Free Louisiana Security Deposit Itemization (Auto-Calc PDF)
One month, itemized, and a penalty of three hundred dollars or double if you get it wrong — the itemized statement a Louisiana landlord must forward under La. R.S. §9:3251 when any part of the deposit is kept. It adds up the amounts retained, subtracts them from the deposit, and writes the refund or balance straight into the PDF.
A Louisiana security deposit itemization is the itemized statement that La. R.S. §9:3251 requires a landlord to forward whenever any part of the deposit is retained. Within one month after the lease terminates and the tenant vacates, a Louisiana landlord must either return the full deposit or send the tenant this line-by-line accounting of the proceeds retained and the reasons for keeping them, together with any balance. Louisiana lets a landlord keep only what is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear, requires the tenant to leave a forwarding address, and — where a landlord willfully fails after written demand — lets a tenant recover three hundred dollars or twice the amount wrongfully retained, whichever is greater. The generator below does the arithmetic: enter the deposit and each amount retained, and it totals them, subtracts, and prints a ready-to-sign statement. Confirm the current statute text at the Louisiana State Legislature before you send it, and pair it with the Louisiana return letter that transmits it.
Louisiana Deposit Itemization at a Glance
Deadline
One month after lease ends §9:3251
Deposit cap
No statutory cap in Louisiana
Willful penalty
Greater of three hundred dollars or double §9:3252
Attorney fees
Prevailing party, court’s discretion §9:3253
Ordinary wear and tear is never a deduction in Louisiana
La. R.S. §9:3251 lets a landlord retain only what is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. Faded paint, small nail holes, and carpet worn thin along a walkway are ordinary wear — the cost of doing business, not unreasonable wear. A landlord who itemizes them risks the willful-failure penalty under §9:3252, because a charge for ordinary wear is a wrongful retention no matter how neatly it is listed, and once the tenant makes written demand the thirty-day clock to willfulness begins to run.
How the Louisiana Deposit Itemization Works
The itemization is one equation wrapped in a legal deadline. You begin with the original security deposit the tenant paid — Louisiana sets no statutory ceiling on that amount, so it is whatever the lease required. From that figure you subtract every lawful amount retained, each listed on its own line with a description and a dollar amount. What remains is the refund you forward with the statement. If the amounts retained add up to more than the deposit, the equation goes negative and the statement instead shows the balance the tenant owes you. This document is the heart of Louisiana deposit compliance: §9:3251 does not merely say “explain yourself,” it requires the landlord to forward an itemized statement accounting for the proceeds retained and giving the reasons for the retention.
What makes Louisiana distinctive is the one-month deadline in §9:3251 paired with the willful-failure penalty in §9:3252. The landlord must forward the itemized statement or the full refund within one month after the lease terminates and the tenant vacates. Miss the deadline, keep an amount the statute does not allow, or ignore a tenant’s written demand for a refund for more than thirty days, and a retained amount can become a wrongful retention, exposing the landlord to the greater of three hundred dollars or twice that amount. The generator on this page handles the money side flawlessly: it sums the retained lines as you type, subtracts, and prints matching numbers into the PDF, so the arithmetic on the page and on the statement never disagree.
Start the one-month clock
Note the date the lease terminated and the tenant vacated. La. R.S. §9:3251 gives you one month from that date to return the deposit or forward the itemized statement of the reasons for retaining it.
Get the forwarding address
The tenant must furnish a forwarding address at the termination of the lease. Send the statement and any refund there; if none is given, use the last known address and document the attempt.
Retain only lawful amounts
Section 9:3251 limits retention to what is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. Ordinary wear and tear is excluded.
Let the form calculate the balance
The generator totals the amounts retained, subtracts them from the deposit, and shows the refund due or the balance owed.
Deliver within one month
Forward the itemized statement and any refund to the forwarding address. Certified mail with a return receipt gives you provable timing before a written demand can ripen into willfulness.
Generate Your Louisiana Itemization Statement
Fill in the parties, the deposit, and one line for each amount retained. As you type, the calculator at the bottom updates in real time; when you click generate, the same totals are written into a formatted Louisiana itemized statement you can print, sign, and mail. Every field below reaches the document, and the refund or balance is computed for you under La. R.S. §9:3251. If you also want a cover letter to transmit it, use the companion Louisiana deposit return letter form.
What this statement does
It produces a signed, itemized Louisiana statement that accounts for the deposit dollar for dollar and cites §9:3251. It handles the arithmetic and the format; you supply the dates and the amounts retained, and you confirm the current statute in the codified Louisiana Revised Statutes before delivering it. This is the statutory itemized statement itself, not the cover letter — keep the two forms distinct so each does its job.
1. Parties & Property
From (Landlord / Property Manager)
To (Tenant)
2. Deposit & Interest
Louisiana’s Lessee’s Deposit Act does not require a landlord to pay interest on a residential security deposit. Leave this at zero unless a written lease term requires you to credit interest.
3. Itemized Amounts Retained
List each amount retained on its own line. Under §9:3251, retain only what is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant (such as unpaid rent) or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. Ordinary wear and tear is excluded.
| Description / reason retained | Amount ($) | |
|---|---|---|
A positive figure is the refund you owe the tenant. If amounts retained exceed the deposit and any credited interest, the figure turns red and becomes the balance the tenant owes you.
4. Statement Details
5. Signature
What La. R.S. §9:3251 Requires
Louisiana’s residential security deposit rules live in a short cluster of statutes known as the Lessee’s Deposit Act, La. R.S. §9:3251 through §9:3254, and every landlord who holds a residential deposit is bound by them. The core duty sits in §9:3251: within one month after the lease terminates and the tenant vacates the premises, the landlord must return the deposit to the tenant, or, if any portion is retained, forward to the tenant an itemized statement accounting for the proceeds retained and giving the reasons for the retention, together with any remaining balance. That itemized statement is precisely the document this page generates.
The same section limits what may be kept. A Louisiana landlord may retain from the deposit only the amount reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. A “default” covers the tenant’s breaches — most commonly unpaid rent, but also other obligations the lease imposes — while “unreasonable wear” is the harm beyond the ordinary deterioration that any occupancy produces. Section 9:3251 also puts a duty on the tenant: the tenant shall furnish the lessor a forwarding address at the termination of the lease, to which the statement may be sent. And subsection (C) carves out an exception: the one-month itemization requirement does not apply when the tenant abandons the premises, either without giving the notice the lease requires or before the lease terminates.
Section 9:3252 supplies the teeth. A willful failure to comply with §9:3251 gives the tenant the right to recover the portion of the deposit wrongfully retained plus three hundred dollars or twice the amount of the portion wrongfully retained, whichever is greater. The statute defines when a failure becomes willful: failure to remit within thirty days after written demand for a refund constitutes willful failure. The action may be brought in the parish of the lessor’s domicile or in the parish where the property is situated. Section 9:3253 then addresses fees: in an action brought under §9:3252, the court may, in its discretion, award costs and attorney fees to the prevailing party — a discretionary award that can run to either side, not an automatic tenant recovery.
Itemization Versus Return Letter: Which Document Is Which
Louisiana landlords often blur two documents that the statute treats differently. The itemization is the statutory instrument named in §9:3251: the itemized statement accounting for the proceeds retained and giving the reasons. It is the accounting — each amount retained on its own line with a description and a dollar figure, the deposit at the top, and the refund or balance at the bottom. A return letter, by contrast, is the cover correspondence that transmits the accounting: the salutation, the paragraph explaining what is enclosed, the signature. The statute mandates the first; the second is a courtesy that carries it.
In practice a landlord usually sends both, stapled together, which is why the two are easy to conflate. But they are not interchangeable. A “Dear Tenant” letter with a lump-sum figure and no line items does not satisfy §9:3251, because the statute demands an itemized statement giving the reasons, not a bare summary. Conversely, a plain schedule of amounts retained with no cover note still satisfies the itemization requirement, though most landlords prefer to add a short transmittal for clarity. This page builds the itemization itself — the document the statute actually requires — and you can pair it with the companion deposit refund cover letter when you want a formal cover page. Keeping them as two separate forms mirrors how a Louisiana court will read your file: the itemized statement is the compliance record; the letter is the envelope.
What a Louisiana Landlord May — and May Not — Retain
The line between a lawful Louisiana retention and an unlawful one is the difference between unreasonable wear or a default and ordinary wear and tear. Section 9:3251 authorizes only what is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear — not upgrades, not routine turnover cleaning that any vacancy w