Tensas Parish, Louisiana Eviction Risk: Low

Tensas Parish, Louisiana eviction laws carries an average eviction-risk score of 3.1/10 (Low), but that headline number masks a meaningful spread across the parish's 3 cities, where scores run from 2.7 to 3.3. With a total population of roughly 2,176 and an average rent of $576, this is a thin, high-poverty rental market that demands careful operator judgment before committing capital.

Despite the Low label, Tensas Parish sits at rank 17 of 64 Louisiana parishes, meaning 16 parishes carry higher risk and 47 are less risky. That places it in the higher-risk third of the state, a nuance that gets lost when landlords focus only on the Low risk tier without reading the rank.

The cities inside Tensas Parish

The riskiest city in the parish is Newellton, scoring 3.3/10 with a population of 997, the largest in the parish. Close behind is Waterproof at 3.2/10 and 576 residents. Both cities sit above the parish average and warrant extra due diligence on tenant screening and vacancy assumptions before an acquisition.

The county seat, St. Joseph, scores the lowest at 2.7/10 with a population of 603, making it the comparatively more landlord-stable market within the parish. Even so, the gap between St. Joseph and Newellton illustrates how hyper-local risk can be: a few miles separates a 2.7 from a 3.3, and a strategy built on the parish average alone can mislead underwriting on either city.

State-level laws that apply here

Louisiana eviction laws statute governs every landlord-tenant relationship in the parish. Under La. R.S. § 9:3251 et seq. (Louisiana eviction laws Lease Law), landlords must serve a 5-day notice for non-payment of rent or a lease violation before filing, and a 30-day notice for end-of-term or no-cause terminations. An uncontested case typically resolves in 14 to 30 days; a contested matter can run 30 to 90 days. The full cost of the Louisiana eviction laws eviction process, including court filing fees of $170 to $300, sheriff lockout fees of $50 to $175, and attorney fees of $500 to $3,000, means a single eviction can run well into four figures before it concludes.

Louisiana eviction laws has no statewide rent control and no just-cause eviction requirement, and state law explicitly preempts local rent-control ordinances, so Tensas Parish operators face no additional rent restrictions beyond the lease itself. Source-of-income protections are not in effect under state law. For a full breakdown of what landlords owe and what tenants are entitled to, the Louisiana eviction costs guide and the Louisiana security deposit limits guide cover both topics in detail. Fair housing complaints are handled by the Louisiana eviction laws Attorney General, Consumer Protection division.

Tensas Parish carries a poverty rate of 51.9% and a renter share of 34.1%, a combination that signals high collection risk relative to rent revenue; review each city's individual score in the grid above before targeting a specific submarket.