Does a landlord have to pay interest on a security deposit in Louisiana?
Louisiana requires no interest on a residential security deposit and imposes no duty about the account the money sits in — the two claims that circulate about Louisiana are wrong on both counts.
Cited to La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3251 (lessee's deposit; retention; itemized statement) A, B, C and 3 more cited sources · Verified August 28, 2026
The state's deposit law is four sections long. R.S. 9:3251 requires the deposit back within one month of the lease terminating, lets the lessor keep whatever is reasonably necessary to remedy a tenant default or unreasonable wear, and requires an itemized statement accounting for anything retained. R.S. 9:3252 gives a tenant whose lessor willfully fails to comply the wrongfully retained amount plus the greater of $300 or twice that amount, and makes a failure to remit within thirty days of written demand willful by definition. R.S. 9:3253 allows costs and attorney's fees at the court's discretion, and R.S. 9:3254 makes any waiver of a tenant's rights under the part null and void. Across all four sections the word 'interest' appears twice, and both times it means the lessor's ownership interest in the leased premises when the property changes hands. The word 'account' appears once, as a verb, in the phrase 'an itemized statement accounting for the proceeds which are retained.' Nothing in Louisiana law says where a deposit is held, whether the account earns anything, or who would be entitled to it if it did.
Louisiana deposit interest at a glance
| Interest owed to the tenant | No — no statute addresses it |
|---|---|
| How the rate is set | No rate exists — there is no interest duty |
| Current figure | No published figure exists |
| Rate rules | No rate rules — no duty exists |
| Accrual and payment | No payment duty exists |
| Who and what is covered | No statutory conditions stated — see the summary and notes |
| Statute controls where or how the deposit is held | No statute addresses how the deposit is held |
| Interest-bearing account required | No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest |
| Custody rules | No statute addresses custody of the deposit |
| Penalty for violation | No statutory penalty reaches an interest violation specifically |
| Local rules | None noted for this state |
Cite this page: "Landlord Atlas, Louisiana Security Deposit Interest Laws (verified August 28, 2026), landlordatlas.com/laws/deposit-interest/louisiana/" — free to cite and quote with a link (how these records are verified). Everything above is cited in the citations section below.
Check the verified Louisiana answer — and every state and city that differs — in the deposit interest calculator — free, no signup, built on the same verified Louisiana law as this page.
Notes and caveats
- The two circulating Louisiana claims, answered — Some sources report that Louisiana requires deposits to sit in an interest-bearing account, and some report that Louisiana tenants are owed the interest. Neither appears in the statute. Part IV contains no escrow, trust, bank, separate-account, segregation, or commingling language of any kind, and no rate, accrual, timing, or de-minimis rule. The likeliest explanation is a keyword match on 'successor in interest,' which is the only sense in which the word appears here.
- The anti-waiver rule shows what the tenant's rights actually are — R.S. 9:3254 voids 'any waiver of the right of a tenant under this part.' That makes the list of rights worth stating plainly, because it is short: return of the deposit within one month of termination, an itemized statement for anything retained, and the R.S. 9:3252 penalty for a willful failure. An entitlement to interest is not among them, so there is nothing for a lease to waive.
- The 2026 amendment changed the itemization window, not the answer — Acts 2026, No. 63, § 1 amended R.S. 9:3251(A) to let the lessor forward the itemized statement either within one month after the tenancy terminates or 'within fifteen days after the date that is one month after the tenancy terminates.' It added no account duty and no interest duty. Sections 9:3252 through 9:3254 stand as they were in 2018, 1972 and 1972 respectively.
- Abandonment turns off the return duty — R.S. 9:3251(C) provides that subsection A does not apply 'when the tenant abandons the premises, either without giving notice as required or prior to the termination of the lease.' A tenant who leaves early or without the required notice loses the benefit of the one-month return rule, which is a bigger practical difference in Louisiana than the interest question.
Common questions: Louisiana deposit interest
Each answer is the verified value from the table above, restated as a direct answer. Free to quote with a link to this page.
- What is the Louisiana security deposit interest rate right now?
- No published figure exists.
- When must a landlord pay or credit deposit interest in Louisiana?
- No payment duty exists.
- Does the deposit have to be in an interest-bearing account in Louisiana?
- No statute addresses whether the account must bear interest.
- What happens if a landlord does not pay deposit interest in Louisiana?
- No statutory penalty reaches an interest violation specifically.
- Do any cities or counties in Louisiana have their own deposit-interest rules?
- None noted for this state.
Citations
- La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3251 (lessee's deposit; retention; itemized statement) · A, B, C (verified 2026) Official source
- La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3252 (failure to comply; recovery; venue) · A (verified 2026) Official source
- La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3253 (costs and attorney's fees) (verified 2026) Official source
- La. Rev. Stat. § 9:3254 (waiver of tenant's rights prohibited) (verified 2026) Official source
How this record was verified: Direct read of the four sections that make up Louisiana Revised Statutes title 9, part IV (Lessee's Deposit) — R.S. 9:3251, 9:3252, 9:3253 and 9:3254 — in the Legislature's published law text, each read in full. The part's boundaries were established from the published part headings on either side: part III (Lessor's Privilege) closes before 9:3251 and part V (Lessors' Rights) opens at 9:3258, so part IV is exactly those four sections. Every occurrence of interest, escrow, trust, account, bank, segregation, commingling and separate-account terms in the four sections examined in context. Currency taken from § 3251's own amendment credit, which carries Acts 2026, No. 63, § 1.