Rental Application and Tenant-Screening Fee Requirements in Louisiana
At a glance
| Governing law and coverage | La. R.S. 9:3258.1; all lessors of property used as lessee's primary residence except owner-occupied buildings with no more than 4 units |
|---|---|
| Fees allowed or prohibited | Application fee allowed after required written notice; statute does not separately classify processing, credit-check, background-check, or screening-report charges |
| Maximum charge and adjustment | No statewide flat, actual-cost, reasonable-cost, or indexed cap; exact application-fee amount must be disclosed before payment (R.S. 9:3258.1(A)(1)) |
| Permitted costs and charge timing | No statutory cost formula, vacancy condition, or multiple-application limit; written notice required before lessor accepts application-fee payment |
| Before-screening disclosures | Written prepayment notice: fee amount; whether credit scores, employment, criminal, or eviction history considered; applicant's ≤200-word declared-disaster/emergency hardship statement option; notice must reference COVID-19 and hurricanes (§ 3258.1(A)) |
| Receipt, report copy, and refund | No special statewide application-fee receipt, report-copy, unused-fee refund, or unconsidered-application refund rule in § 3258.1 |
| Applicant-supplied or reusable reports | No applicant-supplied or reusable screening report acceptance/no-fee procedure in § 3258.1 or the current Title 9 lease scheme |
| Application order and adverse action | No first-in-order, first-qualified, single-application, or state denial-reason notice process; statute requires only the listed prepayment screening-category disclosures |
| Remedies and stronger local rules | No private cause of action; lessor and agents/employees immune from all causes of action for alleged § 3258.1 violations; statute states no application-fee local-preemption clause |
Written notice comes before payment
La. R.S. 9:3258.1(A)-(B) does not cap a residential application fee. Instead, it conditions collection on written notice before the lessor accepts payment. The notice must state:
- the amount of the application fee;
- whether the lessor considers credit scores, employment history, criminal history, or eviction records;
- that the applicant may provide a good-faith statement of 200 words or less explaining financial hardship caused by a state- or federally declared disaster or emergency and its effect on credit, employment, or rental history; and
- a reference to the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes in the hardship-statement notice.
The notice may be electronic if it satisfies the Louisiana Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.
What the statute does not add
Section 3258.1 does not impose a flat or cost-based maximum, limit the fee to specified report costs, require an available unit, or control how many fees may be collected at once. It creates no special receipt, report-copy, unused-fee refund, unconsidered-application refund, reusable-report acceptance, application-order, or post-denial reason-notice process.
Those absences matter because the statute's process is disclosure-centered: it tells the applicant the price and which named screening categories may be considered, but does not create the broader accounting and report-delivery systems used by some other states. Separate federal consumer-reporting duties may still apply.
Coverage and remedy
Under La. R.S. 9:3258.1(C)-(D), the section applies to lessors of property to be used as the lessee's primary residence. It excludes an owner-occupied building consisting of no more than four units.
The remedy provision is unusual: no person has a cause of action against the lessor or the lessor's agents or employees for an alleged violation, and those persons are immune from all causes of action for alleged violations of the section. The statute states no application-fee local-preemption clause.
Common questions
What is Louisiana's maximum application fee? Section 3258.1 sets no dollar or cost-based ceiling. It requires disclosure of the exact amount before payment.
Must the lessor say whether criminal or eviction records matter? Yes. The prepayment notice must say whether the lessor considers the four listed categories, including criminal history and eviction records.
Must the lessor accept my reusable screening report? Section 3258.1 creates no portable or reusable-report acceptance procedure.
Can I sue under this statute because the notice was missing? The section expressly says no person has a cause of action for an alleged violation and grants the lessor and its agents and employees immunity from those claims.
Statutes and sources
- La. R.S. 9:3258.1(A)-(B) — prepayment notice and electronic delivery.
A lessor shall not require payment of an application fee unless, prior to accepting the payment, the lessor gives written notice ...
Official source: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1238734 (accessed 2026-08-16) - La. R.S. 9:3258.1(C)-(D) — primary-residence coverage, small owner-occupied-building exception, and immunity.
No person shall have a cause of action against a lessor or a lessor's agents or employees for any alleged violation of this Section ...
Official source: https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=1238734 (accessed 2026-08-16)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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