Mississippi Landlord Compliance Kit: Deposit, Notice and Eviction Checklists with an Excel Tracker

Who it is for

Landlords and property managers with rentals in Mississippi, and tenants who want the same record, from move-in through move-out or a court case.

Not the right fit if

Your rental is outside Mississippi: get that state's kit. Not legal advice, not a lawyer's review of a lease, notice or court case, and not a set of legal notice forms; city and county rules aren't covered.

Why it is different

• Built only from our Mississippi data files, checked November 2026 against 5 official pages, among them Mississippi Legislature: 2024 HB 1580 as introduced (brings forward 89-8-21); Mississippi Legislature: 2023 SB 2375 as introduced (brings forward 89-8-21); Mississippi Legislature: 2025 HB 1352 as introduced (proposed amending 89-8-13(5)(a)); Mississippi Judiciary: Sample Residential Eviction Summons (Justice Court); Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts: Justice Court, plus FindLaw Codes and Justia (statute text) and Nolo and National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (a vetted secondary source, marked in the kit) where no official page could be read.
• 9 items the official pages didn't state are left out of the rules and put on a short look-up list with the page to check, never guessed.
• The workbook recalculates with zero formula errors and works out Mississippi notice and deposit dates for you.

What is inside

• Start here. How to use the kit, the 14 confirmed Mississippi rules at a glance and a short look-up list of 9 points to check: entry notice, late fee limits, filing fee, hearing after filing, judgment to writ, writ to lockout, who carries out the lockout, paying to stop the case and more, each with the official page.
• Mississippi landlord rules checklist. Deposits, notice periods, the eviction case and the small claims limit, each confirmed rule with its source link and check date. What it confirms: deposit limit: No maximum in 89-8-21 (FindLaw text current as of January 1, 2025; its only dollar figure, $200, caps added damages for bad-faith retention); return deadline: No later than 45 days after the tenancy ends (89-8-21(3)); the section ties the count to the tenancy ending, delivery of possession and the tenant's demand; itemized list of deductions: The landlord's written notice claiming any part of the deposit itemizes the amounts claimed (89-8-21(3)); interest on the deposit: None stated in Miss; where the deposit is held: Held by the landlord for the tenant; no account type is named (89-8-21(2)); penalty the law states: Retention without good faith: damages of up to $200 in addition to actual damages (89-8-21(4)); ending month-to-month (landlord): Written notice at least 30 days before the termination date (7 days for week-to-week); ending month-to-month (tenant): Written notice at least 30 days before the termination date (7 days for week-to-week); rent increase notice: No rent increase notice period in Miss; unpaid rent notice: Written notice that the rental agreement will end if the rent isn't paid within three days; court: The county's justice court (the statewide sample summons); time to answer or appear: The tenant is summoned to appear and defend at the date and time on the summons; right to counsel (statewide): No statewide right to counsel for tenants in eviction cases (as of November 2026, per the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel): its tracker of enacted laws lists no statewide law here; small claims limit (for a deposit dispute): $3,500: the most a small claims case can ask for.
• Move-in and move-out deposit checklist. A room-by-room condition checklist for both visits and the steps after move-out, with Mississippi's return deadline (within 45 days).
• Notice calendar. When each notice must go out: the lead time for every notice the state's text confirms, with a 2027 month-by-month serve-by table worked out with our notice date calculator's rules.
• Eviction timeline sheet. The Mississippi case in order from notice to lockout, with each confirmed stage, an example dated from a sample filing day where the rules give periods, and blanks for your own case dates.
• Mississippi landlord workbook (Excel). A tenant notice log that dates each notice from the Mississippi rules, a deposit tracker that works out the return date for each move-out, and a rent ledger with a running balance.