Louisiana HOA Short-Term Rentals

Quick-Reference Table

Last verified: July 17, 2026.

Section 1 — Overview: Can an HOA restrict short-term rentals in Louisiana?

A Louisiana condominium association or homeowners association can restrict or prohibit short-term rentals through the declaration, which in a planned community takes effect as a building restriction under the Civil Code, and separately such rentals face heavy local regulation, most intensely in New Orleans. Two statutes supply the association framework: the Louisiana Condominium Act, La. R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq., for condominiums, and the Louisiana Planned Community Act, La. R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq. (renamed from the Louisiana Homeowners Association Act by Acts 2024, No. 158, effective January 1, 2025), for planned communities, the latter operating together with the Civil Code building-restriction articles, La. Civ. Code arts. 775 to 783.¹¹⁹ Louisiana is the country's only civil-law jurisdiction, so what other states call restrictive covenants or CC&Rs are building restrictions here, enforced under civil-law mechanics such as liberative prescription and abandonment rather than common-law covenant doctrine.³ The dominant, heavily litigated regime is New Orleans, and there is no statewide statute preempting local STR regulation. Local permitting and lodging taxes are owner-facing layers that bind owners and local governments; they neither grant nor remove association authority. The sections below set out the legal framework, the operational mechanics of adoption and enforcement, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2 — The legal framework for HOA short-term rental restrictions

2A. The civil-law foundation and the two statutes

Louisiana property law derives from the Louisiana Civil Code, not English common law, and it has no common law of covenants. Use restrictions in a residential development are building restrictions, defined by La. Civ. Code art. 775 as charges imposed under a general plan governing building standards, specified uses, and improvements.³ Building restrictions are sui generis real rights likened to predial servitudes, and doubt about their existence, validity, or extent is resolved in favor of the unrestricted use of the immovable (art. 783).²⁰ Common-law concepts such as touch and concern, horizontal privity, laches, and adverse possession have no application.

Two statutes overlay this foundation. The Louisiana Condominium Act (La. R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq., enacted by Acts 1979, No. 682) governs condominiums, where authority over use flows from the recorded condominium declaration and bylaws.¹ The Louisiana Planned Community Act (La. R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq.) governs planned communities and operates together with the building-restriction articles; art. 783 provides that the Condominium Act, the Timesharing Act, and the Planned Community Act supersede the Civil Code building-restriction articles in the event of a conflict.²⁰ The two association statutes should not be conflated, and their provisions do not cross-apply: a condominium is governed by the Condominium Act, and a planned community by the Planned Community Act plus arts. 775 to 783. In either setting, the declaration is the source of rental authority, and it is important to distinguish authority over long-term leasing from authority over short-term or transient rentals, which Louisiana courts treat as a commercial use rather than a residential lease.²¹

2B. Restricting rentals, amendments, prescription, and grandfathering

A condominium adds or tightens a rental restriction by amending the declaration. Under La. R.S. 9:1122.119, the declaration may be amended by vote or agreement of unit owners holding at least 67% of the association's votes, or any other percentage the declaration specifies.⁴ A planned community establishes or amends a building restriction under the Planned Community Act and the Civil Code. Where the community documents do not provide a method, La. R.S. 9:1141.6 sets defaults: building restrictions may be established by three-fourths of the lot owners, made more onerous by two-thirds, and made less onerous or terminated by more than one-half.⁸ Separately, La. R.S. 9:1141.14 requires a supermajority (more than 80% of all lot owners, not merely those present) to adopt a more burdensome use restriction by declaration amendment, and it bars an amendment from prohibiting an existing use of a lot.⁷

Two civil-law mechanics bear on enforceability. Liberative prescription under La. Civ. Code art. 781 bars any action for injunction or damages more than two years after the commencement of a noticeable violation, after which the immovable is freed of the restriction that was violated.⁹ Abandonment under art. 782 terminates a restriction where the whole plan or a particular restriction has been generally abandoned.¹⁰ Grandfathering is therefore resolved through these civil-law routes and, for planned communities, through the nonconforming-use protection in La. R.S. 9:1141.14, not through any Florida-style or California-style statutory shield.⁷ Neither association statute limits an association's authority to restrict rentals; Louisiana is declaration-driven and has no counterpart to California Civil Code § 4741 or Arizona A.R.S. § 33-1806.01.²

2C. State law, New Orleans, tax, and the local layer

There is no statewide statute preempting local STR regulation. Municipalities regulate under their zoning power (La. R.S. 33:4721), and the Fifth Circuit confirmed that this authority reaches the regulation of short-term rentals.¹⁸ New Orleans has the most contested regime in the country. In Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans, 46 F.4th 317 (5th Cir. 2022), decided August 22, 2022, the court held that the city's requirement tying a residential STR permit to the owner's primary residence and homestead exemption discriminated against out-of-state owners and violated the dormant Commerce Clause.²² The city rewrote its ordinance in 2023, replacing owner residency with an operator-residency rule (a licensed operator on-site while guests are present), capping residential permits at one per city square (four city streets forming a square) awarded by lottery effective July 1, 2023, and later requiring platforms to verify permits.¹² On October 7, 2025, the Fifth Circuit issued a second decision (No. 24-30160) striking the ban on business-entity permit holders (Equal Protection) and a one-listing advertising rule, while upholding the operator-residency requirement, the permit scheme, and advertising disclosures.¹⁸ Louisiana imposes state sales tax on lodging (5%, raised from 4.45% effective January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2029 by Act 11 of the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session) plus local sales and hotel/occupancy taxes, and New Orleans layers on additional STR taxes (an occupancy tax capped at 6.75% under La. R.S. 47:338.221, plus city STR fees), all keyed to stays of less than 30 consecutive days.⁶²³ This local layer governs the owner-to-government relationship only. An owner who holds a valid New Orleans permit may still violate the building restrictions in the declaration, and an owner in compliance with the declaration may still lack a required city permit.

Section 3 — Operational mechanics and enforcement

A. Adopting a valid restriction (the tools)

The most common mechanism is a minimum-lease-term restriction, which in a planned community takes effect as a building restriction and in a condominium as a declaration provision. Louisiana sets no statewide statutory minimum lease term for associations, so the day-count that defines "short-term" comes from the declaration itself; the 30-day line found in tax and local ordinances does not bind associations.⁶ Rental caps by percentage of units are likewise not addressed by either statute and depend on express authority in the declaration or community documents, adopted through the amendment thresholds in Section 2B (67% for condominiums under La. R.S. 9:1122.119; a more-than-80% supermajority for a more burdensome planned-community use restriction under La. R.S. 9:1141.14).⁴⁷ An association may also impose internal registration, owner-information, and lease-filing requirements; the Planned Community Act expressly allows an association to require an occupant to execute and file documentation.²

B. Enforcement

Before fining, a condominium association must provide notice and an opportunity to be heard under La. R.S. 9:1123.102(11), which authorizes reasonable fines for violations of the declaration, bylaws, and rules and is expressly subject to the declaration.¹³ In a planned community, the community documents' procedures apply and have the force of law under La. R.S. 9:1141.8, and the Planned Community Act sets notice methods (mail, electronic mail, hand delivery, or another reasonable method) under La. R.S. 9:1141.38.¹⁴¹⁵ The liberative-prescription period of La. Civ. Code art. 781 is the sharpest practical constraint: an association that lets a noticeable STR violation run for two years loses the right to enjoin it or recover damages, and the property is freed of the restriction that was violated.⁹ Remedies include fines, injunctive relief (building restrictions may be enforced by mandatory and prohibitory injunctions under La. Civ. Code art. 779, without regard to the ordinary injunction limits), and enforcement of unpaid amounts as a privilege on the unit or lot (La. R.S. 9:1123.115 for condominiums; La. R.S. 9:1141.9 for planned communities).¹⁶¹⁷ Association enforcement runs on a separate track from local-government enforcement: the city can fine an owner for permit violations while the association separately enjoins the same conduct as a building-restriction breach, and neither displaces the other. Most of these rules are declaration-driven; the statutory fine and notice provisions may be supplemented or made stricter by the governing documents.

Section 4 — Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

B. Recent rulings

C. Active legislative or local debates

State proposals to regulate unlicensed STRs statewide and to create a neighbor right of action (for example, SB 225 of the 2025 session) have been discussed but not confirmed as enacted, and New Orleans continues to adjust its ordinance, including the March 2025 City Council elimination of permit exceptions and phased platform-verification enforcement.

Section 5 — National positioning and related coverage

Louisiana is the country's only civil-law jurisdiction, so association use restrictions are building restrictions under the Louisiana Civil Code (arts. 775 to 783) rather than common-law covenants, and they are administered through two separate statutes, the Louisiana Condominium Act and the Louisiana Planned Community Act, against the backdrop of a dominant, heavily litigated New Orleans STR regime. This sets Louisiana apart from states that preempt local bans (such as Florida and Arizona) or that limit HOA rental authority directly by statute (such as California and Arizona); Louisiana does neither, leaving rental authority to the declaration and the civil-law enforcement rules of prescription and abandonment. Local STR permitting and lodging taxes restrain local governments and owners, not associations, so satisfying a city permit is not a defense to a building-restriction violation. For a multi-state operator entering Louisiana, the practical implications are three: use building restrictions and the declaration rather than common-law covenant theories, keep the two statutes distinct and never cross-apply them, and treat the New Orleans regime as a separate owner-facing compliance layer.

HOA Weekly's Louisiana Short-Term Rentals coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature, the Louisiana Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit, and local governments act. Federal frameworks (the FHA, ADA, FDCPA, SCRA, and OTARD rule) also apply to Louisiana associations regardless of the state framework.

Footnotes

1. Louisiana Condominium Act, La. R.S. 9:1121.101 et seq. (Acts 1979, No. 682), Louisiana State Legislature ↩
2. Louisiana Planned Community Act, La. R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq., Louisiana State Legislature ↩
3. La. Civ. Code arts. 775–783, Building Restrictions (LSU Law Center, Louisiana Civil Code) ↩
4. La. R.S. 9:1141.1 et seq., together with La. Civ. Code arts. 775–783 ↩
5. La. Civ. Code art. 781, Termination; liberative prescription (two years from commencement of a noticeable violation) ↩
6. La. Civ. Code art. 782, Abandonment of plan or of restriction ↩
7. La. Civ. Code art. 783, Matters of interpretation and application (as amended by Acts 2024, No. 158) ↩
8. La. Civ. Code art. 779, enforcement by mandatory and prohibitory injunctions ↩
9. La. R.S. 9:1122.119, Amendment of declaration (at least 67% of association votes) ↩
10. La. R.S. 9:1123.102(11), Powers of unit owners' association (fines after notice and an opportunity to be heard) ↩
11. La. R.S. 9:1141.6, Establishment, amendment, or termination of building restrictions ↩
12. La. R.S. 9:1141.14 and 9:1141.2 (supermajority; nonconforming use), Acts 2024, No. 158 ↩
13. La. R.S. 9:1141.8, Community documents; force of law ↩
14. La. R.S. 9:1141.9, Homeowners association privilege ↩
15. La. R.S. 9:1141.38, notice methods, Acts 2024, No. 158 ↩
16. Acts 2024, No. 158 (SB 23), Louisiana Planned Community Act, effective January 1, 2025 ↩
17. Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans, 46 F.4th 317 (5th Cir. 2022) (discussed in No. 24-30160) ↩
18. Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans, No. 24-30160 (5th Cir. Oct. 7, 2025); La. R.S. 33:4721 municipal zoning authority ↩
19. Edwards v. Landry Chalet Rentals, LLC, 51,883 (La. App. 2 Cir. 02/28/18), 246 So. 3d 754, writ denied, 2018-0502 (La. 06/01/18), 244 So. 3d 437 ↩
20. Deslonde v. St. Tammany Parish, 2023 CA 0948 (La. App. 1 Cir. 06/04/24), 391 So. 3d 706 ↩
21. City of New Orleans, Short Term Rental Administration (Department of Safety and Permits) ↩
22. City of New Orleans, STR Taxes, Fees, and Fines; residential permit density (one per city square, lottery, effective July 1, 2023) ↩
23. La. R.S. 47:338.221, City of New Orleans short-term rental occupancy tax (cap 6.75%; less than 30 consecutive days) ↩
24. Louisiana Department of Revenue, state sales tax on sleeping rooms and accommodations (5% effective January 1, 2025, per Act 11 of the 2024 Third Extraordinary Session) ↩
25. Acts 2025, No. 387 (HB 610), New Orleans short-term rentals, effective January 1, 2026 ↩