Free Louisiana Room Rental Agreement Template

A Louisiana room rental agreement records the terms on which one bedroom in a shared home is rented. Louisiana’s statutes speak of lessors and lessees rather than landlords and tenants, and both sets of words appear in the deposit law.

One feature of that law matters more than any other for a spare-room arrangement: it does not require a written lease to apply.

The statute says so expressly. Any advance or deposit of money furnished by a tenant or lessee to secure performance of any part of a written or oral lease or rental agreement must be returned within one month after the lease terminates.

That wording is worth dwelling on, because spare-room arrangements are the ones most likely to be agreed over a kitchen table rather than on paper. Taking a deposit without a written agreement does not put a Louisiana lessor outside the rule; it simply leaves both sides arguing later about what was agreed.

Writing it down is therefore about proving the terms, not about triggering the protection.

The Lessee’s Deposit Act shapes most of what a Louisiana room rental agreement needs to say, and nearly all of it concerns what happens when the arrangement ends.

What the Lessor May Keep

A lessor may retain all or any part of the deposit that is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant, or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. Where any portion is retained, the lessor must forward an itemized statement accounting for the proceeds retained and giving the reasons, within one month after the date the tenancy terminates.

The Tenant Has a Duty Too

The tenant must furnish the lessor a forwarding address at the termination of the lease, to which those statements may be sent. It is a small step that is easy to forget in the middle of moving out.

When the Rule Does Not Apply

The one-month return requirement does not apply where the tenant abandons the premises, either without giving notice as required or before the lease terminates. Anyone leaving a room early should give the notice their agreement calls for.

If the Property Changes Hands

Where the lessor’s interest is transferred during the lease, the transferor must also transfer the deposit to their successor, and is then relieved of further liability. The transferee becomes responsible for returning it at the end of the lease.

The penalty is fixed by statute. Willful failure to comply gives the tenant the right to recover the portion wrongfully retained plus $300 or twice the amount wrongfully retained, whichever is greater.

The statute also defines when a failure becomes willful: failing to remit within thirty days after a written demand for a refund counts as willful failure. A written demand, kept and dated, is therefore what converts a silent lessor into a liable one.

An action for those damages may be brought in the parish of the lessor’s domicile or in the parish where the property is situated. Amounts and periods here are statutory and can be amended, so confirm the current text before relying on a figure.

For a Louisiana room rental agreement, the terms worth adding are:

• The deposit amount and the condition of the room at move-in
• How much notice each side must give before the arrangement ends
• Where the tenant should send a forwarding address, and to whom
• Which areas are shared, and the rules for using them
• How utilities are apportioned between housemates