Automatic Renewal of Apartment Lease in Louisiana

[LSUstudent]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Louisiana

I am a college student in Baton Rouge. We moved into our apartment in August of 2011 and had a lease for one year. A few days ago we find a letter on our door saying, "thank you for deciding to stay with us and automatically renew your lease for another year bla bla bla." On a trip to the office to investigate this what I believed to be a mistake, I learned that they ALLEGEDLY put two notices on our door informing us of the deadline for letting them know our intent to vacate and now we are stuck in a lease for another year. She also informed me that the notices are a courtesy and not actually required(1st question-Is that true or are they required to inform us?) I soon learned that this same situation has fallen on many of our neighbors/other tenants. The letter stated that there would also be a change to the lease and increase in price(would now have to pay for water and 100 or so increase in rent) and at the bottom of the form asked to sign but stated it was not necessary and they didn't have to have it. Which brings me to my second question 2. if they change the terms of the lease and price is it legal.
And I forgot to include that on my visit to the front office, I was shown on the original lease agreement that it does include info about automatic renewal.(However some people around the apartment think they may have added this fraudulently because I nor my roomates nor the other tenants recall anything about an automatic renewal clause, but that may just be conspiracy theory.)

Additional Info:The deadline for informing of intent to vacate was March 21st in lease they showed me, we move out in August. (is that not sufficient time) I delivered them a form stating our intent to vacate today and threatened to sue. Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks

[Mr. Knowitall]

If you and your roommates chose not to preserve your copy of the lease, such that you cannot check to see whether or not it contains the automatic renewal language, consider it a lesson in why you need to hang on to legal documents.

If you are telling us that the lease obligates you to notify your landlord of your intention to move by March 31, that your landlord complied with all of her duties under the lease, and that you did not give timely notice, you have put yourself in an awkward position. If you still wish to move, you can see if your landlord is able to re-rent the premises by the end of August, such that her damages are minimal. You can also see what the lease says about subletting, and make your own effort to find new tenants that the landlord may deem suitable to take over the lease.