Free Louisiana Lease Termination Letter Template

A Louisiana lease termination letter is the written notice the Civil Code requires to end a lease with an indeterminate term. Louisiana runs on civil law rather than a landlord-tenant act, so these rules sit in numbered articles. The notice period also runs shorter than most people expect.

Two articles carry the load: 2728 sets the timing, and 2729 sets the form.

Notice Periods

The timing sits in four tiers under Article 2728, each counted before the end of the relevant period:

• A term longer than a month — 30 calendar days
• A month-to-month lease — 10 calendar days before the end of that month
• A term equal to or longer than a week but shorter than a month — five calendar days
• A term shorter than a week — any time before that period expires

Code articles get revised from time to time, so check the current text before you count.

The Notice Must Be Written

Article 2729 is short and direct. Where the leased thing is an immovable, or a movable used as a residence, the notice of termination shall be in writing, and it may be oral in all other cases. A home therefore always calls for a letter.

Which Date the Lease Ends

The closing paragraph of Article 2728 answers a question many statutes leave open. A notice terminates the lease at the end of the period specified in it, and where the notice specifies none, at the end of the first period for which the notice is timely.

The Lease Cannot Shorten It

Article 2718 protects the period. Where a party has reserved the right to terminate before the end of the term, termination follows the notice specified in the lease contract or the notice provided in Articles 2727 through 2729, whichever period is longer. Neither party may renounce that right to receive notice in advance.

The lease can restart on its own. Article 2720 provides that a lease with a fixed term ends when the term expires, without need of notice. Reconduction then enters through Article 2721: where the lessee stays in possession after expiration without notice to vacate or terminate, and without other opposition from either party, the Code reconducts the lease.

How long that takes depends on the original term. Reconduction follows 30 days in the case of an agricultural lease, one week for other fixed-term leases longer than a week, and one day where the fixed term ran equal to or shorter than a week. Under Article 2725, a reconducted lease is then terminated by giving the notice directed in Articles 2727 through 2729.

A Louisiana lease termination letter counts backward from the end of a period.

1. Work out whether the lease has a fixed term or an indeterminate one.
2. For an indeterminate lease, match the term to the tier in Article 2728.
3. Name the period at the end of which the lease terminates.
4. Put the notice in writing, since a residence requires it.
5. Keep proof of delivery and of the date it went out.

The Code sets no form for the letter, so cover the ground plainly.

• The address of the leased premises
• The names of the lessor and the lessee
• The period at the end of which the lease terminates
• The type of lease the notice relies on
• A forwarding address
• Signature and date

One habit saves trouble later. Since Article 2728 falls back on the first period for which the notice is timely whenever the notice names none, writing the date in yourself removes any later guesswork about when a Louisiana lease termination letter actually took effect.