Free Louisiana Rent Increase Notice

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Louisiana has no rent control and no cap on how much you can raise the rent, and no statute that fixes a rent-increase notice period. A rent change takes effect at renewal or reconduction, so the lease governs – and to end a month-to-month (reconducted) tenancy you give at least 10 days’ written notice before the end of the month under La. Civil Code art. 2728. Generate a clean notice below.

10-day (month-to-month, art. 2728) La. C.C. arts. 2727-2729 Louisiana Free PDF

This Louisiana Rent Increase Notice raises the rent on a residential tenancy. Louisiana is a civil-law state – it has not adopted the URLTA, and its rules come from the Civil Code. There is no rent cap and no statutory notice period for an increase: a rent change applies at renewal or reconduction, so the lease controls, with reasonable written notice where it is silent. To end a month-to-month (reconducted) tenancy so a new rent can begin, La. Civil Code art. 2728 requires at least 10 days’ written notice before the end of the month. Our how to raise rent guide covers the timing, and the tenant screening laws by state hub helps you place reliable tenants in the first place.

Complete the fields below to generate a Louisiana rent increase notice. The new rent and effective date must give the tenant the full statutory notice period. Service should comply with applicable Louisiana law; retain proof of service.

A Louisiana rent increase notice is the written notice a landlord gives to raise the rent on a residential tenancy. Louisiana is unique among the states: it is a civil-law jurisdiction that never adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, so its rules come from the Louisiana Civil Code (the Title on Lease) and the Title 9 Revised Statutes rather than a common-law landlord-tenant code. For rent increases the practical consequence is simple: Louisiana is a market-rate state with no statewide rent control and no statutory cap on how much the rent can go up, and – just as important – no statute that fixes a specific notice period before a rent increase. The amount and the timing of an increase are governed by the lease.

Because there is no increase-notice statute, the controlling question is the type of tenancy. On a fixed-term lease the rent is locked for the term and cannot be raised mid-lease unless the lease itself contains an escalation clause; any increase takes effect at renewal. On a month-to-month tenancy the landlord can change the rent prospectively, but only as the new term begins. Louisiana lawyers frame this through reconduction: under La. Civil Code art. 2721, a tenant who stays in possession after a fixed-term lease ends, without the landlord objecting, is on a reconducted lease – a new month-to-month tenancy at the same terms. A landlord who wants different terms, including a higher rent, has to act before the lease simply reconducts on the old rent. Where the lease is silent on notice, the accepted practice is to give reasonable written notice of the new rent – commonly 30 to 60 days – before the renewal date.

The one fixed minimum the Code does set is the notice that ENDS an indeterminate-term tenancy, and it matters here because a rent change on a month-to-month tenant usually rides on ending the current tenancy so a new one can begin. La. Civil Code art. 2727 says a lease with an indeterminate term – including a reconducted lease – terminates by notice. La. Civil Code art. 2728 sets the timing: at least 10 calendar days before the end of the month for a month-to-month lease, 30 calendar days for a lease whose term is longer than a month, 5 calendar days for a term of one week to one month, and any time before expiration for a term shorter than a week. La. Civil Code art. 2729 adds the form requirement: when the leased thing is an immovable or a movable used as a residence, the notice of termination must be in writing. A separate step, the eviction notice to vacate under La. Code of Civil Procedure art. 4701, gives a tenant at least five days to leave once the right of occupancy has ceased – but that is the eviction mechanism, not the rent-increase notice, and the two should not be confused.

Even without a cap or a notice statute, an increase can still be unlawful because of its motive. Louisiana does not have a general statutory anti-retaliation provision for residential rent increases the way states like California, Texas, and Colorado do, so its express tenant protections in this area are limited – this notice does not pretend otherwise. What does apply is federal fair housing law: the Fair Housing Act bars a landlord from raising the rent to target a tenant because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. A clean increase keeps the amount and timing tied to the lease and never tracks a tenant’s protected characteristic.

Because Louisiana sets no required method to serve a rent-increase notice, the practical standard is provable written delivery – and for a residence, art. 2729 makes writing mandatory for the termination notice that ends a month-to-month tenancy. Personal delivery to the tenant, delivery left at the premises when the tenant is absent, certified mail with a return receipt, or first-class mail all work; email or text is fine only when the lease or tenant authorizes electronic notice and you document it. Whatever the method, the notice should state the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date, and the landlord should keep a signed, dated copy with proof of delivery. Our how to raise rent guide walks through the timing, and screening applicants with verified reports keeps tenancies stable so the increases you serve actually stick.

Put together, a clean Louisiana increase is simple but exact: there is no cap and no statutory notice period, so follow the lease and tie the new rent to renewal or reconduction; give reasonable written notice where the lease is silent; when you end a month-to-month tenancy, use the La. Civil Code art. 2728 notice – at least 10 days in writing before the end of the month; never raise the rent mid-term on a fixed lease that does not allow it; and never let the increase target a protected class under the Fair Housing Act. None of this replaces the screening you do at move-in – a tenant chosen for steady income and a clean payment history is the one most likely to absorb a lawful increase without a dispute.

• No statewide cap on the amount of a rent increase, and no rent control – Louisiana does not regulate the amount of rent.
• No statutory notice period for an increase – a rent change applies at renewal or reconduction; the lease governs, and where it is silent give reasonable written notice (commonly 30 to 60 days).
• At least 10 days’ written notice before the end of the month to END a month-to-month (reconducted) tenancy so a new rent can begin – La. Civil Code art. 2728 (30 days where the term is longer than a month).
• Written notice required for a residence – La. Civil Code art. 2729; a verbal notice does not satisfy it.
• No mid-term increase on a fixed-term lease unless the lease expressly allows it; the increase applies at renewal.
• No discriminatory increase based on a protected class – the federal Fair Housing Act applies (Louisiana has no general rent-increase retaliation statute).

• Louisiana sets no required method to serve a rent-increase notice, but La. Civil Code art. 2729 requires the notice to be written for a residence – verbal notice does not satisfy it.
• Personal delivery to the tenant, or delivery left at the rental premises if the tenant is absent.
• Certified mail with a return receipt, or U.S. first-class mail, gives a dated paper trail; allow added days for receipt when you mail.
• Email or text works only if the lease or tenant authorizes electronic notice and you document it; keep the send record either way.

• Assuming a statutory rent-increase notice period exists – Louisiana has none; the lease governs, and where it is silent give reasonable written notice.
• Raising the rent mid-term on a fixed-term lease that does not allow it – the increase applies at renewal.
• Giving less than 10 days’ written notice before the end of the month when ending a month-to-month (reconducted) tenancy (La. Civil Code art. 2728).
• Giving a verbal notice for a residence – art. 2729 requires writing.
• Letting a tenant reconduct without addressing the new rent – holding over after the term, without objection, renews the old terms.
• Relying on a notice with no proof of delivery if the timing is later disputed.

• Read the lease first – its notice and escalation terms control, since Louisiana sets no statutory increase-notice period.
• Tie the new rent to renewal or reconduction, and give reasonable written notice (commonly 30 to 60 days) where the lease is silent.
• When ending a month-to-month tenancy, give the art. 2728 notice in writing – at least 10 days before the end of the month.
• State the current rent, the new rent, and the effective date plainly, deliver by a method you can prove, and keep proof of delivery.

No Louisiana parish or municipality has rent control, and the structure of Louisiana law is why. Under La. R.S. 9:3258, every lessor’s right to the ownership, control, use, enjoyment, and disposition of private property – including leasing it – “shall not be altered, abridged or diminished except by state law.” A local rent-control ordinance would do exactly that: alter a lessor’s right to set the rent. Because only the state legislature can limit those rights, and it has not enacted statewide rent control, a city or parish cannot cap rent on its own. The practical result is that New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport, Lafayette, and every other Louisiana city are rent-control-free – there is no local cap on the amount of an increase and no local just-cause rule layered on top of the Civil Code.

Louisiana sets no limit on how often rent can be raised – there is no once-a-year rule and no waiting period between increases. What controls timing is the lease, not a frequency cap. During a fixed term the rent is locked, so in practice an increase lands once per term, at each renewal. On a month-to-month tenancy the landlord can raise the rent as each new monthly term begins, provided each increase is preceded by the notice the lease requires – or reasonable written notice where the lease is silent – and, where the increase rides on ending the current tenancy, the La. Civil Code art. 2728 10-day notice. Repeated or steep increases are limited only by the market and by fair-housing law, never by a Louisiana rent-frequency statute, because none exists.

When a rent increase rides on ending an indeterminate-term (month-to-month or reconducted) tenancy so a new rent can begin, the required notice is set by the length of the rent period under La. Civil Code art. 2728. These are minimums, measured in calendar days before the end of the current period:

• Term longer than a month (for example, a year-to-year arrangement): 30 calendar days before the end of the period.
• Month-to-month: 10 calendar days before the end of the month.
• A week up to a month: 5 calendar days before the end of the period.
• Shorter than a week: any time before the period expires.

La. Civil Code art. 2729 adds that, for a residence, the termination notice must be in writing – an oral notice does not end a residential tenancy. This ladder governs ending the tenancy; the rent increase itself takes effect at the start of the next term.

Some rent-increase templates and blog posts state that a Louisiana landlord must give “30 days” before a fixed-term lease ends or “60 days” for an increase of 10% or more. Louisiana has no such statute. Those figures are borrowed from states with true rent-increase-notice laws – for example, California’s 30-day and 90-day tiers. In Louisiana the only fixed notice figures come from La. Civil Code art. 2728, and they govern ending an indeterminate-term tenancy, not the size of a rent increase. There is no percentage that triggers a longer notice, and no separate statutory notice tied to a fixed-term renewal. The lease controls; giving 30 to 60 days of written notice before renewal is a sound best practice, but it is a courtesy standard, not a legal threshold.

Reconduction is the Louisiana concept that most often trips up an increase. Under La. Civil Code art. 2721, a fixed-term lease is reconducted – automatically continued – if the tenant stays in possession after the term ends without a notice to vacate or other opposition from the landlord: after one week of holdover for an ordinary lease whose fixed term is longer than a week, after one day for a term of a week or less, and after thirty days for an agricultural lease. A reconducted lease continues on the same terms except the term itself, which becomes indeterminate – in practice month-to-month where rent is paid monthly – and La. Civil Code art. 2727 then makes it terminable only by the art. 2728 notice.

The lesson for a rent increase is timing. If a landlord lets a fixed-term tenant hold over without acting, the lease reconducts on the old rent, and the landlord is then locked into that rent until the next indeterminate period is properly ended. To raise the rent at the end of a fixed term, deliver the new rent in writing before the term expires; or, if the tenancy has already gone month-to-month, give the art. 2728 notice ending it so the new rent can begin with the next term. Acting before reconduction is what keeps the increase from being stranded behind the old rent.

The “no cap, no notice period” rule is for standard private-market tenancies. If the unit is subsidized – a Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) unit or other assisted housing – the program’s own rules ride on top of the Civil Code. Under a Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract, the owner cannot simply raise the rent: the owner must request the increase from the public housing authority in advance – commonly at least 60 days’ written notice to the authority – and the authority must approve the new rent as reasonable compared with unassisted units before it takes effect. The tenant’s own notice rights under the lease still apply. When you serve a voucher tenant, follow the housing authority’s process first; the Civil Code notice is the floor, not the whole rule.

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