Security Deposit Alternative in Louisiana
Louisiana sets no ceiling on a deposit and gives you one month after the lease ends to return it, less whatever is reasonably necessary to remedy a default or unreasonable wear. If you keep any of it, the itemized statement has to go out within that month or within fifteen days after it. A willful failure costs the amount wrongfully kept plus $300 or double that amount, whichever is more, and sitting on a written demand for 30 days is willful by definition.
What Louisiana law says about security deposits
Read from the Louisiana statute on 2026-09-14. Deposit rules change, and this is general information rather than legal advice. Confirm the current text with your own counsel before you change a lease.
Can you require it of every Louisiana resident?
Louisiana has no statute written for a monthly fee charged instead of a deposit, so the arrangement rests on your lease and the general deposit rules. Section 9:3251 covers any advance or deposit of money a tenant gives a landlord to secure performance of the lease. It sets no maximum. The deposit is returned within one month after the lease terminates, less whatever is reasonably necessary to remedy a default or unreasonable wear. If you keep any of it, an itemized statement of what was retained and why goes to the resident within one month of the tenancy ending, or within fifteen days after that month, a window the legislature added in 2026 by Act 63. The resident is supposed to give you a forwarding address at the end of the lease. A willful failure to comply lets the resident recover the amount wrongfully retained plus $300 or twice that amount, whichever is greater, and not remitting within 30 days of a written demand is treated as willful.
Rules differ by state and by city, and subsidized housing is its own question. This is general information for property managers, not legal advice. Get a written opinion before you make the fee a condition of tenancy anywhere.
How the program works in Louisiana
The mechanics are the same in every state Beagle operates in. The program is designed to comply with applicable state and local regulations, and the rate is set by the deposit amount rather than by geography, so a Louisiana property and one two states over are quoted the same way.
The resident chooses at signing
Instead of producing the full deposit, the resident pays a smaller non-refundable monthly fee that is billed with rent. Nothing is held, so nothing has to be returned.
The property keeps its protection
Damage beyond normal wear is reimbursed up to the deposit amount the unit would otherwise have required, so what you can recover does not shrink.
Move-out stops being a negotiation
A claim is filed against the program rather than deducted from money you are holding, which takes the itemised-deduction letter and the dispute that follows it off your team's desk.
You earn on every resident who takes it
You set an administrative fee on top of the premium, up to $5 per unit per month, and keep it.
Louisiana security deposit alternative FAQs
Louisiana has no statute answering that, so a mandatory version is a question for your own attorney. Section 9:3251 applies to any advance or deposit given to secure the lease, so whether a monthly fee is such an advance is where that review should begin.
See it on your Louisiana units
Run the program against your own unit count, or walk through it with our team. No upfront fees, no onboarding charges, no long-term contracts.