Louisiana

Louisiana — Bond for Deed

Legal information, not legal advice. Verify against the cited primary sources before acting. Statutes in this area are frequently amended. Last verified: 2026-06-08.

Louisiana is the country’s only civil-law jurisdiction, and its installment land-sale instrument is not a “contract for deed” or “land contract” but a bond for deed — a creature of statute, La. R.S. 9:2941–9:2947. The bond for deed is a contract to sell, not a sale: the seller retains ownership and agrees to deliver title only after the price (or “a stipulated sum”) is paid in installments. La. R.S. 9:2941. Because Louisiana lacks the common-law forfeiture/foreclosure dichotomy that drives the rest of this wiki, three things are distinctive: (1) the remedy on default is a statutory cancellation — a 45-day certified-mail cure notice served by the escrow agent, followed by registry of the cancellation in the conveyance records (R.S. 9:2945) — not a judicial foreclosure; (2) Louisiana case law forbids pure forfeiture: a cancelled buyer recovers price payments (net of fair rental value), and waivers of that refund are void as against public policy; and (3) when the property is mortgaged, the statute mandates a bank escrow agent and a recorded release-price guarantee from the lienholder before any sale (R.S. 9:2942–2943). There is no Texas-style mandatory pre-sale disclosure statute.

0. Identity & Terminology

• In-state name(s): “bond for deed.” Defined as “a contract to sell real property, in which the purchase price is to be paid by the buyer to the seller in installments and in which the seller after payment of a stipulated sum agrees to deliver title to the buyer.” La. R.S. 9:2941, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107307. (The generic “contract for deed”/“land contract” terminology is foreign to Louisiana’s civil-law system.)
• Recognition: Statutory. The bond for deed is governed by a dedicated Part of Title 9 (Civil Code Ancillaries), R.S. 9:2941 et seq.; the civilian law of obligations and sale (Louisiana Civil Code) supplies the background rules.
• Statutory home: La. R.S. Title 9, §§ 9:2941–9:2947 (plus the recordation rule § 9:2941.1). Index entry / § 2941: https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107307.
• Remedy regime: statutory_cancellation. On default, the seller’s statutory remedy is cancellation — escrow-agent-served 45-day certified-mail cure notice, then registry of the cancellation in the conveyance records (R.S. 9:2945), https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107311. There is no judicial foreclosure of a bond for deed and (by case law) no pure forfeiture: the cancelled buyer is refunded price payments net of fair rental value. See forfeiture-vs-foreclosure, seals-v-sumrall-2004, bennett-v-hughes-2004.

1. Formation & Mandatory Disclosures

• Statute of frauds: A transfer of, or promise to transfer, immovable property must be in writing (authentic act or act under private signature). La. Civ. Code art. 1839 (“A transfer of immovable property must be made by authentic act or by act under private signature.”); the bond-for-deed statute presupposes a written, recordable contract (R.S. 9:2941.1, 9:2945). Civ. Code art. 1839, https://legis.la.gov/legis/law.aspx?d=109078.
• Mandatory disclosures: no bond-for-deed-specific pre-sale disclosure statute. Unlike Texas (Prop. Code Ch. 5, Subch. D) or Minnesota, Louisiana’s bond-for-deed Part (R.S. 9:2941–2947) imposes no statutory schedule of pre-sale disclosures (tax delinquency, liens, condition, survey, payoff) and no per-day or rescission penalty for non-disclosure. The protective rules it does impose are structural: the encumbrance / release-price rule (§ 9:2942), the escrow-agent rule (§ 9:2943), and the cancellation procedure (§ 9:2945). Confirmed absent on the face of §§ 9:2941–2947 retrieved this run; the residential property- condition disclosure duty under R.S. 9:3196–3200 (seller’s disclosure form) applies generally to residential transfers and is flagged in needs_verification as to its application to a bond for deed. § 9:2942, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107308.
• Recording requirement — to be effective against third parties. A bond for deed is recorded in the mortgage and conveyance records; upon recordation, any later sale, lease, mortgage, lien, privilege, or judgment by the seller takes subject to the bond for deed, and subordinate filings may be cancelled on 30 days’ notice. La. R.S. 9:2941.1, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=408384. No fixed statutory deadline in days is prescribed (recordation governs ranking / third-party effect under the public-records doctrine rather than running a clock); either party may record. Where the property is encumbered, the lienholder’s release-price guarantee must be recorded in the mortgage records before any part of the property is offered under bond for deed. R.S. 9:2942, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107308.
• Annual accounting statement: not statutorily required. §§ 9:2941–2947 impose no annual principal/interest/balance accounting statement on the seller (contrast Texas § 5.077). Where a bank escrow agent holds payments on encumbered property (§ 9:2943), the escrow accounting runs through the agent. Confirmed absent on the face of the Part. § 9:2943, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107309.
• Prepayment: Allowed; no penalty where the contract is silent. A buyer may pay the balance and compel conveyance; the right to prepay exists when the contract does not address it. lyons-v-pitts-2006 (La. App. 2 Cir. 2006), 923 So. 2d 962.
• Usury / interest cap: Louisiana’s conventional-interest ceiling is 12% per annum, fixed in writing; a higher rate is usurious and the borrower may recover the excess interest within two years. La. R.S. 9:3500, https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=285199. Critically, this ceiling does not apply to “consumer credit transactions” governed by the Louisiana Consumer Credit Law (R.S. 9:3510 et seq.), so a residential, consumer-purpose bond for deed is generally rate-governed by the Consumer Credit Law rather than the flat 12% cap. R.S. 9:3500, https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=285199. (Exact rate ceiling under the Consumer Credit Law for a residential bond for deed flagged in needs_verification.)

2. Buyer’s Equitable Interest

• “Equitable title” is a common-law concept Louisiana does not use; the buyer holds a recorded contractual right to acquire ownership. The seller retains ownership until the price is paid (R.S. 9:2941); the buyer’s protection comes from recordation (R.S. 9:2941.1, giving the recorded bond for deed priority over the seller’s later acts) and from the specific-performance right to compel conveyance on payment (lyons-v-pitts-2006). The civilian doctrine of equitable conversion is not part of Louisiana law; see equitable-conversion for the contrast. R.S. 9:2941.1, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=408384.
• Recordable / insurable: The buyer’s interest is recordable (indeed recordation is what makes it effective against third parties, R.S. 9:2941.1) and is routinely handled through Louisiana title companies acting as escrow agents.
• Risk of loss / improvements: Contract-governed in practice; because the seller retains ownership, allocation of casualty risk and the treatment of buyer improvements turn on the contract and the Civil Code’s sale/obligations rules. (Specific risk-of-loss and improvement-reimbursement authority for bond for deed flagged in needs_verification.)

3. Default & Remedies → see forfeiture-vs-foreclosure

• Primary remedy: statutory cancellation (R.S. 9:2945). “If the buyer under a bond for deed contract shall fail to make the payments in accordance with its terms and conditions, the seller, at his option, may have the bond for deed cancelled by proper registry in the conveyance records, provided he has first caused the escrow agent to serve notice upon the buyer, by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, at his last known address, that unless payment is made as provided in the bond for deed within forty-five days from the mailing date of the notice, the bond for deed shall be cancelled.” R.S. 9:2945(A), https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107311.
  • Cure period: 45 days; runs from the mailing of the notice. R.S. 9:2945(A).
  • Who serves: the escrow agent (not the seller directly). R.S. 9:2945(A).
  • Service method / notice form: registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, to the buyer’s last known address. R.S. 9:2945(A). The statute prescribes the content (the 45-day-or-cancel warning) but not a font/size formality. Courts have held the cancellation can be defeated by direct evidence that the buyer never received the notice, overcoming the mailing presumption. See montz-v-theard-2002 and the Broadway v. All-Star Ins. Corp., 285 So. 2d 536 (La. 1973) non-receipt line cited in the practice literature (https://probonodeskmanual.loyno.edu/book/export/html/892).
  • Unencumbered property: where no mortgage or privilege exists, “the seller shall exercise the right of cancellation in the same manner.” R.S. 9:2945(B).
• Forfeiture available? No — pure forfeiture is barred by case law. A defaulting buyer is entitled to return of the monies paid on the purchase price, and a contractual waiver of that refund is unenforceable as against public policy; the seller’s offset is the fair rental value of the buyer’s occupancy, not the forfeited payments. seals-v-sumrall-2004, 887 So. 2d 91; montz-v-theard-2002, 818 So. 2d 181; Berthelot v. Le Investment, 2002-2054 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1/21/04), 866 So. 2d 877. Substantial-equity bar: Louisiana does not need a Skendzel- style equity threshold (skendzel-v-marshall-1973) because it refuses forfeiture at any equity level — the buyer’s price payments are refundable regardless.
• Judicial foreclosure required when: never — a bond for deed is not foreclosed. The seller’s path is cancellation (R.S. 9:2945) and then, if the buyer will not vacate, an eviction / rule for possession (bennett-v-hughes-2004). Where the property is encumbered and the buyer keeps paying, the lienholder is precluded from foreclosing; default by the buyer revives the lienholder’s foreclosure right on the secured notes (against the seller’s title). R.S. 9:2944, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107310.
• Acceleration: The statutory remedy is cancellation of the whole contract on a 45-day uncured default rather than acceleration of the balance; a money-judgment acceleration would proceed (if at all) through ordinary judicial dissolution of the obligation. La. Civ. Code art. 2013 (obligee’s right to dissolution), https://lcco.law.lsu.edu/?uid=79&ver=en.
• Restitution offset on cancellation: required. Buyer recovers price payments; seller credits fair rental value for the occupancy period. seals-v-sumrall-2004; Berthelot, 866 So. 2d 877.
• Seller’s other remedies: specific performance / suit to compel payment; judicial dissolution of the contract under Civ. Code art. 2013 (an alternative to statutory cancellation); damages; and, post-cancellation, eviction (bennett-v-hughes-2004).

▸ For Sellers / Operators — Louisiana is unlike every common-law state in this wiki, and getting the mechanics wrong voids your remedy. The deal-defining facts: (1) You cannot forfeit. On default you cancel under R.S. 9:2945 and refund the buyer’s price payments, keeping only fair rental value — payments-retention / “buyer waives any refund” clauses are void (seals-v-sumrall-2004, montz-v-theard-2002). (2) The escrow agent — not you — must mail the 45-day, certified, return-receipt cure notice, and the buyer can defeat cancellation by proving non-receipt, so use a current, correct address and document delivery. (3) If the property is mortgaged, you must use a bank escrow agent (R.S. 9:2943) and record a lienholder release-price guarantee before you offer the property (R.S. 9:2942) — skipping this is a crime (fine/imprisonment under R.S. 9:2947) and exposes the buyer to the underlying foreclosure. (4) Record the bond for deed (R.S. 9:2941.1) to prime your later acts and protect the buyer’s rank. (5) After a valid cancellation you recover possession by eviction, not foreclosure (bennett-v-hughes-2004). Non-bank escrow agents must be licensed by the Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions.

▸ For Buyers — Your protections are strong: a 45-day cure on default (R.S. 9:2945), a refund of price payments on cancellation that the contract cannot waive (seals-v-sumrall-2004), the right to prepay and compel title when the contract is silent (lyons-v-pitts-2006), recordation priority over the seller’s later dealings (R.S. 9:2941.1), and — if the home is mortgaged — escrow protection ensuring your payments retire the underlying lien (R.S. 9:2943).

3b. Remedies — Advanced

• Election of remedies: The seller may choose statutory cancellation (R.S. 9:2945) or ordinary judicial dissolution (Civ. Code art. 2013); the former is faster and out-of-court, the latter a contested suit. Both end in restitution (no forfeiture). (Whether 9:2945 is exclusive vs. cumulative with art. 2013 is a point on which practitioners differ — flagged in open_questions.)
• Deficiency: Cancellation is a property-recovery + restitution remedy, not a money judgment, so there is no post-cancellation deficiency against the buyer; to the contrary, the buyer typically recovers a net refund. A separate art. 2013 dissolution suit can include damages for the seller’s actual loss.
• Equitable relief from forfeiture / penalty doctrine: Louisiana reaches the same protective result through public policy rather than equity — refund waivers are void (seals-v-sumrall-2004, montz-v-theard-2002).
• Ejectment vs. eviction path: A defaulting bond-for-deed buyer is recovered against by a summary rule for possession (eviction) after a valid R.S. 9:2945 cancellation; the eviction is defeasible if the cancellation was defective. bennett-v-hughes-2004.
• Quiet title after cancellation: Cancellation is effected by registry in the conveyance records (R.S. 9:2945), which clears the buyer’s recorded interest; recorded subordinate filings are cancelled on affidavit + 30-day notice (R.S. 9:2941.1(B)). A separate quiet-title suit is generally unnecessary. R.S. 9:2941.1, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=408384.
• Forfeited payments: Not retained as liquidated damages — refundable net of fair rental value; retention clauses void. seals-v-sumrall-2004.
• Intervening seller-lien risk to buyer: Because the seller retains ownership, the seller’s later mortgages/liens/judgments can cloud title — but a recorded bond for deed primes them (R.S. 9:2941.1), and on encumbered property the **escrow
  • recorded release-price guarantee** (R.S. 9:2942–2943) protect the buyer’s path to unencumbered title.

4. Federal Overlay (as applied in-state) → see dodd-frank-seller-financing, safe-act-mlo

• Dodd-Frank exposure: A Louisiana residential bond for deed that finances a consumer’s home purchase is “credit”/seller financing under TILA and the CFPB Loan-Originator Rule. The federal ≤1-property (no balloon, no ATR) and ≤3-property (with ATR) seller-financer exclusions, 12 C.F.R. § 1026.36(a), apply in Louisiana as nationally; a high-volume operator loses the exclusion and must use a licensed MLO and meet ability-to-repay. See dodd-frank-seller-financing.
• SAFE Act / MLO licensing: Louisiana administers residential mortgage-loan- originator licensing through the Office of Financial Institutions (OFI); seller-financers above the federal/state de-minimis thresholds may require an MLO. See safe-act-mlo. Separately, OFI licenses non-bank bond-for-deed escrow agents (surety/deposit $10,000;$25,000 net worth). OFI Non-Depository / Bond for Deed: https://ofi.la.gov/non-depository/bond-for-deed/. (Exact LAC / R.S. licensing-rule citation flagged in needs_verification.)
• State consumer-protection overlay: No bond-for-deed-specific disclosure statute; general protection comes from the Louisiana Unfair Trade Practices Act (R.S. 51:1401 et seq.) and the public-policy refund rule of the bond-for-deed cases. (LUTPA application to bond-for-deed abuses flagged in needs_verification.)
• CFPB enforcement notes: The 2016+ CFPB / state-AG scrutiny of predatory contracts-for-deed (Harbour Portfolio and related) is the national backdrop; Louisiana’s escrow-agent and no-forfeiture rules predate and partly anticipate it.

5. Title, Recording & Wraps → see garn-st-germain-due-on-sale

• Memorandum / contract recording: The bond for deed itself is recorded in the mortgage and conveyance records; recordation gives it priority over the seller’s later acts and allows cancellation of subordinate filings. R.S. 9:2941.1, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=408384.
• Encumbered property / wraps — heavily regulated (R.S. 9:2942–2944, 2946–2947). It is unlawful to sell by bond for deed any property encumbered by mortgage or privilege without first obtaining and recording a written release-price guarantee from the lienholder (identifying the secured notes), R.S. 9:2942; all buyer payments on encumbered property must run through a designated bank escrow agent that distributes between seller and lienholder to ensure unencumbered title at payoff, R.S. 9:2943; timely buyer payments preclude the lienholder from foreclosing, R.S. 9:2944; and the seller may not require promissory notes for the price while the property is encumbered, R.S. 9:2946. Violation is a crime — up to $1,000 fine and/or 6 months imprisonment, R.S. 9:2947, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107313. These rules make a classic “wrap”-style bond for deed lawful only with lienholder cooperation, recorded guarantee, and bank escrow. R.S. 9:2942, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107308.
• Garn-St. Germain due-on-sale: A bond for deed is a transfer of an interest that can trigger the lender’s due-on-sale clause under 12 U.S.C. § 1701j-3; the Garn-St. Germain residential exemptions (e.g., transfer into an inter vivos trust where the borrower remains beneficiary) generally do not cover a sale-on-terms to a third-party bond-for-deed buyer. Note the tension with R.S. 9:2944, which only binds the lienholder to forbear while payments are made; the federal due-on-sale right can still be exercised on the transfer itself. See garn-st-germain-due-on-sale.
• Deed delivery / marketable title at payoff: The seller delivers title (by authentic act of sale) when the price is paid in full (R.S. 9:2941); on encumbered property, the escrow distribution scheme (R.S. 9:2943) is designed to leave the buyer unencumbered title at completion. The buyer can compel conveyance by specific performance (lyons-v-pitts-2006).
• Title insurance: Available; Louisiana title companies commonly issue policies and act as bond-for-deed escrow agents. (Standard endorsements / insurer practices flagged in needs_verification.)
• Seller death / bankruptcy effect: A recorded bond for deed binds the seller’s successors and primes the seller’s later creditors (R.S. 9:2941.1); the buyer’s recorded right and (on encumbered property) the escrow scheme are its principal protections against the seller’s insolvency.

6. Tax Treatment

• IRC § 453 installment reporting: A Louisiana bond for deed is an installment sale for federal income tax; the seller reports gain ratably as principal is received, subject to the dealer exception (§ 453(b)(2), (l)). See irc-453-installment-sale.
• Property tax: Buyer pays in practice (contract-governed); the buyer is the occupant/beneficial user. But see the homestead limitation below.
• Homestead exemption for the bond-for-deed buyer: NO (since 2020/2003). The Louisiana Constitution now provides that “No homestead exemption shall be granted on bond for deed property,” preserving only exemptions granted before June 20, 2003 on property then occupied under a bond for deed. La. Const. art. VII, § 20(A)(7), https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=206550. The former enabling statute, R.S. 9:2948 (which had deemed the buyer the owner for homestead purposes), was repealed by Acts 2020, No. 20, § 2 (https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107314). This is a material adverse change for buyers: a bond-for-deed occupant generally cannot claim the homestead property-tax exemption.
• Transfer / documentary-stamp tax: Louisiana has no general real-estate transfer or documentary-stamp tax (the historic prohibition appears in La. Const. art. VII, § 20-era and transfer-tax limits), so no transfer tax is due on the bond for deed or the final act of sale; nominal parish recording fees apply (R.S. 9:2945(C) caps the clerk’s cancellation-registry fee at the conveyance per-100-word rate). (Confirmation of the constitutional/statutory no-transfer-tax provision flagged in needs_verification.) R.S. 9:2945, https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107311.

7. Bankruptcy & Death / Divorce

• Buyer bankruptcy: Because a Louisiana bond for deed is a contract to sell with the seller retaining ownership, it is most naturally analyzed as an executory contract under Bankruptcy Code § 365 when the buyer files — though where the buyer has paid substantially and the arrangement functions as security, courts may treat it as a secured/financing arrangement (the national split). See forfeiture-vs-foreclosure and the federal pages. (Louisiana-specific bankruptcy characterization of a bond for deed flagged in needs_verification.)
• Seller bankruptcy: The buyer’s recorded bond for deed (R.S. 9:2941.1) and any escrow arrangement (R.S. 9:2943) generally survive; the trustee takes the seller’s retained title subject to the recorded contract.
• Assignability by buyer: Generally permitted subject to contract terms; anti-assignment clauses are common. (Enforceability under Louisiana law flagged in needs_verification.)
• Survivorship / divorce: The buyer’s contractual right is community or separate property characterized like other Louisiana property acquisitions; on death it passes through the buyer’s succession. (Specific community-property characterization authority flagged in needs_verification.)

8. Case Law (real, verified)

Case	Year	Topic	Holding (plain English)	Source
bennett-v-hughes-2004	2004	cancellation → eviction	After a valid R.S. 9:2945 cancellation, the seller recovers possession from a defaulting bond-for-deed buyer by a rule to evict; eviction is defeated if the cancellation was non-compliant.	https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/la-court-of-appeal/1114375.html
seals-v-sumrall-2004	2004	no forfeiture / refund	A waiver of the buyer’s right to a refund of price payments is void as against public policy; seller’s only offset is fair rental value.	https://probonodeskmanual.loyno.edu/book/export/html/892
lyons-v-pitts-2006	2006	specific performance / prepayment	A bond-for-deed buyer may sue for specific performance and, where the contract is silent, has the right to prepay and compel title.	https://probonodeskmanual.loyno.edu/book/export/html/892
montz-v-theard-2002	2002	characterization / refund	An installment deal is a bond for deed by substance even if it omits statutory formalities; refund waivers are unenforceable.	https://probonodeskmanual.loyno.edu/book/export/html/892

• Bennett v. Hughes, 2003-1727 (La. App. 4 Cir. 5/26/04), 876 So. 2d 862. Good law.
• Seals v. Sumrall, 2003-0873 (La. App. 1 Cir. 9/17/04), 887 So. 2d 91. Good law.
• Lyons v. Pitts, 40,733 (La. App. 2 Cir. 3/8/06), 923 So. 2d 962. Good law.
• Montz v. Theard, 2001-0768 (La. App. 1 Cir. 2/27/02), 818 So. 2d 181. Good law.
• Also cited in the practice literature (not separately paged): Berthelot v. Le Investment, 2002-2054 (La. App. 4 Cir. 1/21/04), 866 So. 2d 877 (refund + fair rental value); Tabor v. Wolinski, 1999-1732 (La. App. 1 Cir. 9/22/00), 767 So. 2d 972 and Thomas v. King, 35,857 (La. App. 2 Cir. 4/3/02), 813 So. 2d 1227 (strict R.S. 9:2945 compliance); Broadway v. All-Star Ins. Corp., 285 So. 2d 536 (La. 1973) (non-receipt rebuts mailing presumption). Citations sourced from the Loyola Pro Bono Desk Manual; flagged in needs_verification for direct opinion retrieval.

9. Edge Cases (state-specific notes)

• garn-st-germain-due-on-sale — A bond for deed over an existing mortgage can trigger the lender’s due-on-sale clause despite R.S. 9:2944’s forbearance rule, which binds only the secured-note holder’s foreclosure timing, not the federal acceleration-on-transfer right.
• Encumbered-property bond for deed — lawful only with a recorded lienholder release-price guarantee (R.S. 9:2942) and a bank escrow agent (R.S. 9:2943); noncompliance is criminal (R.S. 9:2947).
• Non-receipt defeats cancellation — the 45-day clock runs from mailing, but a buyer who proves the certified notice was never received can defeat the cancellation (montz-v-theard-2002; Broadway line).
• No homestead exemption — since the 2020 repeal of R.S. 9:2948 and La. Const. art. VII, § 20(A)(7), a bond-for-deed occupant generally loses the homestead property-tax exemption.
• Substance over form — courts recharacterize installment deals as bond for deed (and apply the buyer protections) even when statutory formalities are missing (montz-v-theard-2002).

10. Operations

• Where records live: Parish Clerk of Court (Clerk of Court / Recorder of Mortgages and Conveyances) in each of Louisiana’s 64 parishes; in Orleans Parish, the Land Records Division of the Clerk of Civil District Court. Recordation of the bond for deed (R.S. 9:2941.1), the release-price guarantee (R.S. 9:2942), and the cancellation (R.S. 9:2945) all occur here.
• Public access: Parish clerk online records portals; legis.la.gov for the Revised Statutes and Civil Code; Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions (OFI) for escrow-agent licensing — https://ofi.la.gov/non-depository/bond-for-deed/.
• Who may draft (UPL): A bond for deed conveyancing instrument and the final authentic act of sale are typically prepared by a Louisiana notary/attorney or title company; Louisiana notaries have broad authentic-act authority but tailored legal drafting risks UPL if done by non-lawyers.
• Escrow agent: On encumbered property the escrow agent must be a bank (R.S. 9:2943); non-bank bond-for-deed escrow agents must be OFI-licensed ($10,000surety/deposit;$25,000 net worth).
• Costs / timelines: Parish recording fees; clerk’s cancellation-registry fee capped at the conveyance per-100-word rate (R.S. 9:2945(C)); the controlling deadline is the 45-day cure period (R.S. 9:2945) and the 30-day subordinate- lien-cancellation notice (R.S. 9:2941.1(B)).
• Key agencies: Parish Clerks of Court / Recorders of Mortgages; OFI (escrow- agent and MLO licensing); the Louisiana Attorney General (LUTPA consumer protection).

11. Meta

• sources:
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107307”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2941 (defined)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107308”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2942 (release-price guarantee)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107309”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2943 (escrow / method of payment)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107310”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2944 (foreclosure preclusion)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107311”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2945 (cancellation / 45-day notice)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107312”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2946 (promissory notes prohibited if encumbered)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107313”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2947 (criminal penalty)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=107314”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2948 (repealed 2020)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=408384”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:2941.1 (recordation / ranking)
  • {type: constitution, url: “https://legis.la.gov/Legis/Law.aspx?d=206550”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # La. Const. art. VII, § 20 (homestead; no exemption for bond for deed)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://legis.la.gov/legis/law.aspx?d=109078”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # Civ. Code art. 1839 (transfer of immovable property — writing)
  • {type: statute, url: “https://lcco.law.lsu.edu/?uid=79&ver=en”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # Civ. Code art. 2013 (obligee’s right to dissolution) — LSU LCCO; prior legis.la.gov d=109744 mis-resolved to CC 2683
  • {type: statute, url: “https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=285199”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # R.S. 9:3500 (12% conventional-interest ceiling; consumer-credit carve-out)
  • {type: case, url: “https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/la-court-of-appeal/1114375.html”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # Bennett v. Hughes
  • {type: secondary, url: “https://probonodeskmanual.loyno.edu/book/export/html/892”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # Loyola Pro Bono Desk Manual — bond-for-deed cases
  • {type: agency, url: “https://ofi.la.gov/non-depository/bond-for-deed/”, retrieved: 2026-06-08} # OFI escrow-agent licensing
• needs_verification:
  • Direct opinion retrieval (full text) for Seals v. Sumrall, Lyons v. Pitts, Montz v. Theard, Berthelot v. Le Investment, Tabor v. Wolinski, Thomas v. King, and Broadway v. All-Star Ins. Corp. (citations sourced this run from the Loyola Pro Bono Desk Manual and search; only Bennett v. Hughes was retrieved from a case reporter).
  • Whether Louisiana’s residential property-condition disclosure law (R.S. 9:3196–3200) applies to a bond-for-deed transfer.
  • Exact LAC / R.S. citation for the OFI bond-for-deed escrow-agent licensing rule (only the OFI program page was retrieved).
  • Exact rate ceiling under the Louisiana Consumer Credit Law (R.S. 9:3510 et seq.) for a residential bond for deed (R.S. 9:3500 confirms the 12% conventional ceiling does not apply to consumer-credit transactions, but the governing consumer rate was not retrieved this run).
  • Risk-of-loss and improvement-reimbursement authority specific to bond for deed.
  • Louisiana-specific bankruptcy characterization (executory contract § 365 vs. secured financing) of a bond for deed.
  • Confirmation of the constitutional/statutory provision establishing no general Louisiana real-estate transfer/documentary tax.
  • Enforceability of anti-assignment clauses against a bond-for-deed buyer; community-property characterization on death/divorce.
  • Whether R.S. 9:2945 statutory cancellation is the seller’s exclusive remedy or cumulative with Civ. Code art. 2013 judicial dissolution.
• open_questions:
  • Is statutory cancellation (R.S. 9:2945) exclusive, or may a seller instead pursue art. 2013 dissolution with damages? Practitioner sources differ.
  • Does the federal due-on-sale right (Garn-St. Germain) override R.S. 9:2944’s forbearance, such that a compliant escrow wrap can still be accelerated on transfer?
  • Post-2020, are there any residual homestead protections for long-standing bond-for-deed occupants beyond the pre-June-20-2003 grandfather clause?
• cross_links: forfeiture-vs-foreclosure, equitable-conversion, dodd-frank-seller-financing, safe-act-mlo, garn-st-germain-due-on-sale, irc-453-installment-sale, skendzel-v-marshall-1973, sebastian-v-floyd-1979, bennett-v-hughes-2004, seals-v-sumrall-2004, lyons-v-pitts-2006, montz-v-theard-2002
• changelog:
  • 2026-06-08 — Initial authoring. Populated all modules from La. R.S. 9:2941–2947 + 9:2941.1 (official legis.la.gov), La. Const. art. VII, § 20, Civ. Code arts. 1839/2013/2924, and verified Louisiana appellate cases (Bennett v. Hughes from reporter; Seals, Lyons, Montz via Loyola Pro Bono Desk Manual). Remedy regime classified statutory_cancellation; pure forfeiture barred by case law; homestead exemption confirmed eliminated (R.S. 9:2948 repealed 2020).

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Disclaimer. This page is legal information, not legal advice, and may be out of date. Contract-for-deed statutes are frequently amended and remedies turn on facts. Consult a licensed attorney in this jurisdiction before drafting, enforcing, or signing an installment land contract.