10.8 Rent Increases

Rent may not legally be increased during the term of a lease in the absence of a valid rent escalation clause.1  Escalation clauses can be invalidated if the price is not readily ascertainable or is dependent on the landlord’s whim.2  A landlord cannot unilaterally increase a month-to-month tenant’s rent unless 10-days notice is given prior to the expiration of the current rental month.3

Some judges will not allow an eviction for nonpayment of rent if the rent has been tendered but refused because it was not accompanied by payment of non-rent charges, e.g., alleged late fees or property damage.4

If a tenant directs a landlord to apply a payment to current monthly rent rather than past balance or disputed charges, the landlord may not legally apply the payment to a different debt.5  This can be accomplished by writing the purpose of the payment on the money order or check or in an accompanying letter. However, if the tenant accepts a receipt imputing the payment to a past balance rather than to current month, the tenant cannot then demand that the payment be applied otherwise.6

• 1La. C.C. art. 1983.
• 2La. C.C. art 2676 (the lease is invalid where the rent is not determinable); Arata v. La. Stadium & Exposition Dist., 225 So. 2d 362, 366 (La. 1969).
• 3La. C.C. arts. 1983, 2728.
• 4Cf. La. C.C. art. 2704.
• 5La. C.C. art. 1864.
• 6La. C.C. art. 1867.