Louisiana Civil Code

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TITLE XXII - MORTGAGES

 

CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art. 3278. Mortgage is a nonpossessory right created over property to secure the performance of an obligation. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3279. Mortgage gives the mortgagee, upon failure of the obligor to perform the obligation that the mortgage secures, the right to cause the property to be seized and sold in the manner provided by law and to have the proceeds applied toward the satisfaction of the obligation in preference to claims of others. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3280. Mortgage is an indivisible real right that burdens the entirety of the mortgaged property and that follows the property into whatever hands the property may pass. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3281. Mortgage may be established only as authorized by legislation. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3282. Mortgage is accessory to the obligation that it secures. Consequently, except as provided by law, the mortgagee may enforce the mortgage only to the extent that he may enforce any obligation it secures. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3283. Mortgage is conventional, legal, or judicial, and with respect to the manner in which it burdens property, it is general or special. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3284. A conventional mortgage is established by contract.

A legal mortgage is established by operation of law.

A judicial mortgage is established by law to secure a judgment. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3285. A general mortgage burdens all present and future property of the mortgagor.

A special mortgage burdens only certain specified property of the mortgagor. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3286. The only things susceptible of mortgage are:

(1) A corporeal immovable with its component parts.

(2) A usufruct of a corporeal immovable.

(3) A servitude of right of use with the rights that the holder of the servitude may have in the buildings and other constructions on the land.

(4) The lessee's rights in a lease of an immovable with his rights in the buildings and other constructions on the immovable.

(5) Property made susceptible of conventional mortgage by special law. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1992, No. 649, §1, eff. July 1, 1993; Acts 1993, No. 948, §6, eff. June 25, 1993]

CHAPTER 2 - CONVENTIONAL MORTGAGES

Art. 3287. A conventional mortgage may be established only by written contract. No special words are necessary to establish a conventional mortgage. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3288. A contract of mortgage must state precisely the nature and situation of each of the immovables or other property over which it is granted; state the amount of the obligation, or the maximum amount of the obligations that may be outstanding at any time and from time to time that the mortgage secures; and be signed by the mortgagor. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3289. A contract of mortgage need not be signed by the mortgagee, whose consent is presumed and whose acceptance may be tacit. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3290. A conventional mortgage may be established only by a person having the power to alienate the property mortgaged. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3291. A conventional mortgage of a corporeal immovable, servitude of right of use, or lease, as the case may be, includes the things made susceptible of mortgage with them by Article 3286, unless the parties expressly agree to the contrary. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3292. A special mortgage given over property the mortgagor does not own is established when the property is acquired by the mortgagor. A general conventional mortgage is permitted only when expressly provided by law. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3293. A conventional mortgage may be established to secure performance of any lawful obligation, even one for the performance of an act. The obligation may have a term and be subject to a condition. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3294. A mortgage that secures an obligation other than one for the payment of money secures the claim of the mortgagee for the damages he may suffer from a breach of the obligation, up to the amount stated in the mortgage. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3295. A person may establish a mortgage over his property to secure the obligations of another. In such a case, the mortgagor may assert against the mortgagee any defense to the obligation which the mortgage secures that the obligor could assert except lack of capacity or discharge in bankruptcy of the obligor. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3296. Neither the mortgagor nor a third person may claim that the mortgage is extinguished or is unenforceable because the obligation the mortgage secures is extinguished or is unenforceable unless the obligor may assert against the mortgagee the extinction or unenforceability of the obligation that the mortgage secures. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3297. The mortgagee's recourse for the satisfaction of an obligation secured by a mortgage may be limited in whole or in part to the property over which the mortgage is established. [Acts 1991, No. 652, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1992]

Art. 3298. A. A mortgage may secure obligations that may arise in the future.

B. As to all obligations, present and future, secured by the mortgage, notwithstanding the nature of such obligations or the date they arise, the mortgage has effect between the parties from the time the mortgage is established and as to third persons from the time the contract of mortgage is filed for registry.

C. A promissory note or other evidence of indebtedness secured by a mortgage need not be paraphed for identification with the mortgage and need not recite that it is secured by the mortgage.

D. The mortgage may be terminated by the mortgagor or his successor upon reasonable notice to the mortgagee when an obligation does not exist and neither the mortgagor nor the mortgagee is bound to the other or to a third person to permit an obligation secured by the mortgage to be incurred. Parties may contract with reference to what constitutes reasonable notice.

E. The mortgage continues until it is terminated by the mortgagor or his successor in the manner provided in Paragraph D of this Article, or until the mortgage is extinguished in some other lawful manner. The effect of recordation of the mortgage ceases in accordance with the provisions of Articles 3357 and 3358. [Acts 1992, No. 779, §1; Acts 1995, No. 1087, §1; Acts 2010, No. 385, §1, eff. Aug. 15, 2010]




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