Louisiana statutes may be accessed through this web address: http://www.legis.state.la.us/ This is the only statute that I found concerning deposits: PART IV. LESSEE'S DEPOSIT §3251. Lessee's deposit to secure lease; retention by lessor; conveyance of leased premises; itemized statement by lessor A. Any advance or deposit of money furnished by a tenant or lessee to a landlord or lessor to secure the performance of any part of a written or oral lease or rental agreement shall be returned to the tenant or lessee of residential or dwelling premises within one month after the lease shall terminate, except that the landlord or lessor may retain all or any portion of the advance or deposit which is reasonably necessary to remedy a default of the tenant or to remedy unreasonable wear to the premises. If any portion of an advance or deposit is retained by a landlord or lessor, he shall forward to the tenant or lessee, within one month after the date the tenancy terminates, an itemized statement accounting for the proceeds which are retained and giving the reasons therefor. The tenant shall furnish the lessor a forwarding address at the termination of the lease, to which such statements may be sent. B. In the event of a transfer of the lessor's interest in the leased premises during the term of a lease, the transferor shall also transfer to his successor in interest the sum deposited as security for performance of the lease and the transferor shall then be relieved of further liability with respect to the security deposit. The transferee shall be responsible for the return of the lessee's deposit at the termination of the lease, as set forth in Subsection A of this Section. C. Paragraph A of this Section shall not apply when the tenant abandons the premises, either without giving notice as required or prior to the termination of the lease. * * * Many states have laws that require that deposits be held in a separate interest bearing account. Although I have not conducted an exhaustive search, I have not yet found a Louisiana statute that requires you to place the lessee's deposit is a separate account. Hopefully someone who is familiar with your state laws will come by and respond. Nevertheless, it's NOT WISE to commingle someone else's money with your own money. In substance and effect, when you take a deposit from your tenant, you are acting in a fiduciary capacity with a duty to safeguard the funds for the purpose in which the funds were intended and to act in good faith. If you commingle the tenant's deposit with your own money, you may inadvertently spend it. To protect yourself and the tenant, you should hold the deposit in a separate account.