If the premises are abandoned or closed, or if the whereabouts of the lessee or occupant is unknown, all notices, process, pleadings, and orders required to be delivered or served on the lessee or occupant under this Title may be attached to a door of the premises, and this shall have the same effect as delivery to, or personal service on, the lessee or occupant.
Art. 4703.Delivery Or Service When Premises Abandoned Or Closed, Or Whereabouts of Tenant Or Occupant Unknown
Book VII. Special Proceedings · Title XI. Eviction of Tenants and Occupants · Chapter 1. General Dispositions · Amendment history unavailable · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 4703 lets a lessor or owner satisfy every notice, service, or delivery requirement under Louisiana's eviction title by attaching the document to a door of the premises whenever the premises are abandoned or closed, or the tenant's or occupant's whereabouts are unknown, giving that posting the same legal effect as personal delivery or service.
Full Text of Art. 4703
Plain-English Summary
Every notice, court process, pleading, and order that Louisiana's eviction title requires assumes there is someone to deliver it to. That assumption breaks down when a tenant or occupant has disappeared, leaving the premises shut up and empty, or when the person's whereabouts are not known. Without a workaround, an absent tenant could freeze an eviction indefinitely by never being found.
Article 4703 supplies that workaround. If the premises are abandoned or closed, or if the lessee's or occupant's whereabouts are unknown, every notice, process, pleading, and order this Title requires to be delivered or served may instead be attached to a door of the premises. That posting has the same effect as delivery to, or personal service on, the tenant or occupant.
The rule reaches the entire eviction pipeline, not only the initial notice to vacate under Article 4701 or 4702. It covers the rule to show cause and every other paper the process generates under Chapter 2, so an absent tenant or occupant cannot stall the case by being unreachable.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a Louisiana landlord give notice if the tenant cannot be located?
By attaching the notice to a door of the premises, which Article 4703 gives the same legal effect as personal delivery when the premises are abandoned or closed or the tenant's whereabouts are unknown.
Does posting a document on the door count as legal service in a Louisiana eviction?
Yes, under the conditions Article 4703 sets out, posting has the same effect as delivery to, or personal service on, the tenant or occupant.
Does this posting rule apply only to the initial notice to vacate, or to court papers too?
It applies to every notice, process, pleading, and order required under the eviction title, including the rule to show cause and other Chapter 2 filings.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure (legis.la.gov). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: service on abandoned premises LouisianaArticle 4703 Louisianaposting notice on door evictionwhereabouts unknown tenant service Louisianaclosed premises eviction service