Louisiana Act No. 422 -- Summary and Next Steps

Robin R

How to make sure you're in compliance with Louisiana Act No. 422

New legislation affecting lessors of properties in LA, and how Rent Application can help you stay in compliance

On August 1st, 2021 Louisiana Act 422 went into effect requiring lessors of residential properties located in Louisiana adhere to a new state law regarding their rental application process.

By using Rent Application, you may automatically meet some of these requirements:

1. The cost paid by the applicant for the application and reports is displayed directly on the application page.

2. Our default Authorization Language covers the processing of reports and their consideration in the decision making process.

The new legislation does require that you alert the applicant that "They may share, in good faith, a statement of two hundred words or less explaining that the applicant has experienced financial hardship resulting from a state or federally declared disaster or emergency and how that hardship impacted the applicant's credit, employment, or rental history. The lessor's notice regarding the statement of financial hardship shall reference the COVID-19 pandemic and hurricanes."

While our default application does not include this specific language by default, it is easy to add this right into your online application with our Form Editing tools!

How to edit your online application

Accessing the Form Builder

To get started, click on the Edit button to the right of the Form in your Forms tab:

Updating Authorization Language

Navigate to the Authorization Section of your form, then drag and drop a new Text field under the Authorization Language section:

You can then edit the new field in order to add your custom language.

An example of the language you might add here to cover yourself if you are a lessor in Louisiana might be:

I understand and agree that I may share, in good faith, a statement of two hundred words or less explaining why I have experienced financial hardship resulting from a state or federally declared disaster or emergency and how that hardship impacted my credit, employment, or rental history. If I choose to provide this statement, it shall reference the cause of my hardship, including but not limited to Covid-19 and/or hurricanes.

As always, be sure to click "Save" on the left to keep any edits!

How to edit your online application in Classic

To get started, click on the Edit button to the right of the Form in your Forms Dashboard:

Next, click on the option to edit your form fields:

Updating Authorization Language

Rent Application's authorization language field cannot be edited, however you can add additional language to this field if needed.

To do so, use the drag-and-drop menu to add a Text field to the Authorization Section:

An example of the language you might add here to cover yourself if you are a lessor in Louisiana might be:

I understand and agree that I may share, in good faith, a statement of two hundred words or less explaining why I have experienced financial hardship resulting from a state or federally declared disaster or emergency and how that hardship impacted my credit, employment, or rental history. If I choose to provide this statement, it shall reference the cause of my hardship, including but not limited to Covid-19 and/or hurricanes.

As always, be sure to click "Save" at the top right corner to keep any edits!

Helpful How-To Video here:

https://www.loom.com/share/244a5a24c44e40589fc637455e85853d (Redesign)

https://www.loom.com/share/dffb8f879f65434584d5cb139101f93d (Classic)

Still have questions? Email support@rentapplication.net or schedule a call here: https://calendly.com/rrusso/rent-application-la-act422

Please be sure to consult your own legal counsel when making changes to your processes.

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