Louisiana HOA Flag Display

Section 1: Overview - Flag display rules for Louisiana HOAs

Start with the bottom line. Louisiana now regulates HOA flag display on two levels: a federal floor that reaches every community, and a brand-new state statute that reaches only the communities formed after it took effect. That state law is La. R.S. 9:1114, which the Legislature passed as Act 224 of 2025 (House Bill 56, Rep. Dodie Horton) and which took effect on August 1, 2025. It bars a planned community, a condominium association, or a lessor from adopting or enforcing any provision that outlaws or restricts an individual's display of a removable, portable flag of the United States. It allows reasonable rules on size, time, place, and manner, and it backs the right with a civil remedy. But it carries one sharp limit: it applies prospectively only, to governing documents and leases created after August 1, 2025.¹ For every community whose declaration predates that date, the operative U.S.-flag protection is still the federal law, the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, codified as a note to 4 U.S.C. § 5.² R.S. 9:1114 adds a state layer on top, but only within that prospective window. All of this sits in a civil-law setting. Three frameworks govern the flags the statute does not reach: the Louisiana Homeowners Association Act, also called the Louisiana Planned Community Act (R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq.), which lawmakers reworked effective January 1, 2025; the Louisiana Condominium Act (R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq.); and building restrictions under the Civil Code (art. 775 et seq.).³ A flag dispute moves first through the association process and, within the statute's prospective scope, through the civil remedy in R.S. 9:1114, with appeals running from a parish district court to a Louisiana Court of Appeal and on to the Louisiana Supreme Court.¹ The sections below lay out the federal floor, the new state statute, the building-restriction framework, and what a Louisiana association can and cannot do.

Quick-Reference: Flag display rules at a glance (Louisiana)

Section 2: The legal framework

2A. The federal floor: Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005

The federal baseline is the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572, which President Bush signed on July 24, 2006, and which Congress set out as a note to 4 U.S.C. § 5.² The operative provision bars a condominium association, a cooperative association, or a residential real estate management association from adopting or enforcing any policy, or entering into any agreement, that "would restrict or prevent a member of the association from displaying the flag of the United States on residential property within the association with respect to which such member has a separate ownership interest or a right to exclusive possession or use."² The act defines the three covered entity types by cross-reference: it draws the condominium and cooperative associations from 15 U.S.C. 3603, and the residential real estate management association — the ordinary legal term for a typical HOA — from 26 U.S.C. 528.² Two limitations narrow the reach. First, the act does not permit any display inconsistent with the Federal Flag Code (chapter 1 of title 4, U.S. Code) or the customs established under it. Second, it preserves "any reasonable restriction pertaining to the time, place, or manner of displaying the flag of the United States necessary to protect a substantial interest" of the association.² The act reaches only the U.S. flag; it says nothing about the Louisiana state flag or any other flag. And it carries a critical gap: it contains no enforcement mechanism and creates no private right of action. A federal court said so directly in Murphree v. Tides Condominium at Sweetwater by Del Webb Master Homeowners' Ass'n, No. 3:13-cv-713-J-34MCR (M.D. Fla. 2014), holding that the act "does not provide any enforcement mechanism, or explicitly create a private right of action for individuals such as Murphree to bring a lawsuit against a condominium association."⁵ Practical enforcement therefore runs through state law and the recorded governing documents, not a federal lawsuit.

2B. Louisiana's flag statute, R.S. 9:1114 (Act 224 of 2025)

Louisiana enacted its first dedicated U.S.-flag statute in 2025. La. R.S. 9:1114, titled "Freedom to display the flag of the United States," came out of Act 224 of the 2025 Regular Session (House Bill 56, Rep. Dodie Horton) and took effect August 1, 2025; you can verify the enrolled text on legis.la.gov.¹ Subsection A sets the core prohibition: "Notwithstanding any covenant, declaration, contractual provision, lease, or rental agreement, no planned community, condominium association, or lessor shall adopt or enforce any provision outlawing or restricting an individual from displaying a removable, portable flag of the United States."¹ Subsection B preserves regulatory room, providing that nothing in the section stops a planned community, condominium association, or lessor "from adopting or enforcing reasonable provisions as to the size, time, place, and manner of displaying the flag of the United States." The enrolled version added "size" to that list of permitted categories.¹ Subsection C then supplies the remedy the federal act lacks: "Injunctive relief shall be available when a violation of this Section occurs," and if a court grants that relief, "court costs and reasonable attorney fees shall also be made available."¹ The central limit lives in Section 2 of the Act, which states that its provisions "shall be given prospective application only to any new covenant, declaration, contractual provision, lease or rental agreement constructed after the effective date of this Act."¹ So for communities whose governing documents predate August 1, 2025, the federal act — not R.S. 9:1114 — remains the operative U.S.-flag protection, and no one should read the statute to reach existing documents. Two features set R.S. 9:1114 apart from a typical HOA-only flag statute. It binds lessors and reaches leases and rental agreements, carrying the protection into the landlord-tenant context. And it protects only the U.S. flag, and only a removable, portable one; the Louisiana state flag and every other flag stay with the building restrictions and CC&Rs.¹

2C. The civil-law framework, building restrictions, and CC&Rs

Louisiana is a civil-law jurisdiction, and its vocabulary differs from the common-law states. Here, restrictive covenants are "building restrictions," which La. Civ. Code art. 775 defines as "charges imposed by the owner of an immovable in pursuance of a general plan governing building standards, specified uses, and improvements."³ Association liens are "privileges," real property is "immovable property," and the local unit is the parish. Two statutes govern. The Louisiana Homeowners Association Act, also cited as the Louisiana Planned Community Act (La. R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq.), which Act 158 of 2024 reworked effective January 1, 2025 with expanded rules on budgets, records, privileges, meetings, and voting;⁶ and the Louisiana Condominium Act (La. R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq.), which governs condominiums.⁷ Associations usually organize as nonprofit corporations under the Louisiana Nonprofit Corporation Act (La. R.S. 12). Louisiana is not a UCIOA state; its association law sits in the Civil Code ancillaries (Title 9) and the corporate code, even though the reworked Planned Community Act borrowed from the uniform model.⁶ The building restrictions and CC&Rs govern every flag R.S. 9:1114 does not reach: the Louisiana state flag, and the military, POW-MIA, first-responder, service, decorative, and message flags. The order of precedence runs from federal law and R.S. 9:1114 (within its prospective scope), to the recorded declaration and building restrictions, to the bylaws, to board rules; and by La. Civ. Code art. 783, the Condominium Act and the Planned Community Act supersede the Civil Code's building-restriction articles when the two conflict.⁸ In practice, a property manager applies the federal U.S.-flag floor to every community, applies R.S. 9:1114 wherever the governing document or lease was created after August 1, 2025, and reads the building restrictions for every other flag.

Section 3: What a Louisiana association can and cannot do

A. Flags the association must permit

Every covered association must let an owner display the U.S. flag on property within the owner's separate ownership or area of exclusive possession or use; the federal act requires it (FEDERAL LAW).² For governing documents and leases created after August 1, 2025, R.S. 9:1114 separately requires a planned community, condominium association, or lessor to permit a removable, portable U.S. flag (LOUISIANA STATUTE).¹ No Louisiana statute compels an association to permit any other flag; the Louisiana state flag, and the military, POW-MIA, first-responder, service, decorative, and other flags remain matters for the building restrictions and CC&Rs (CC&Rs).³

B. Reasonable restrictions the association may impose

Under the federal act, an association may set reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on the U.S. flag when they protect a substantial interest, and it may require a display consistent with the Federal Flag Code (FEDERAL LAW).² Under R.S. 9:1114, a planned community, condominium association, or lessor may adopt reasonable provisions as to the size, time, place, and manner of displaying the U.S. flag (LOUISIANA STATUTE).¹ The size, number, placement, flagpole, and illumination rules for all other flags come from the building restrictions and CC&Rs (CC&Rs).³ One limit holds in every case: a provision may not outlaw or effectively prohibit a removable, portable U.S. flag.

C. Actions the association or lessor may not take

An association or lessor may not adopt or enforce a provision that outlaws or restricts a removable, portable U.S. flag in a governing document or lease created after August 1, 2025 (LOUISIANA STATUTE).¹ And no covered association may enforce a U.S.-flag rule that is not a reasonable time, place, or manner restriction protecting a substantial interest (FEDERAL LAW).² Selective or pretextual enforcement of a flag rule invites a challenge, so a board must apply its rules uniformly (CC&Rs).

D. Enforcement and dispute resolution

Within its prospective scope, R.S. 9:1114 hands an owner or tenant a state civil remedy: injunctive relief, and, if a court grants it, court costs and reasonable attorney fees (LOUISIANA STATUTE).¹ The federal act, by contrast, carries no private right of action (FEDERAL LAW).⁵ A Louisiana flag dispute moves first through the association process and, if it stays unresolved, into a parish district court, with appeals running to a Louisiana Court of Appeal (First through Fifth Circuit) and on to the Louisiana Supreme Court. Louisiana has no dedicated HOA regulator, so these disputes go to the courts. And where an association fines an owner over a flag, the fine must rest on a valid, reasonable rule that the community documents authorize, or it is open to challenge (CC&Rs).

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

The headline development is Louisiana's first dedicated U.S.-flag statute, La. R.S. 9:1114 (Act 224 of 2025). It bars a planned community, condominium association, or lessor from adopting or enforcing a provision that outlaws or restricts a removable, portable U.S. flag, permits reasonable size, time, place, and manner provisions, supplies injunctive relief plus court costs and attorney fees, and applies prospectively only to governing documents and leases created after August 1, 2025.¹ House Bill 56 cleared the House on final passage 86-6 on May 12, 2025, and the Senate 37-0 on June 2, 2025, and the House then concurred in the Senate amendments 92-0 on June 4, 2025.⁹

Separately, the Legislature reworked the Louisiana Homeowners Association Act / Planned Community Act (R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq.) through Act 158 of 2024, effective January 1, 2025, but that rework is not a flag measure.⁶ The 2026 Regular Session, which adjourned June 1, 2026, produced no new flag-display statute for community associations.¹⁰

B. Recent rulings

No published decision from a Louisiana district court, a Louisiana Court of Appeal, or the Louisiana Supreme Court in the past 36 months applies the federal flag act, applies R.S. 9:1114, or resolves a CC&R flag dispute. R.S. 9:1114 is new, and no Louisiana appellate court has yet construed it.

C. Active legislative debates

No active Louisiana legislative debate specific to HOA flag display is pending following the 2026 session.

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Louisiana sits among the narrow, U.S.-flag-only statute states, much like Alabama (Ala. Code § 35-1-5),¹¹ but three features of R.S. 9:1114 set it apart: it reaches lessors and leases, it supplies a state civil remedy (injunctive relief, court costs, and attorney fees), and it applies prospectively only. That places Louisiana well short of the content-neutral states such as Colorado, whose statute provides that an association "shall not prohibit or regulate the display of flags on the basis of their subject matter, message, or content" and "shall not prohibit the installation of a flag or flagpole" (C.R.S. § 38-33.3-106.5(1)(a)).¹² It also falls short of the broad enumerated-list states: Florida protects up to two portable, removable flags no larger than 4.5 by 6 feet, including the U.S., Florida, armed-services, POW-MIA, and first-responder flags (Fla. Stat. § 720.304(2)(a)),¹³ and Idaho bars any prohibition of the U.S. flag, the Idaho state flag, the POW/MIA flag, and any branch-of-service flag, and guarantees at least one flagpole per property up to 20 feet in height (Idaho Code § 55-3210).¹⁴ It differs, too, from the moderate two-flag states such as Connecticut, which adds the state flag (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-261b),¹⁵ and Kansas (through KUCIOBORA), and from the federal-floor-only states such as Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, and Kentucky. For a multi-state operator, the practical takeaway is this: in Louisiana, the U.S.-flag answer comes from the federal act for every community and, on top of that, from R.S. 9:1114 for governing documents and leases created after August 1, 2025, while every other flag comes from the building restrictions. Because the federal U.S.-flag floor is identical in every state, the U.S.-flag answer does not change at the Louisiana border.

HOA Weekly's Louisiana Flag Display coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Louisiana appellate courts act, and it tracks R.S. 9:1114 and the reworked Planned Community Act as Louisiana courts begin to apply them. Federal frameworks — including the flag act plus the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD — apply to Louisiana associations regardless of the state framework.

1. La. State Legislature, Enrolled Act No. 224 (2025 Reg. Sess.), H.B. 56, enacting La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 9:1114, "Freedom to display the flag of the United States" (eff. Aug. 1, 2025) ↩
2. 4 U.S.C. § 5, statutory note, Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-243, 120 Stat. 572 (Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. Code) ↩
3. La. Civ. Code Ann. art. 775, Building restrictions (La. State Legislature) ↩
4. 4 U.S.C. ch. 1 §§ 1–10, Federal Flag Code (Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. Code) ↩
5. Murphree v. Tides Condominium at Sweetwater by Del Webb Master Homeowners' Ass'n, No. 3:13-cv-713-J-34MCR (M.D. Fla. 2014) (no private right of action under the federal flag act) ↩
6. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 9:1141.1 et seq., Louisiana Planned Community Act (Acts 2024, No. 158, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2025) ↩
7. La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 9:1121.101, Louisiana Condominium Act, Short title (La. State Legislature) ↩
8. La. State Legislature, Act No. 158 (2024), amending La. Civ. Code Ann. art. 783 (Condominium, Timesharing, and Planned Community Acts supersede building-restriction articles in the event of a conflict) ↩
9. LegiScan, Louisiana H.B. 56 (2025 Reg. Sess.), roll-call votes: House Final Passage #321 (86-6); Senate Final Passage #556 (37-0); House concurrence in Senate amendments #868 (92-0) ↩
10. La. State Legislature, 2026 Regular Legislative Session (convened Mar. 9, 2026; adjourned June 1, 2026) ↩
11. Ala. Code § 35-1-5, Display of United States Flag ↩
12. Colo. Rev. Stat. § 38-33.3-106.5(1)(a), Colorado Common Interest Ownership Act (content-neutral flag and flagpole rule) ↩
13. Fla. Stat. § 720.304, Right to display flags (up to two portable, removable flags not larger than 4.5 by 6 feet) ↩
14. Idaho Code § 55-3210, Flags (U.S., Idaho, POW/MIA, and armed-services flags; flagpole up to 20 feet) ↩
15. Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-261b(d), Common Interest Ownership Act (U.S. flag consistent with federal law; state flag protected) ↩