What a Landlord Cannot Do in Mississippi
The main limits Mississippi law puts on landlords — lockouts and utility shutoffs, entering without notice, retaliation, deposits, fees and discrimination — each with the statute or official source.
In short: a Mississippi landlord cannot evict without a court order, cannot punish a tenant for asserting legal rights where state law protects them, and must follow the state's rules on entry, deposits and fees shown below.
| Lockouts & utility shutoffs | The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act has no express ban on self-help lockouts or utility shutoffs and no damages remedy for them. The Act provides a court eviction process (§§ 89-8-31 to 89-8-39), and only a sheriff or constable may remove the tenant, under a warrant of removal issued after the move-out date. Since 2025, posting the warrant on the door does not count as executing it; law enforcement must remove the occupants. New in 2026: HB 1404 (approved March 25, 2026) makes it a crime to knowingly fail to apply tenant money collected under a lease for utilities to the utility bill within 60 days of receiving the bill. Penalties run from up to 6 months in jail or a $1,000 fine, up to 20 years or a $50,000 fine, depending on the amount, plus restitution. HB 1404 enrolled text: https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2026/pdf/HB/1400-1499/HB1404SG.pdf. Its approval date comes from the Legislature's 2026 all-measures list. No Mississippi statute was found that expressly prohibits lockouts. Some secondary sites attribute a ban to § 89-7-27, but the official text of § 89-7-27 contains no such ban, and since 2022 that section applies only to nonresidential premises. |
|---|---|
| Landlord entry notice | No statute. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act has no provision on landlord entry or advance notice before entry. No section of Chapter 89-8 addresses landlord entry or notice before entry; the landlord-duty (§ 89-8-23) and tenant-duty (§ 89-8-25) sections are silent. Entry is governed by the lease. Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (code year 2025, current through January 1, 2025). |
| Landlord retaliation | Very limited. There is no general anti-retaliation statute and no presumption period. The only reference is in § 89-8-17(2): after a lease expires, a landlord may raise the rent only if the action's dominant purpose was not retaliation for the tenant's actions authorized under the Act, and the landlord had received written notice of each condition the tenant acted on. Every duty and condition precedent under the Act, including terminating or not renewing a tenancy, carries an obligation of good faith (§ 89-8-9). The wording of § 89-8-17(2) is awkward, so the plain-English summary is cautious. Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (code year 2025, current through January 1, 2025). Source: Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-17(2) |
| Security deposit limit | No statutory cap. § 89-8-21 governs how deposits are held and returned but sets no maximum amount. § 89-8-21 has not been amended since 2022 (the 2025 amendments did not change it). Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (code year 2025, current through January 1, 2025). Source: Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21 |
| Penalty for withholding | If a landlord keeps a deposit in violation of the statute and without good faith, the landlord can owe damages of up to $200 on top of any actual damages. No multiple-of-deposit penalty and no attorney-fee provision appears in § 89-8-21. Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (code year 2025, current through January 1, 2025). Source: Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21(4) |
| Late fees | No statutory cap or grace period. The Residential Landlord and Tenant Act does not regulate late fees. Chapter 89-8 sets no late-fee cap or grace period; the definition of 'rent' includes late fees required by the rental agreement (§ 89-8-7), and § 89-8-33 lets the eviction complaint list rent and any additional fees owed. A late-fee rule elsewhere in the Code was not ruled out. Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (code year 2025, current through January 1, 2025). |
| Rent control / increase limits | No rent control. State law bars cities and towns (§ 21-17-5(2)(h)) and counties (§ 19-3-40(3)(g)) from regulating, directly or indirectly, the rent charged for private residential property in which they have no property interest, unless the Legislature gives prior approval. County rule: https://codes.findlaw.com/ms/title-19-counties-and-county-officers/ms-code-sect-19-3-40.html. Neither section limits rent on commercial property. Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (code year 2025, current through January 1, 2025). |
| Cameras & privacy | No landlord-specific statute. It is a felony to photograph, film, videotape or record someone's image with lewd, licentious or indecent intent, without permission, where they would be undressed and reasonably expect privacy, including private dwellings, bathrooms and bedrooms. The penalty for an adult is up to 5 years and/or a $5,000 fine. Recording conversations is lawful if the recorder is a party or one party consents, unless done to commit a crime or tort. Official code not freely readable online; text verified on a public code mirror (FindLaw, code current as of January 1, 2025). § 41-29-531: https://codes.findlaw.com/ms/title-41-public-health/ms-code-sect-41-29-531/. The landlord-tenant act has no landlord-entry provision. |
Can I sue my landlord in Mississippi? · All Mississippi tenant rights
General legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and local rules can differ; check the linked official source or talk to a lawyer about your situation.