§1217. Term and rental; port authorities excepted

A.(1) Any lease executed under the provisions of this Part shall be for a period not exceeding ten years and shall provide for consideration to be paid as a cash rental of not less than one dollar per acre, which shall be payable in cash annually and in advance, or if the land is leased for agricultural purposes of planting, growing, cultivating, and harvesting any agricultural crop, the consideration shall be so paid in cash or on a share basis at the option of the lessor.

(2) A lease granted under this Section may be extended as follows:

(a) Any person who leases such land and who adds or contracts for permanent improvements to be constructed or placed on or made to the land in the amount of not less than two thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars upon written notification to the lessor and upon a proper showing that such improvements have in fact been made or contracted for may lease such lands for an additional period of not more than ten years with the payment of rentals to be made as provided in this Section.

(b)(i) Any person who leases such land and who within the original or any additional term of the lease adds or contracts permanent improvements to be constructed, placed, or made upon the land in the amount of ten thousand dollars or more, upon written notification to the lessor and upon a proper showing that such improvements have in fact been made or contracted for, may, at the discretion of the lessor, lease such land for an additional ten-year period or any part thereof for each ten thousand dollars worth of improvements or additions made or contracted onto the land not to exceed a maximum term of twenty additional years from the end of the then current lease period.

(ii) When the value of the improvements to be constructed, placed, or made upon the land exceeds one hundred fifty thousand dollars, or where the lessee agrees to prepay the last two annual rental payments of the lease plus a cash bonus in an amount equal to the current year's lease rental or the sum of fifty thousand dollars, whichever be the greater, the lease may be extended for thirty additional years from the end of the then current lease period.

(iii) When the lease has been extended to forty years under this Subparagraph, the lessee shall be allowed to extend the lease for additional ten-year periods as long as the qualifying permanent improvements remain intact, or, in the event of fire, storm, or other acts of God, are reconstructed by the end of the ten-year term and as long as the lessee continues to meet all other conditions of the lease.

(c) Any lessee who makes improvements onto the land leased shall be allowed a period of at least ninety days to remove such improvements after the termination of his lease.

(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section to the contrary and only if the lessee is compliant with the terms of the lease agreement, any lease on state land located between the guide levees of the Atchafalaya Basin may, at the discretion of the lessor, be extended for up to four additional ten-year periods without the lessee being required to add or contract for permanent improvements to be constructed or placed on or made to the land.

B. The failure of the tenant to pay the rent punctually or before the date upon which the rental falls due, shall ipso facto and without demand or putting in default terminate and cancel the lease. In such event the lessor, through the attorney general of Louisiana, may take such legal steps as are necessary and appropriate under the law to cancel the lease from the records of the parish in which the land is located, to evict the tenant or tenants refusing to leave the grounds leased and to recover monies due the lessor for past due rentals and damages for lost rentals occasioned by the tenants. Improvements placed on the property leased shall be subject to seizure and sale by the lessor, through the attorney general, in order to satisfy the lessor's claim for monies and/or damages owed by delinquent tenants.

C. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to port authorities of this state.

D. Whenever a school board has entered into a lease of sixteenth section school lands for agricultural purposes for a term of less than ten years, the lessor and the lessee, by mutual agreement, may extend the lease for a term not to exceed ten years from the original date of the lease being extended. All extensions shall be under the same terms and conditions as the lease being extended.

E. Any contract entered into for the lease of state lands for any purpose shall require that access by the public to public waterways through the state lands covered by the lease shall be maintained and preserved for the public by the lessee. The provisions of this Section shall not prohibit the secretary of the agency having control over the property from restricting access to public waterways if he determines that a danger to the public welfare exists. The provisions of this Section shall not apply in cases involving title disputes.

Amended by Acts 1962, No. 341, §1; Acts 1966, No. 478, §1; Acts 1967, No. 33, §4; Acts 1970, No. 58, §2; Acts 1972, No. 496, §1; Acts 1976, No. 223, §1, eff. July 27, 1976; Acts 1981, No. 261, §1; Acts 1983, No. 424, §1; Acts 1984, No. 521, §1; Acts 1999, No. 375, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1142, §2; Acts 2003, No. 887, §2; Acts 2014, No. 510, §1.