New Orleans, LA Short-Term Rentals: Insurance Requirements (2026)

Section 26-618(a)(1) of the Code of the City of New Orleans requires every owner who holds a short-term rental owner permit to maintain, at all times, a minimum of $1,000,000 in commercial general liability insurance per occurrence, on a combined single limit basis, covering bodily injury, personal injury and property damage arising from the permit or from activities conducted under it. The requirement runs per dwelling unit, an owner running short-term rentals out of two units on the same lot needs two qualifying policies, not one blanket policy covering both.

This sits alongside eleven other owner duties in the same section, including maintaining three years of guest registration records, posting the permit and an evacuation diagram at the property, and ensuring the operator is reachable at all times. The insurance duty is enforced through the Department of Safety and Permits, which administers short-term rental permits under section 26-624 and can hold notice-and-hearing proceedings under section 26-626 in accordance with Chapter 6, Article II's administrative procedures. Because insurance is listed among the duties eligible for the three-strikes rule, a hearing officer must revoke an owner's permit if a preponderance of the evidence shows three separate violations of section 26-618(a)(1) within a 12-month period, there is no discretion once three violations are proven.

A revoked permit cannot be reissued for five years, and under section 26-628(f) that five-year bar is recorded against the property itself, binding any future owner, not just the person who lost the permit.