Default in payment of rent; cancellation and forfeitures ACTIVE

The failure of the lessee to pay the rent punctually on or before the first of each January, or within sixty days thereafter, ipso facto and without demand or putting in default, terminates and cancels the lease and forfeits to the department all the works, improvements, betterments, and oysters on the leased water bottom. The department may at once enter on the water bottom and take possession thereof. Such water bottom shall then be open for lease in accordance with R.S. 56:425. Ten days thereafter the department shall enter the termination, cancellation, and forfeiture on its books and give public notice thereof by publication in one local paper in the parish where the formerly leased water bottoms are located. On or before the first day of each February, the department shall issue a written notice of delinquency by certified mail to each lessee who has not yet paid the rent. The department shall also publish notice of such delinquency on its website and in the official journal of the parish in which the delinquent lease is located. Any lessee who pays the rent on or after the first day of February shall pay the rent due plus an additional ten percent penalty.