Is there a legal limit on late fees in Louisiana?

No statutory cap (see reasonableness standard and notes). Louisiana applies its civilian stipulated-damages rule, not common-law penalty doctrine. A court may not modify an agreed late fee unless it is so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy.

Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in Louisiana?

Yes — in Louisiana a late fee must be stated in the lease.

Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in Louisiana?

Daily late fees are allowed if the lease provides for them. No statute addresses them; they are enforceable as stipulated damages unless manifestly unreasonable, and can be cut down in proportion to any partial performance by the tenant.

What late fees can a landlord charge in Louisiana?

Verified October 1, 2026 Correction October 2, 2026 All Louisiana topics →

Louisiana has no statute capping residential late fees and no mandatory grace period — a late fee is enforceable only if the lease provides for it, and the amount is policed solely by the Civil Code's stipulated-damages rule, under which a court may not touch the fee unless it is so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy.

Cited to La. Civ. Code art. 2005 and 2 more cited sources · Verified October 1, 2026

The Attorney General's guide puts it plainly: late fees cannot be charged unless provided for in the lease agreement (or agreed orally under an oral lease), the law sets no specific amount, and unreasonably high fees can be contested. Under Louisiana's civilian standard the court's power to reduce a stipulated fee is the exception, not the rule — but a fee can be cut down in proportion to any partial performance by the tenant.

Louisiana late fees at a glance

Statutory cap	No statutory cap (see reasonableness standard and notes)
Mandatory grace period	None mandated statewide
Must be in the lease	Yes
Daily fees	Daily late fees are allowed if the lease provides for them. No statute addresses them; they are enforceable as stipulated damages unless manifestly unreasonable, and can be cut down in proportion to any partial performance by the tenant. No statute addresses daily late fees; like any late charge they are creatures of the lease, enforceable as stipulated damages unless manifestly unreasonable (C.C. art. 2012), and reducible in proportion to partial performance (art. 2011).
Reasonableness standard	Louisiana applies its civilian stipulated-damages rule, not common-law penalty doctrine. A court may not modify an agreed late fee unless it is so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy. Under that regime, parties may stipulate damages for nonperformance or delay (C.C. art. 2005), and 'stipulated damages may not be modified by the court unless they are so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy' (art. 2012). The Attorney General's guide states the official position: 'The law sets no specific amount for late fees; however, unreasonably high fees can be contested.'

Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Louisiana Late Fee Laws (verified October 1, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/late-fees/louisiana/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.

Check a late fee against the Louisiana rules — free, no signup, built on the same verified Louisiana law as this page.

Notes and caveats

Blank cap and grace-period fields mean no statute, not zero — No statute caps a late fee or sets a grace period for a residential lease in Title 9 or the Civil Code's lease title — the fields are empty because the law is silent, not because it sets them at zero. One narrow section lets the owner of land with three or more lots rented for factory-built homes collect a $25 fee when lot rent is sixty days past due, the owner has mailed the required notice to the home's secured parties, and the rent is then paid (R.S. 9:3259.1(D)).
The lease requirement is definitional — A late fee must be provided for in the lease per the Attorney General's guide — and by definition under art. 2005, since a stipulated-damages clause must be stipulated.
Myth to debunk: the percentage 'benchmarks' do not exist — AI-generated landlord sites circulate '5-10% of monthly rent is presumptively reasonable' and 'fees over 15% have been struck down' as if they were legal benchmarks. No such percentages exist in any statute, and the sites cite no cases. The only standard is art. 2012's 'manifestly unreasonable' test.
Say 'stipulated damages,' not 'liquidated damages' — Civil-law framing matters: a Louisiana late fee is a stipulated-damages clause — a secondary obligation under art. 2005 — not common-law liquidated damages.

Common questions: Louisiana late fees

Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.

Is there a legal limit on late fees in Louisiana?: No statutory cap (see reasonableness standard and notes). Louisiana applies its civilian stipulated-damages rule, not common-law penalty doctrine. A court may not modify an agreed late fee unless it is so manifestly unreasonable as to be contrary to public policy.
Is there a grace period before rent is late in Louisiana?: None mandated statewide.
Does a late fee have to be written into the lease in Louisiana?: Yes — in Louisiana a late fee must be stated in the lease.
Can a landlord charge a daily late fee in Louisiana?: Daily late fees are allowed if the lease provides for them. No statute addresses them; they are enforceable as stipulated damages unless manifestly unreasonable, and can be cut down in proportion to any partial performance by the tenant.

Changes since last full verification

The Verified date above (October 1, 2026) marks the last time every figure on this page was verified end-to-end against official sources. The changes below were published since then, each verified against the official source it names (what these dates mean).

Correction, October 2, 2026 — Louisiana (correction): the deposit page had shown the return deadline as 30 days. The statute says within one month after the lease terminates (R.S. 9:3251(A)); the page and the deposit letter tool now show one month, and the tool counts a calendar month where it had added 30 days. The eviction page had shown the deadline for an appeal that suspends the judgment as 1 day; the article says within twenty-four hours of the judgment of eviction (C.C.P. art. 4735), and the page now shows 24 hours. The rent increase page had said no city or parish regulates rents: New Orleans requires units created under its inclusionary zoning program to be offered at an affordable rent (New Orleans Code sections 26-641 and 26-646), and the codes of nine other cities and parishes contain no rent regulation. Also corrected: notice to end the lease of a home must be in writing whether or not the lease itself is written (C.C. art. 2729); the 30-day notice in art. 2728 applies to a lease with no fixed term that runs by a period longer than a month, and a fixed-term lease ends without notice (art. 2720); the owner of land with three or more lots rented for factory-built homes may collect a $25 fee when lot rent is 60 days late and notice has gone to the home's secured parties (R.S. 9:3259.1(D)); taking possession without a judgment after an abandonment still requires the notice to vacate (C.C.P. art. 4731(B)); the self-help repossession statute sometimes cited against landlords belongs to the law on leases of movables (R.S. 9:3329); a court's power to refuse to dissolve a lease rests on C.C. arts. 2013 and 2014; the tenant's duty to allow urgent repairs is art. 2693. Comparisons with other states that no official source supports were removed.

Citations

La. Civ. Code art. 2005 (verified 2026) Official source
La. Civ. Code art. 2012 (verified 2026) Official source
La. AG, 'A Guide to Louisiana Landlord & Tenant Laws' (late fees must be provided for in the lease; no specific amount set by law) · Non-Payment of Rent (verified 2026) Official source

How this record was verified: Direct read of statute text on the official Louisiana Legislature site (legis.la.gov Law.aspx section pages) for La. R.S. 9:3251-3254 and 9:3258 and Civil Code arts. 2005, 2011, 2012, 2680-2683, 2693, 2695, 2727, and 2728. Enrolled text of 2026 Act No. 63 (HB 292) read in full from the legislature's document server, plus the bill-status page confirming signature 5/11/2026 and 8/1/2026 effective date. Cross-checked against the Louisiana Attorney General's official guide 'A Guide to Louisiana Landlord & Tenant Laws' (La. DOJ Consumer Protection Section), noting that the guide's deposit-penalty figure ($200/actual damages) is stale — superseded by Acts 2018, No. 416. The other 2026 acts on leases (Act 64 on early termination, Act 240 on the Civil Code's lease title, Acts 40 and 113 on legal holidays, Act 127 on notice of a justice of the peace court's judgment and Act 950 on the East Baton Rouge justice courts) change no figure on the deposit, rent increase, late fee or entry pages. September 5, 2026 addendum: the decisive figures touched by the 2025-2026 enactments reviewed that day were re-read on the official host — Civil Code art. 2701, Acts 2026 No. 382 and No. 765, and R.S. 51:911.26 and 51:911.41 on legis.la.gov; the earlier reads stand as recorded. On October 1, 2026 every provision the deposit, rent increase, late fee, entry and eviction answers rest on was read again on legis.la.gov, whose text includes the acts of the 2026 Regular Session: R.S. 9:3201 to 9:3261.2, the Civil Code's lease title (arts. 2668 to 2729) and arts. 2000 to 2014, Code of Civil Procedure arts. 4701 to 4735, 4832 to 4925, 5001 to 5003 and 5059, R.S. 1:55 and La. Const. art. VI, § 9, with the 2025 and 2026 act lists and, for rent regulation, the codes of New Orleans, Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish, Shreveport, Jefferson Parish, Lafayette, Kenner, Lake Charles, Bossier City, Monroe and Alexandria.