What the New Orleans rental cooling law requires of landlords

A working cooling system is a legal minimum for every “rental housing unit” in Orleans Parish as the code defines one — short-term rentals included; hotels and licensed care facilities excluded. The standard is specific: the cooling system must be in good working order and able to keep every bedroom at or below 80°F, measured three feet above the floor and two feet from exterior walls. The unit also has to be registered with the city for a Certificate of Compliance. This page quotes the current code text, explains who is covered, and lays out what enforcement looks like — with links to the primary sources so you can check every claim.

Ordinance text verified October 16, 2026, against the New Orleans Code of Ordinances, Ch. 26, Art. XIII on Municode.

The exact standard, from the current code

Section 26-656 of the City Code lists the minimum rental standards. The cooling requirement, currently Sec. 26-656(g), reads:

Each rental housing unit shall have a cooling system in good working order that can safely maintain a maximum temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit in all bedrooms, measured at a point three feet above the floor and two feet from exterior walls.

Three details in that sentence matter:

“Cooling system in good working order that can safely maintain.” The code regulates what the system is capable of, with the measurement method it names. It does not say every room of the unit must read 80°F at every moment.
“In all bedrooms.” The measured rooms are bedrooms. A cool living room with a hot back bedroom is still a problem.
The measurement point is defined. Three feet above the floor, two feet from exterior walls. An inspector — or a tenant with a thermometer — has a specific place to measure, away from sun-struck walls and supply registers.

The same section sets the companion heating standard, currently subsection (f): heating in good working order that can safely maintain a minimum of 68°F in all habitable rooms, bathrooms, and toilet rooms, with cooking appliances excluded as a heat source.

A citation-numbering note. The ordinance passed November 3, 2022 (Ord. No. 29239 MCS), and Section 26-656 was amended October 10, 2024 (Ord. No. 30078) and again March 12, 2026 (Ord. No. 30564). After the 2026 amendment, the cooling standard sits at subsection (g). The city’s printed Minimum Rental Standards handout, published before that amendment, shows the identical text labeled (f). Same words, different letter — cite the current code, and don’t be confused when older materials disagree.

Who is covered

Per the code’s definitions (Sec. 26-652) and the city’s Healthy Homes FAQ, a “rental housing unit” is any room or group of rooms with independent living facilities occupied in exchange for any form of consideration. That covers single-family rentals, doubles, apartments, condos, townhomes — and short-term rentals. The FAQ extends it to rooms rented to roommates or students, even under a verbal agreement. The code excludes hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, RV parks, licensed care facilities, and institution-run housing for staff, students, or patients.

Registration works like this, from Secs. 26-654 and 26-660 through 26-664:

Permitting occupancy without a valid Certificate of Compliance is unlawful (Sec. 26-660). The city began requiring registration January 1, 2024, phased by property size; the deadline for 1–3 unit properties was extended to June 15, 2025.
The certificate is valid for two years and must be renewed (Sec. 26-661(a)).
Timely registration and renewal are free. Register late and the code assesses a $50 fee during the first 60 days of delinquency, then a $200 reinstatement fee after that (Sec. 26-654).
The certificate is not transferable. Buy a rental and you have 90 days to re-register it (Sec. 26-664).
Registering means certifying, under penalty of perjury, that you inspected the unit reasonably recently and found it meets the Section 26-656 standards (Sec. 26-661(c)(5)). Delinquent property taxes, outstanding fines, or open electrical/mechanical violations make the property ineligible (Sec. 26-661(d)).
Tenants must receive a copy of the certificate and the minimum standards; properties with four or more units on one lot must post them (Sec. 26-662).

How enforcement actually works

Tenants can report a violation by calling 311, using nola311.org, or emailing healthyhomesenforcement@nola.gov, and may request an inspection of the unit (Sec. 26-680; Healthy Homes FAQ). Retaliation against a tenant for reporting — raising rent, cutting services, threatening eviction — is prohibited. When an adverse act follows protected activity within six months and there is probable cause that a violation occurred (a citation, a notice of violation, photographs, or other evidence), the code presumes retaliation and puts the burden on the landlord to rebut it (Secs. 26-680(d), 26-681).

After a complaint, the city’s Code Enforcement Compliance Division describes the sequence: an inspection, a Notice of Noncompliance with roughly three weeks to cure (extensions possible), a re-inspection, and then an administrative hearing if the problem remains.

On penalties, Section 26-670 does not set fixed dollar fines. It subjects violations to “penalties not to exceed the maximum monetary amount that may be imposed pursuant to state law,” with each day a violation exists counting as a separate offense, heard under the city’s administrative hearing procedures. A violation is a “housing violation” that can lead to fines, fees, and tax liens under state law, and the city can also seek injunctions — including discontinuing electrical service if a certificate is revoked. Specific dollar figures circulate online, but Article XIII itself names none, so treat any flat number with suspicion.

A hearing officer can revoke a Certificate of Compliance for repeated or intentional violations (Sec. 26-671), and a revoked certificate is not reissued until violations are cured and all fines, fees, and liens are paid. If enforcement displaces a tenant, the tenant can apply to the city’s anti-displacement fund — and grants paid out become a debt the landlord must repay, with interest, before registering again (Sec. 26-682).

What it takes to hold 80°F in New Orleans housing stock

The code doesn’t require central air. Central systems, mini-splits, and window units can all satisfy it, provided the equipment is in good working order and actually capable of keeping bedrooms at or below 80°F. When a unit misses the standard, the useful question is whether the equipment can still do the job. Four things worth checking in an older New Orleans rental:

Undersized or worn-out equipment. A system that was marginal when installed loses capacity as coils foul and charge leaks. How long AC equipment lasts and what size system a space needs are the two questions to settle before summer, when replacement lead times are short.
Duct problems in hot attics. Leaky or crushed ducts in a hot attic can starve the room at the end of the run — often a back bedroom or an upstairs room, which is exactly where the ordinance measures.
The hottest-afternoon gap. A system that holds 76°F in May but loses ground on a July afternoon deserves diagnosis before a tenant measures a bedroom over 80°F at peak heat.
Equipment type mismatched to the building. Shotguns and camelbacks without duct space have real options; central air, ductless, and window units each fit different old houses.

A useful habit between tenant turnovers: put a thermometer at the code’s own measurement point — three feet up, two feet from exterior walls, in each bedroom — on a hot afternoon with the system running, and keep the dated reading with the property file.

Before summer

The short version: confirm the registration is current, test the cooling under real load, and fix what’s marginal while schedules are still open. The printable compliance checklist collects the registration items, the measurement protocol, and the documentation worth keeping in one page. When a tenant does report a cooling problem, a structured intake gets the right information before anyone is dispatched.

This page describes what the ordinance says and links the primary sources; it is information, and for lease disputes or enforcement questions a Louisiana attorney is the right call. The city’s FAQ points tenants and owners to Southeast Louisiana Legal Services for legal help.

Sources

New Orleans Code of Ordinances — Ch. 26, Art. XIII, Healthy Homes Program (Municode), accessed 10/16/2026
City of New Orleans — Healthy Homes Minimum Rental Standards (2025 handout), accessed 10/16/2026
City of New Orleans — Healthy Homes FAQ, accessed 10/16/2026
City of New Orleans — Healthy Homes program home, accessed 10/16/2026
City of New Orleans — Safety and Permits announcements (registration deadline extension to June 15, 2025), accessed 10/16/2026
City of New Orleans — Code Enforcement Compliance Division, accessed 10/16/2026