New Law in Place For Residential Leases

This new law requires that before accepting application fees lessors must notify applicants in writing of the amount of the application fee and whether credit scores, employment history, criminal history, or eviction records are considered in deciding whether to rent or lease to applicant. Most lessors may already do this, but if not they are now mandated to provide this notification to applicants in writing before accepting an application fee.

What is new for all residential lessors is that if an application fee is charged, the law now mandates that the lessor is required to provide written notice to the applicant that he or she is permitted, but not required, to inform the lessor in 200 words or less if he or she experienced a financial hardship following a state or federally declared disaster or emergency, such as a hurricane or the COVID-19 pandemic, and how that hardship impacted his or her credit, employment, or rental history. An application fee cannot be required if the applicant is not notified in writing that he or she can provide this information.

The law requires the notice the lessor provides to the applicant about making this statement include the words “hurricane” and “COVID-19 pandemic.” The notice can be electronically delivered, stored and presented by electronic means if it meets the requirements of the Louisiana Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

Louisiana REALTORS® encourages residential lessors and residential property managers to review their rental applications and incorporate these new requirements in order to be in compliance with this new law.