The Ultimate Guide to Breaking a Lease in Louisiana

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How To Break A Lease In Louisiana The Easy Way

When signing a lease agreement, the intention is to stay in the unit for the contract period. However, there are circumstances that could necessitate a break in the lease.

However, can be a huge challenge, mainly because a lease agreement is a legally binding document, and breaking it can attract consequences. DoNotPay offers an efficient online service to help you break your lease.

Tenants in Louisiana are required to give notice when breaking a lease. If breaking a lease, a tenant is required to pay the full fees for the lease term. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, such as servicemen deployed for duty elsewhere. Read on to learn more about Louisiana renters’ rights and breaking a lease in Louisiana.

Tenant Rights and Responsibilities When Signing a Lease in Louisiana

In Louisiana, you have certain responsibilities, under law, that you are required to fulfill as a tenant, as well as rights that should be respected, including:

  • Right to a habitable dwelling
  • Right to a fair process before eviction
  • Right to have your deposit returned at the end of the contract period
  • All tenants must pay rent on time as stipulated in the agreement
  • Tenants must leave the rental unit in the same condition they found it
  • Tenants must use the rental unit for the purpose they specified in the agreement

When Breaking a Lease Is Justified in Louisiana

There are a few legal reasons to break your lease, including:

1. Starting Active Military Duty

If a serviceman is deployed or transferred, they can notify the landlord and break their lease. The tenancy will terminate 30 days after the date that the next rent is due.

However, servicemen terminating contracts based on this clause must prove that the lease was signed before starting duty, and provide written notice accompanied by a copy of deployment orders.

2. Violation of Louisiana Health and Safety Standards

Louisiana has strict health and safety codes that provide mandatory standards to be met for rental units. All units must be safe, clean, have water and heating services, and be habitable.

Failure of a landlord to meet the safety and health standards, a tenant can give notice to the landlord to break the lease. If the landlord fails to comply, the tenant is considered evicted and not required to obey the lease since the landlord failed to fulfill the lease agreement conditions.

3. A Violation to Your Right to Privacy

A landlord has no right to harass the tenant in any way. Any violation of this law can lead to a break in the lease by the tenant. Louisiana state laws state that a landlord must give notice to enter the rental property.

Changing locks and denying tenants their rights to a habitable house can lead to the breaking of a lease in Louisiana.

4. Domestic Violence

Victims of domestic violence are given special consideration in Louisiana. They are allowed to break a lease agreement for their own safety.

Lease Termination Notice Requirements in Louisiana

In Louisiana, a lease termination letter is required to terminate month-to-month lease agreements. However, there’s no legal requirement to give notice to end fixed-term lease agreements. Depending on your lease type, here are the lease termination notice requirements in Louisiana:

Rent PaymentNotice TimeStatute
Week-to-week5 days written noticeLA Code Civ Pro 4701
Month-to-month10 days written noticeLA Code Civ Pro 4701
Yearly30 days noticeLA Code Civ Pro 4701

Consequences of Illegally Breaking a Lease in Louisiana

If you’re wondering what can happen if you break your lease, the answer depends on if you legally or illegally broke it. If you broke your lease legally without penalty, you will get to move out without a problem. If you break your lease illegally, there can be many consequences, like:

  • Loss of deposits, having to pay the rest of your rent money, or other costs for breaking your lease
  • Legal repercussions that could lead to loss of money
  • Denied credit in the future because breaking a lease may lead to a poor credit score
  • It may be difficult to get another apartment due to a negative listing from your last landlord

How to Break a Lease in Louisiana by Yourself

When by yourself, here’s what to do:

  1. Read your lease to look for an early termination clause.
  2. Talk to your landlord to explain your situation to them. If your reason is not one of the main legal reasons to break a lease, your landlord may be sympathetic to you if you are polite and explain your situation.
  3. Give notice to your landlord in Louisiana’s required time period for giving notice. Do it in writing.
  4. If that doesn’t work, gather evidence and write a demand letter to your landlord.
  5. If that doesn’t work, turn to another solution, like DoNotPay for help.

Breaking a Lease in Louisiana With the Help of DoNotPay

Breaking a lease in Louisiana is a long process. Completing all the required paperwork is time-consuming and in some cases frustrating. It can cause you to stay much longer and this can be inconvenient, especially if you are breaking the lease due to poor living conditions.

DoNotPay is a fast online service that does all the legwork for you and gives you timely results. All you need to do is provide all your rental details and DoNotPay will do the rest for you.

Here’s how you can get started in 3 easy steps:

  1. Search Break My Lease on DoNotPay.

  2. Prepare a signed copy of your lease that you can use as a reference, and enter the state the lease was signed in.

  3. Let us guide you through the 4 potential options.

DoNotPay will then help you break your lease using one of the following methods:

  • If you’re a uniformed service member breaking a lease to fulfill your service obligations, we’ll send your landlord an SCRA Protection Letter.
  • If you’re breaking your lease for a reason protected by your state’s tenant laws, we’ll write your landlord a letter detailing your protections for breaking the lease under the relevant law.
  • If your reasons for breaking your lease aren’t protected by federal or state law, but you’d like to try to convince your landlord to let you break the lease through mutual agreement, we’ll draft a hardship letter making your case to your landlord.
  • If there are no remaining options for breaking the lease with protection, but your state requires landlords to mitigate damages to tenants who break their leases, we’ll notify your landlord of that obligation and minimize the remaining rent you have to pay.

Why Use DoNotPay to Break a Lease in Louisiana

Breaking a lease can be hard because a lease agreement is a legally binding document. There are legal and financial repercussions when one breaks a lease, not to mention the long process that may end in being in vain. There are at least three reasons why DoNotPay’s solution will help you:

  1. It’s fast—DoNotPay provides fast services and saves you time when breaking a lease in Louisiana.
  2. It’s easy—All you need to do is click a button, answer some questions, and DoNotPay will complete the process for you.
  3. It’s successful—DoNotPay will successfully break your lease in Louisiana.

DoNotPay provides you with a fast online solution to help you break your lease in Louisiana quickly. Sign up today and enjoy this and many other online services in the comfort of your home.

What Else Can DoNotPay Do to Solve Your Problems?

DoNotPay does more than solve lease-related problems. Here are just a few of the other things we can help you with:

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