A Baton Rouge firm that leases apartments and condos has begun offering some tenants an option to pay lower rents in exchange for agreeing to be evicted in the event of a future eviction moratorium, such as the one put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Garry Lewis Properties, which has residential and commercial rentals around the Baton Rouge region, recently began floating the new lease options to tenants. The company’s policy was initially reported by television station WAFB.
Legal experts, however, have cast doubt on whether renters could sign away legal rights for a discounted monthly rent or lease payment.
“We would argue that such provisions are unenforceable under Louisiana Civil Code Article 1968 because their purpose is to circumvent federal law and public policy,” Hannah Adams, staff attorney for Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “The Article 1968 states, ‘[t]he cause of an obligation is unlawful when the enforcement of the obligation would produce a result prohibited by law or against public policy.’ "
Adams added that she was disappointed, but not surprised, to hear about a landlord attempting to get tenants to surrender their rights.
“These types of contracts are truly contracts of adhesion – i.e., there is no real consent because the tenant does not have any bargaining power within the contracting process,” she said.
Louisiana landlords have been particularly vocal in fighting the now-defunct COVID-19 eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, arguing that such actions forced landlords to bear a disproportionate social cost of the pandemic, since they gave renters the ability to live rent-free while remaining in their apartments.
The Apartment Association of Louisiana in 2020 brought suit in the Western District of Louisiana against the CDC’s eviction ban, alleging that the agency’s basis to impose the moratorium exceeded its authority. Last August, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with that reasoning in a 6-3 opinion that struck down the Biden administration’s most recent ban on evictions.
Garry Lewis Properties, which has been operating for about two decades, says it aims to provide affordable housing to older students, young professionals and families in the Baton Rouge area.