La. Civ. Code art. 3338

This is the official text of La. Civ. Code art. 3338, part of Louisiana’s Civil Code — louisiana's civil law tradition codifies persons, property, obligations, and family relations here rather than in a separate statutory code.

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Instruments creating real rights in immovables; recordation required to affect third persons

Official statutory text

The rights and obligations established or created by the following written instruments are without effect as to a third person unless the instrument is registered by recording it in the appropriate mortgage or conveyance records pursuant to the provisions of this Title:

(1) An instrument that transfers an immovable or establishes a real right in or over an immovable.

(2) The lease of an immovable.

(3) An option or right of first refusal, or a contract to buy, sell, or lease an immovable or to establish a real right in or over an immovable.

(4) An instrument that modifies, terminates, or transfers the rights created or evidenced by the instruments described in Subparagraphs (1) through (3) of this Article.

Acts 2005, No. 169, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2006; Acts 2005, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 13, §1, eff. Nov. 29, 2005.

NOTE: Acts 2005, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 13, §1, changed the effective date of Acts 2005, No. 169, to July 1, 2006.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.