Louisiana's Lessee's Deposit Act (La. R.S. 9:3251–3254) is short, civilian-law flavored, and built around one enforcement move the tenant must make personally: the written demand.
How much can a landlord charge?
No statutory cap — one month's rent is customary in most markets.
The one-month clock
Within one month of the lease terminating, the landlord must return the deposit or an itemized statement of the reasons for retention — limited to unreasonable wear (beyond ordinary use) and the tenant's lease defaults. One Louisiana wrinkle: a tenant who abandons the premises without proper notice can forfeit the right to the deposit's return entirely — leave correctly, in writing, per the lease.
The written demand and the $300 floor
Enforcement runs through the tenant: after the deadline passes, send a written demand to the landlord's known address. Willful failure to comply after the demand makes the landlord liable for the greater of $300 or twice the amount wrongfully withheld, plus court costs and attorney's fees. The $300 floor is Louisiana's quiet gift to small-deposit tenants — even a $150 wrongful withholding is a $300+ judgment with fees.
Why Louisiana deposit disputes are documentation disputes
"Unreasonable wear" is Louisiana's version of the universal line, and its courts draw it the universal way: on the evidence of condition at both ends of the lease. The statute offers no lists, inspections, or receipts machinery — just the parties and their proof.
SealMove is proof that holds. Every photo and video is cryptographically sealed the instant it's captured, independently timestamped, and locked with Face ID into a tamper-evident archive. At move-out, your walkthrough lines up room-by-room against the sealed baseline — and either party can send the other a report to review and acknowledge, no app required.