Louisiana Month-to-Month Lease: 10 Days Before Month's End

By Steve Levine · Updated November 3, 2026

Short answer: A Louisiana month to month lease ends when either side gives written notice at least ten calendar days before the end of a month, under La. Civ. Code art. 2728(2). The lease then ends at the end of that month, and the same short deadline applies to you and to your landlord. Louisiana’s Civil Code calls this a lease with an “indeterminate term,” and it also decides when a lease becomes month-to-month in the first place.

Louisiana is a civil-law state, so its rental rules sit in the Civil Code’s title on lease rather than in a separate landlord-tenant act. That matters here, because the Code uses its own vocabulary: a lease that keeps rolling after its end date is “reconducted,” and a lease with no agreed end date gets a “legal term.” Both usually land you in a month-to-month arrangement.

Louisiana Month to Month Lease Rules at a Glance

Rule	Louisiana	Statute
No term agreed for a home	Lease is month to month	C.C. art. 2680(2)
Fixed lease becomes month to month	Tenant stays one week past the end date with no objection	C.C. arts. 2721, 2723
Notice to end (tenant or landlord)	10 calendar days before the end of the month	C.C. art. 2728(2)
Weekly to under-monthly periods	5 calendar days before the end of the period	C.C. art. 2728(3)
Form of notice for a residence	Must be in writing	C.C. art. 2729
Notice to vacate before eviction	At least 5 days; the termination notice counts	C.C.P. art. 4701

How a Month-to-Month Lease Starts in Louisiana

There are three common routes. The first is simple: you and the landlord sign or agree to a lease that runs month to month. The second is a lease that never states how long it lasts. Under art. 2680(2), when the parties have not agreed on the duration, a lease of an immovable (land or a building) or of a movable used as a residence is from month to month. That covers most oral rentals of an apartment or house.

The third route is reconduction. Under art. 2720, a fixed-term lease ends on its expiration date without any notice. But art. 2721 says the lease is reconducted if, after the term expires and without notice to vacate or other opposition from either side, the tenant stays in possession for one week (for a residential lease longer than a week). Art. 2723(1) then makes the reconducted lease month to month when the original term was a month or longer.

One detail surprises people: under the same article, a reconducted lease whose original term was at least a day but shorter than a month runs from day to day, not week to week.

What carries over when a lease is reconducted

Art. 2724 says all provisions of the lease continue during the reconducted term. Your rent, rules on pets, and the allocation of utilities stay as they were. The only thing that changes is the length of each term and the way it ends: by the notice described in arts. 2727 through 2729.

Notice to End a Louisiana Month-to-Month Lease

Art. 2727 says a lease with an indeterminate term, expressly including a reconducted lease or one whose term came from art. 2680, ends by notice from the party who wants out. Art. 2728 sets the timing by the length of the rental period:

Period longer than a month: 30 calendar days before the end of that period.
Month to month: 10 calendar days before the end of that month.
A week or longer but shorter than a month: 5 calendar days before the end of that period.
Shorter than a week: any time before the period expires.

The deadline is the same whether you are the tenant or the landlord. Louisiana does not lengthen the landlord’s notice after you have rented for a year, and the Civil Code articles above contain no just-cause requirement for ending a month-to-month lease.

Timing: the notice ends the lease at a month’s end

The final paragraph of art. 2728 controls what happens if the notice is late or vague. A timely notice ends the lease at the end of the period it names. If it names no date, the lease ends at the end of the first period for which the notice was timely. So a late notice is not void; it simply rolls the move-out date forward by one period.

How notice must be given

Under art. 2729, notice of termination must be in writing when the leased thing is an immovable or a movable used as a residence. The same article adds a tenant-friendly shortcut: surrendering possession to the landlord at the time notice would be due under art. 2728 itself counts as the tenant’s notice. Keep a dated copy of any letter or email, and get a receipt or a signed acknowledgment if you hand-deliver it.

Rent Increases and Other Changes

We found no Louisiana statute setting a separate rent-increase notice period, and the Civil Code lease articles cited here do not cap the amount. Because art. 2724 keeps every term of a reconducted lease in force, a landlord who wants different rent or rules generally has to end the existing month-to-month lease with a timely art. 2728 notice and offer a new one. If you do not accept the new terms, you can leave at the end of the month the notice targets.

For how other states handle increases, see rent increase laws by state.

Holding Over After Notice

Once a valid notice has ended the lease, staying past the end date exposes you to eviction. Under Code of Civil Procedure art. 4701, a landlord who wants possession must deliver a written notice to vacate giving you at least five days from delivery. For a lease with no definite term, that article says the notice required by law to end the lease also counts as the notice to vacate. In other words, a proper art. 2728 notice can double as the eviction notice once the month is over.

Art. 4701 also lets a tenant waive these notice requirements through a written waiver in the lease. Read your lease for a clause waiving “notice to vacate,” because if one is there, the landlord may file for eviction as soon as your right to occupy ends. If you cannot be found or the unit looks abandoned, art. 4703 allows notices to be attached to a door of the premises.

We did not find a Louisiana statute imposing double rent on a residential holdover in the articles reviewed here. The more practical risk is that the landlord’s objection prevents reconduction under art. 2721, so you are simply a tenant whose lease has ended. For the court side, see eviction process by state.

Worked Example: Ending a Lease in Baton Rouge

Renée rents a one-bedroom in Baton Rouge for $1,150 a month. Her one-year written lease ended on January 31, 2027. She stayed, kept paying, and her landlord never objected, so after one week the lease was reconducted and became month to month under arts. 2721 and 2723(1), with the same rent and rules under art. 2724.

In March she accepts a job in Lafayette and wants out at the end of March. March has 31 days, so to give notice ten calendar days before the end of the month she should deliver a written letter no later than March 21, 2027. She emails and hand-delivers the letter on March 18 and asks the manager to sign a copy.

Had she waited until March 25, the notice would have been late for March. Under the last paragraph of art. 2728, it would then end the lease at the end of April, and she would owe April’s $1,150. You can check dates like these with our notice deadline calculator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my lease become month-to-month the day it expires?

No. Under art. 2721, a residential lease longer than a week is reconducted only after you stay in possession for one week past the end date without notice or opposition from either side. Until then, the lease has simply ended under art. 2720.

Can my Louisiana landlord give me 30 days’ notice instead of 10?

Yes. Art. 2728 sets the latest the notice can be given (“at or before” the stated time), so earlier notice is allowed. A notice that names an end date ends the lease at the end of that period.

Is a text message enough notice?

Art. 2729 requires written notice for a residence but does not list a delivery method. Rather than test whether a text counts, send a signed, dated letter and keep proof of delivery, which is far easier to show a judge if there is a dispute.

I signed a lease waiving notice to vacate. Does that waive the 10-day termination notice too?

The waiver in Code of Civil Procedure art. 4701 covers that article’s notice-to-vacate requirements. The Civil Code still says a month-to-month lease ends by an art. 2728 notice, so read the clause closely and get legal help if a landlord files without one.

If I just move out and return the keys, have I given notice?

Under art. 2729, surrendering possession to the landlord at the time notice would be due counts as your notice of termination. Returning keys by the tenth day before the end of the month therefore ends the lease at that month’s end.

If you are planning a move, also read our guide to the Louisiana security deposit law so you know when your refund is due, and compare arrangements in month-to-month vs. fixed-term lease. More states are listed on our month-to-month lease laws by state hub. This page is general information, not legal advice; if your landlord files for eviction, contact a legal aid office through LSC’s get legal help finder right away.

Sources

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