HB 292 Louisiana House · 2026 Regular Session

HOUSING: Provides relative to the return of security deposits

HB 292 clarifies Louisiana's security deposit return rules for residential tenants. It requires landlords to return all or part of a security deposit within one month after a lease ends, or up to two months if both parties agree in writing. Landlords may only keep funds to cover legitimate costs like repairs for tenant-caused damage or unreasonable wear, and must provide a detailed written explanation for any retained amount. This directly affects residential tenants and landlords across Louisiana by standardizing deposit return timelines and requiring transparent accounting.

Issues: ✓ Housing

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Feb 2026

Committee Review

Apr 2026

House Passage

Mar 2026

Senate Passage

May 2026

Signed into Law

May 2026

Introduced Feb 24, 2026 Signed May 11, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 3 comparisons

What changed between versions

HB292 Original → HB292 Act · 3 edits

MINOR

HB 292 was amended between its original and enrolled versions to remove the provision allowing landlords and tenants to mutually agree in writing to extend security deposit return deadlines to two months after lease termination. The enrolled version sets a strict one-month deadline for returning deposits and provides a fixed 15-day grace period beyond that deadline specifically for delivering itemized statements of retained funds, rather than the previous flexible mutual-agreement mechanism.

Scope change

The bill's scope narrowed by eliminating the mutual-agreement extension mechanism for security deposit returns, replacing it with fixed statutory deadlines that do not require tenant consent to extend.

REQUIREMENT

Removed the provision allowing landlords and tenants to agree in writing to extend the security deposit return deadline to up to two months after lease termination. The enrolled version requires return within one month with no extension option.

TIMELINE

Changed the deadline for delivering an itemized statement of retained deposit funds from a mutually agreed date (up to two months) to a fixed window: within one month after tenancy terminates, or within fifteen days after that one-month deadline (effectively up to about 45 days total).

SCOPE

Added Representative Taylor as a co-sponsor alongside Representative Boyd.

Floor votes · Senate May 5, 2026 · House Mar 26, 2026

How they voted

36–0

Passed · 4 other

Total votes 40

May 5, 2026

D Democratic12

10 Yea 2

83% Yea

R Republican28

26 Yea 2

92% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

May 5, 2026

Upper · Passed

Read by title, passed by a vote of 35 yeas and 0 nays, and ordered returned to the House. Motion to reconsider tabled.

upper

Apr 22, 2026

Committee

Read by title and referred to the Legislative Bureau.

upper

Apr 21, 2026

Upper · Passed

Reported favorably.

upper

Mar 26, 2026

Lower · Passed

Read third time by title, roll called on final passage, yeas 87, nays 3. Finally passed, title adopted, ordered to the Senate.

lower

Mar 23, 2026

Lower · Passed

Reported with amendments (7-0-1).

lower

Mar 9, 2026

Committee

Read by title, under the rules, referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.

lower

Feb 24, 2026

Committee

Under the rules, provisionally referred to the Committee on Civil Law and Procedure.

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor