New Orleans rental cooling compliance checklist

This is the working checklist version of the Orleans Parish Healthy Homes cooling rules: registration, the exact standard, the pre-summer equipment pass, and the paper trail. Print it and keep one per property. The full explanation of every item, with code citations, is in the landlord compliance guide.

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

The standard you’re checking against

Section 26-656 of the city code, verbatim:

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.

Every item below exists to make that sentence true at each unit — and provable.

Registration

The unit has a current Certificate of Compliance (register through the city; timely registration is free)
The renewal date is on the calendar — certificates expire every two years
Recently purchased property has been re-registered within 90 days (certificates don’t transfer)
The tenant received a copy of the certificate and the minimum rental standards
Lots with four or more units: standards and lessee rights are posted and legible
Registration contact info (owner and property manager) is current with the city — updates are due within 30 days of a change
No delinquent taxes, outstanding fines, or open mechanical/electrical violations on the property (these block a certificate)

The bedroom measurement

The code itself sets only the where and the what: each bedroom, three feet above the floor, two feet from exterior walls, 80°F or cooler. The rest of this section is practical testing advice, not code text.

A thermometer reading taken in each bedroom: three feet above the floor, two feet from exterior walls
Result is 80°F or cooler in every bedroom
Advised: test on a hot afternoon with the system running — the reading that matters is the hard one
Advised: keep the thermometer out of direct sun and away from supply vents
Reading recorded with date, time, and room in the property file

Pre-summer equipment pass

Filter is clean and the right size
Condensate drain flows, so water doesn’t pool at the indoor unit
Outdoor coil is clear of leaves, lint, and fence boards
System cools under load without ice, water, new noises, or breaker trips
Equipment that struggled last August is diagnosed now, while schedules and lead times are short — scheduled landlord service exists for exactly this
Aging equipment has a plan: age, refrigerant type, and repair history are in the file

When a tenant reports a cooling problem

The report is acknowledged in writing, with a date
Intake follows a structured dispatch checklist — safety questions first, then the bedroom measurement, then access details
The visit outcome (diagnosis, work done, closing bedroom temperature) is recorded
Nothing in the response could read as retaliation — rent increases, service cuts, or non-renewal threats within six months of a complaint carry a rebuttable presumption of retaliation under the ordinance when there is probable cause that a violation occurred (a citation, notice, photographs, or other evidence)

Records worth keeping per unit

Certificate of Compliance and renewal dates
Dated bedroom temperature readings (at least one per summer, plus any complaint-related readings)
Tenant messages about cooling, and the written responses
Service invoices, with what was found and what was fixed
Equipment details: type, age, refrigerant, last service

A browser’s print function turns this page into the paper version — the checkboxes print as empty squares.

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