Lafayette, LA Parking Rules: Abandoned Vehicles (2026)

Section 34-76, in Chapter 34's nuisance article, applies across both the City of Lafayette and the unincorporated areas of Lafayette Parish. It makes the presence of a junked or abandoned vehicle a declared public nuisance and makes it unlawful to cause or maintain that nuisance by abandoning, wrecking, dismantling, partially dismantling, rendering inoperable, or discarding a vehicle on someone else's property or on public property, or to allow such a vehicle to sit on one's own property. armed forces on active-duty assignment. Section 34-77 gives LCG, through its authorized representative, the power to take any abandoned vehicle into custody from public or private property, using its own personnel and equipment or contracting out the work.

Once a hearing officer issues a final order under the division's enforcement proceedings, LCG may seize, sell, or otherwise dispose of the vehicle, by delivering it to a salvage or scrap facility, contracting with a towing company that keeps the sale proceeds, or using any other cost-effective disposal method. Before sale or disposal, the owner may reclaim the vehicle by proving all conditions in the enforcement order have been satisfied.