute No Louisiana statute was found that sets a notice period for landlord entry, so entry is governed by the lease. Related rules: C.C. art. 2682 requires the landlord to protect the tenant's peaceful possession (https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=109743), and C.C. art. 2690 bars the landlord from altering the premises during the lease. The AG guide says the tenant must allow necessary repairs that cannot wait until the lease ends. Source: Official source |
| Landlord retaliation | No statewide statute identified. In New Orleans, the city's Healthy Homes ordinance protects tenants who use its complaint process ('protected activity'). No anti-retaliation provision was found in the Civil Code lease title, R.S. 9:3251-3259, or C.C.P. Title XI. Secondary sources (Loyola Pro Bono Desk Manual) say Louisiana has no statutory ban and that courts may treat retaliation as an abuse-of-rights defense. They also report New Orleans City Code secs. 26-680/26-681 (eff. July 1, 2023) with a 6-month presumption. |
| Security deposit limit | No statutory cap The Lessee's Deposit Act (R.S. 9:3251-3254) regulates return and penalties but sets no maximum deposit amount. The Attorney General's tenant guide likewise describes deposits without any limit. Source: La. R.S. 9:3251-3254 |
| Penalty for withholding | For willful noncompliance, the tenant recovers the wrongfully kept amount plus $300 or twice the wrongfully kept amount, whichever is greater. Failing to refund within 30 days after the tenant's written demand counts as willful. The court may award costs and attorney's fees to the prevailing party. Fees statute: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=107470. Under R.S. 9:3254, any waiver of these tenant rights is null and void: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=107471. Suit may be filed in the parish of the landlord's domicile or where the property is located. CAUTION: the AG's 'Moving In, Moving Out' guide (2024 PDF) still says 'actual damages or $200', which is the pre-2019 text. The statute controls. |
| Late fees | No statutory cap. A late fee can be charged only if the lease or an oral agreement provides for it. AG guide: 'The law sets no specific amount for late fees' and unreasonably high fees can be contested. Separately, for ORAL leases only, R.S. 9:3259 lets the landlord recover reasonable attorney fees for collecting past-due rent if it wins a judgment, after a 20-day written demand: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107473 Source: No statute; AG tenant guide |
| Rent control / increase limits | No statute — Louisiana has no state rent control law, and no city or parish is known to have adopted rent control; rent is set by the lease. No statute expressly addresses local rent control, but R.S. 9:3258 says lessors' rights may not be altered, abridged or diminished except by state law (subject to the police power). A 2026 bill to let municipalities adopt rent stabilization (HB 472) died in committee. Whether R.S. 9:3258 bars local rent control has not been decided by statute; it never mentions rent control. HB 472 history: https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=26RS&b=HB472 |
| Statewide ban on refusing Section 8 / source of income | No statute — source of income is not a protected class under Louisiana's fair-housing law. The Louisiana Equal Housing Opportunity Act bars rental discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, military status, natural/protective/cultural hairstyle, and disability, but not source of income or housing vouchers. Check local ordinances. Federal fair-housing law also does not protect source of income. Source: La. R.S. 51:2606(A) |
| Cameras & privacy | No landlord-specific statute. Video voyeurism is a crime. It means using any camera or image-recording device, including a drone, to observe, photograph or film a person without consent to that specific instance, either for a lewd or lascivious purpose or in certain intimate circumstances where the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Recording conversations is lawful if the person recording is a party or one party gave prior consent, unless it is done to commit a crime, tort or other injurious act. R.S. 15:1303: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=78938. R.S. 14:283 was amended in 2026 (Act No. 424, HB 265); check current text for penalties. Louisiana has no statute on landlord entry; the lease and the lessor's duty to protect peaceful possession (C.C. art. 2682(3)) apply. |
| Other rental fees | No statute. Louisiana has no rental junk-fee, total-price, or fee-disclosure law; fees other than rent are governed by the lease. Two narrow rules apply: a landlord must disclose an application fee in writing before collecting it (R.S. 9:3258.1), and in covered buildings a lease may not impose penalties on a tenant for calling police or emergency help after domestic abuse (R.S. 9:3261.1(C)). Late fees also have no statutory cap (see late_fees). R.S. 9:3258.1: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=1238734. |
Can I sue my landlord in Louisiana? · All Louisiana tenant rights
General legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and local rules can differ; check the linked official source or talk to a lawyer about your situation.