Free Louisiana Sublease Agreement
Louisiana is the one state in this group where the default runs the tenant’s way. Civil Code art. 2713 says the lessee has the right to sublease unless the lease expressly prohibits it — and a prohibition is read strictly against the lessor.
A sublease puts a new occupant in your place while you stay bound to your lessor. In most states you start from a no and look for permission. In Louisiana you start from a yes and look for the clause that takes it away.
Build your Louisiana sublease agreement
Fill in the fields below and the generator produces a clean, dated PDF you can print, sign and hand to your subtenant. Nothing is stored and there is no charge. Fields you leave blank print as a dash so you can complete them by hand.
Read your lease for an express prohibition — that is the whole question
Article 2713 does not ask whether your lessor consents. It asks whether the contract of lease expressly prohibits subleasing. If there is no such clause, the right is yours by default. If there is one, it binds you — but it is read narrowly, because the article says any such provision “is to be strictly construed against the lessor.”
Watch: Louisiana Sublease Agreement explained
Louisiana sublease at a glance
Consent statute
art. 2713 — permission is the default
Default rule
Lessee may sublease
How it is removed
Express prohibition in the lease
One ban bans all three
Sublease, assign, encumber
Article 2713 does three separate things
The article packs three distinct rules into three sentences. One: the default is permission — you may sublease, assign or encumber unless the lease expressly prohibits it. Two: a clause banning any one of those three is deemed to ban all three, unless the lease expresses a contrary intent, so a no-assignment clause is a no-sublease clause. Three: any such prohibition is strictly construed against the lessor, which resolves ambiguity in the lessee’s favour without deleting a clause that is clear. The provision dates from Acts 2004, No. 821, effective 1 January 2005.
How to sublease in Louisiana under art. 2713
Find the prohibition clause, or confirm there is none
This is the only gate art. 2713 sets. Read the whole lease, not just a heading — a ban on assignment counts, because the article deems a prohibition on one of the three rights to prohibit the others.
If there is no clause, you may sublease
The right is the default. Telling your lessor is still the sensible course, because you remain bound to them and they will be dealing with someone new in the premises.
If there is a clause, read it narrowly — and get any waiver in writing
“Strictly construed against the lessor” means an ambiguous or partial ban does not stretch to cover conduct it does not clearly reach. It does not mean you can ignore a clear one.
Put the sublease in writing and identify the leased thing precisely
Street address, unit, and parish. The generator prints these along with the term, the rent and who pays which utilities.
Keep paying your own rent to your lessor
A sublease creates a new obligation between you and your sublessee. It does not move your obligation to your lessor onto anyone else.
What art. 2713 gives you — and what it does not
It gives a default right, not an unconditional one. A lease that expressly prohibits subleasing is effective in Louisiana exactly as it would be elsewhere; the article simply puts the burden on the lessor to have said so, and to have said so clearly. What it does not do is release you. You remain the lessee, you remain liable for the rent, and you remain answerable for what happens in the premises.
What a Louisiana sublease agreement should contain
- The full address of the leased thing including unit number, and the parish it sits in.
- The names of the lessee (as sublessor) and the sublessee, and who else may occupy.
- The term — start and end dates — which cannot outlast your own lease.
- The rent, when it is due, how it is paid, and to whom.
- Any deposit the sublessee pays you, and the conditions for returning it.
- Which utilities and services the sublessee pays.
- A statement that the head lease governs and that the sublessee has read it.
- Signatures and dates from both parties, and from the lessor if consent was sought.
What goes wrong — and the Louisiana rule behind it
- Assuming a ban on assignment leaves subleasing open. Article 2713 deems a provision prohibiting one of the three rights to prohibit the others, unless the lease says otherwise. A no-assignment clause is a no-sublease clause by default.
- Reading “strictly construed against the lessor” as a way out of a clear clause. The rule of construction resolves ambiguity. It does not delete an unambiguous prohibition.
- Writing a sublease that runs past the head lease. You cannot grant more than you hold. When your lease ends, so does anything carved out of it.
- Treating the sublessee’s rent as your rent. If the sublessee stops paying, your obligation to your lessor is unchanged.
- Overstating — or ignoring — the lessor’s privilege over the sublessee’s movables. Article 2708 reaches the sublessee’s movables only to the extent the sublessee is indebted to the sublessor when the lessor exercises the right. A sublessee who is paid up is not exposed; one who is behind is. Tell them, in writing, and keep the sublease rent current.
Do you need permission to sublet in Louisiana?
Not unless your lease says so. This is the answer that surprises people, because it is the reverse of the rule in most of the country. Louisiana Civil Code art. 2713 opens by granting the right, and then describes the single way it is taken away.
La. Civ. Code art. 2713, verbatim
“The lessee has the right to sublease the leased thing or to assign or encumber his rights in the lease, unless expressly prohibited by the contract of lease. A provision that prohibits one of these rights is deemed to prohibit the others, unless a contrary intent is expressed. In all other respects, a provision that prohibits subleasing, assigning, or encumbering is to be strictly construed against the lessor.”
Three rules sit in those three sentences, and they are worth separating because they do different work. The first sets the default. The second stops a lessor from banning one route and leaving a synonym open. The third tells a court which way to lean when the clause is unclear.
Sublease, assignment and encumbrance — and why one ban covers all three
These are three different things. A sublease carves a lesser interest out of your lease and leaves you in the middle: you owe your lessor, your sublessee owes you. An assignment hands your whole remaining interest to someone else and steps them into your position. To encumber is to pledge your rights in the lease as security.
Article 2713’s second sentence matters precisely because the three are so easy to confuse. A lessor who writes “tenant shall not assign this lease” has, without saying it, also prohibited subleasing and encumbrance — unless a contrary intent is expressed. So a tenant reading a no-assignment clause and concluding that subleasing is still open has read it backwards.
What “strictly construed against the lessor” actually buys you
It is a rule about ambiguity, not a rule about outcomes. Where a prohibition is clear, it is enforced. Where it is unclear — where it could be read to cover your situation or not to — the article directs that it be read against the party who wrote it. That is a real advantage, and it is also a narrow one. It is not a licence to ignore a clause you simply dislike.
The practical consequence is about drafting and about records. If you are the lessee, the question to ask is whether the clause plainly reaches what you propose to do. If it does not plainly reach it, you have a position. If you are the lessor, the lesson is the opposite: say what you mean, in terms that leave nothing to construe.
You stay on the hook — the sublease does not move your obligation
This is the single most common misunderstanding about subleasing anywhere, and Louisiana’s generous default makes it easier to fall into. The right to sublease is a right to bring in an occupant. It is not a right to leave.
Your lessor’s claim for rent is against you. If your sublessee pays late, pays short, or stops paying, you owe the difference. If your sublessee damages the premises, you answer for it. Nothing in art. 2713 changes that; the right it grants is a right to bring someone in, not a right to hand your obligations over.
A neighbouring article answers a different question that comes up constantly, and it is worth stating precisely because it is a default rule rather than an absolute one. Article 2711: “The transfer of the leased thing does not terminate the lease, unless the contrary had been agreed between the lessor and the lessee.” That is about your lessor selling or transferring the property. Normally your lease survives the sale — and your sublease with it — but the lease itself can provide otherwise, so read it before relying on the rule.
The lessor’s privilege over your sublessee’s movables — and its limit
La. Civ. Code art. 2708, verbatim
“The lessor’s privilege extends to the movables of the sublessee but only to the extent that the sublessee is indebted to his sublessor at the time the lessor exercises his right.” — Acts 2004, No. 821, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2005.
The limit is the important half, and it is usually left out. The privilege does not simply reach whatever your sublessee owns because it happens to be in the premises. It reaches their movables only up to what they owe you at the moment the lessor acts.
So a sublessee who is fully paid up is, on the face of the article, not exposed at all — there is no indebtedness for the privilege to measure itself against. A sublessee who is two months behind is exposed to that extent. The exposure is a function of the sublease account, not of the value of their belongings.
Two practical consequences follow, one for each side. If you are the sublessor, keep the sublease rent current and receipted, because your sublessee’s exposure is defined by what they owe you. If you are the sublessee, pay on time and keep proof — your receipts are the measure of your own protection here, and a sublessor’s vague warning that “the landlord can take your things” is not what the article says.
A sublease cannot outlast the lease it comes from
You cannot grant more than you hold. If your lease ends in August, a sublease running to December does not keep your sublessee in the premises in September — it gives them a claim against you for the difference. Set the sublease term to end on or before your own, and if you are hoping to renew, say plainly in the sublease what happens if the renewal does not come through.
Roommates, subleases and assignments are three different documents
If someone is moving in alongside you and you are staying, that is usually not a sublease at all — it is an occupant or a co-tenant question, and whether your lease permits it is a separate clause. If someone is replacing you for a while and you intend to return, that is a sublease. If someone is replacing you permanently and you want out, what you actually want is an assignment, or a release from your lessor, and art. 2713 treats a prohibition on one as a prohibition on the other.
Choosing the wrong document is not a technicality. It decides who owes the rent when something goes wrong.
Where the sublease question sits in Louisiana law
A sublease rarely arrives on its own. Most people reach one because something else has changed — a job in another city, a relationship ending, a lease with months left on it — so it is worth knowing what the alternatives cost before you commit to this one. Our guide to breaking a lease in Louisiana sets out the early-exit routes and what each of them exposes you to, and in some situations ending the tenancy outright is cleaner than running a sublease you will have to manage from a distance.
The two disputes that actually follow a sublease are about money and about possession. On money, the deposit is where most of it happens, and the rules that govern what a landlord may take and when it has to come back are set out in Louisiana security deposit laws — worth reading before you decide what to hold from your subtenant, and before you assume you know what the owner may hold from you.
On possession, the notices and timelines that apply if things go wrong are covered in Louisiana eviction notice laws. You are the landlord in the sublease relationship, so those rules are as likely to be yours to use as to be used against you.
Bottom line
Louisiana runs the opposite way from most states. Civil Code art. 2713 gives the lessee the right to sublease, assign or encumber unless the lease expressly prohibits it, a prohibition on any one of the three is deemed to prohibit the others, and any such prohibition is strictly construed against the lessor. Read your lease for the clause; if there is none, the right is yours. You still owe your lessor the rent — and note the limit in art. 2708: the lessor’s privilege reaches your sublessee’s movables only to the extent the sublessee is indebted to you when the lessor exercises it, so a sublessee who is paid up is not exposed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need my landlord’s permission to sublet in Louisiana?
Not unless your lease expressly prohibits subleasing. La. Civ. Code art. 2713 gives the lessee the right to sublease unless the contract of lease expressly takes it away. Read your lease first — and note that a clause banning assignment is deemed to ban subleasing too, unless a contrary intent is expressed.
My lease bans assignment but says nothing about subletting. Can I sublet?
Probably not. Article 2713 provides that a provision prohibiting one of the three rights — sublease, assignment, encumbrance — is deemed to prohibit the others, unless a contrary intent is expressed in the lease.
What does “strictly construed against the lessor” mean for me?
It is a rule for resolving ambiguity. Where a prohibition could reasonably be read either way, art. 2713 directs that it be read against the lessor who drafted it. It does not override a prohibition that is clear.
Am I still responsible for the rent after I sublease?
Yes. A sublease creates an obligation between you and your sublessee. It does not transfer your obligation to your lessor. If the sublessee does not pay, you still owe the rent.
Can my landlord go after my subtenant’s belongings?
Only up to a point. La. Civ. Code art. 2708 extends the lessor’s privilege to the sublessee’s movables “but only to the extent that the sublessee is indebted to his sublessor at the time the lessor exercises his right”. A sublessee who is paid up has no indebtedness for the privilege to attach to; one who is behind is exposed to that extent. Keep the sublease rent current and receipted, and put the position in writing.
Can my sublease last longer than my own lease?
No. You cannot grant a greater interest than you hold. Set the sublease to end on or before your own lease ends, and address in writing what happens if you expect to renew.
What is the difference between a sublease and an assignment in Louisiana?
A sublease carves a lesser interest out of your lease and leaves you in the middle, owing your lessor and owed by your sublessee. An assignment transfers your whole remaining interest. Article 2713 addresses both, and a prohibition on one is deemed to prohibit the other.
Does a Louisiana sublease have to be in writing?
Put it in writing regardless. A written sublease is what lets you prove the term, the rent, the deposit and who agreed to what — and it is what you will rely on if the arrangement goes wrong.
Screen Louisiana tenants thoroughly before move-in
A solid tenant relationship starts with thorough screening. Tenant Screening Background Check has been verifying renters since 2004 — credit, eviction filings, criminal background, and employment — across all 50 states and DC.
Related Resources
Published by Tenant Screening Background Check
Established 2004 · 20+ Years · All U.S. States & Territories · Statute-Based · Attorney-Reviewed
A Private Eye Reports™ service trusted by landlords, property managers, and attorneys.
