The tenant has the right to remove improvements made to a leased unit provided the tenant restores the unit to its prior condition.1 Where the tenant does not remove the improvements, the lessor may appropriate ownership of the improvements by reimbursing the lessee for their costs, or the increased value of the leased unit (whichever is less).2 Alternately, the lessor may demand that the lessee remove the improvements in a reasonable time and restore the unit to its former condition.3 If the lessee fails to do so, the lessor can do so at the lessee’s expense. The lessor can also appropriate ownership of the improvements without reimbursement upon certified mail notice.4
The tenant is entitled to reimbursement for improvements even where the lease states that improvements shall be the property of the lessor.5
- 1La. C.C. art. 2695(1).
- 2La. C.C. 2695(2)(a); Pylate v. Inabet, 458 So. 2d 1378 (La. App. 2 Cir. 1984) (where lessee failed to remove cosmetic improvements at move-out, lessor’s use of the improvements upon retaking possession of property did not constitute an election to retain them and did not obligate her to pay for them).
- 3La. C.C. 2695(2)(b); Riggs v. Lawton, 93 So. 2d 543 (La. 1957).
- 4La. C.C. 2695(2)(b).
- 5Leake v. Hardie, 245 So. 2d 729 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1971);