New law provides tougher penalties for La. landlords
21st May 2018 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
On May 11, Senate Bill 466 passed the Louisiana House, giving Louisiana renters protection from landlords who unlawfully refuse to refund security deposits.
SB 466 was carried by Sen. Ed Price of Gonzales. The new law goes into effect on August 1 and allows renters to recover three times the amount typically awarded under the current state law. Many of the legislators who supported the bill, including Sen. Price himself, are landlords.
The state’s old law was stacked heavily in the favor of landlords. It created a situation where the amount of money a renter could receive from a landlord via small claims court would often not be worth the time or money to pursue the case. As a result, there was not much to discourage dishonest landlords from withholding security deposits. If the renter gave up, the landlord kept the money. If the renter won in court and got their security deposit back, the landlord would not face any stiff penalties.
“Loyola Law Clinic routinely represents low-income renters whose landlords have stolen their security deposits. Even after winning a lawsuit, the most renters usually receive back under the old law is the stolen deposit,” said Davida Finger, a Loyola University College of Law professor who helped craft the bill’s reforms. “For bad actors, that was no disincentive. Low-income people cannot easily access attorneys or the courts. Without deposit funds, there is a struggle to secure new housing. The new law is a step in the right direction for Louisiana renters and for our communities.”
Maxwell Ciardullo, director of policy and communications for the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Committee, said that approximately 54 percent of New Orleanians rent and approximately 1.5 million Louisianians rent. He said the process of creating the SB 466 began in 2014.
Louisiana renters have many stories of landlords wrongfully keeping deposits. LSU law student Jourdan Curet left her Baton Rouge town home in good condition, but she never received a dollar of her $500 security deposit back. This was even after she enlisted the aid of her mother’s law firm.
“Even if I took my landlord to small claims court and won, I’m sure he’d continue keeping deposits because most students don’t have the knowledge, time or resources to file in small claims court, and the penalty was negligible for him either way,” said Curet.
Aimee Strubel, a self-employed house painter in New Orleans, needed a lawyer willing to work pro bono for two years to recover damages after a roof leak and mold damaged most of her belongings.
“A higher penalty might have created some incentive for my landlord to return my deposit,” said Strubel.
Noelle Deltufo, a New Orleans social worker, and her wife, Sonya Savchenko, a self-employed handywoman, dealt with a landlord who kept $1,000 of their deposit. One of the reasons the landlord gave for keeping the $1,000 was new mini-blinds that Deltufo paid for and installed herself. When Deltufo asked for itemized receipts of all the expenses covered in the $1,000, the landlord replied with a typed list with vague terms like “cleaning fee” and “parts” instead of actual receipts.
When Deltufo finally received two receipts, they were from July. Deltufo and Savchenko had moved out in May, five days earlier than they needed to in order to assist their landlord in getting the home ready for new tenants.
“There was no reason to take that much money from us,” Deltufo said. “We left the apartment in better condition than we found it…I’ve always gotten my deposit back from everywhere else I’ve lived.”
Ciardullo said there is still much work to be done. He said that the new law just brings Louisiana up to the level of surrounding states like Arkansas and Alabama. Renters in Louisiana still have less protections than most American states. He said he gets calls every week from area renters who are stuck in apartments where ceilings have collapsed or where there are health and safety issues like mold and rats.
“When you’re on a month-to-month lease, any complaint (even if it’s justified) to your landlord can be a cause for eviction,” said Ciardullo. “People from all walks of life rent and they deserve the basic protections of a safe and stable home.”
This article originally published in the May 21, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
