Mississippi Eviction Process: Notice Periods, Timeline, and Costs

For residential rentals, Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13(3) lets you terminate the rental agreement by written notice specifying that the agreement will end if the rent is not paid within three days. Count three calendar days from the tenant's receipt of the notice, state the amount owed and the date the tenancy ends, and keep proof of delivery. Do not use Miss. Code Ann. § 89-7-27 for a house or apartment: after the 2022 rewrite that section applies only to premises that are not a dwelling unit, and citing it for a residential tenancy invites a dismissal.

Under Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13(3), a notice for material noncompliance must specify the acts and omissions and state that the rental agreement terminates on a date not less than 14 days after receipt if the breach is not remedied within that time. If substantially the same breach recurs within six months you may terminate on 14 days' notice without giving another chance to cure, and § 89-8-19(4) removes the notice requirement entirely for a substantial violation that materially affects health or safety.

Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-19 lets either the landlord or the tenant end a month-to-month tenancy on at least 30 days' written notice before the termination date, and a week-to-week tenancy on seven days' notice. Mississippi has no statewide just-cause eviction requirement, so a no-cause termination is available as long as the reason is not retaliatory or discriminatory.

Residential evictions are filed in the Justice Court for the county where the property sits, with some counties routing them to County Court. Fees are set locally and scale with the number of defendants — Hinds County, for example, charges $70 for one tenant, $85 for two, and $100 for three — plus separate costs for service and for the warrant of removal.

Mississippi issues a summons under Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-35 commanding the occupant to appear on a day named in the summons rather than to file a written answer, with service under the Mississippi Rules of Court. Section 89-8-41 caps a single adjournment at 10 days and bars the hearing from extending beyond 30 days from the date the eviction was filed.

After the three-day or 14-day notice runs, the case must be heard within 30 days of filing, and a judgment for possession orders the tenant out in seven days unless the court finds a shorter or longer period is justified. The landlord then requests a warrant of removal, and the tenant gets reasonable access to the premises for 72 hours after it is executed to retrieve belongings.

Mississippi vests removal exclusively in the sheriff or a constable acting under a warrant of removal issued by the judge under Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39, and the same section imposes a duty of good faith on the landlord. Changing locks, cutting off utilities, or hauling a tenant's belongings to the curb before that warrant issues is a self-help eviction with no statutory shortcut, and it exposes you to a wrongful eviction suit for the tenant's actual damages plus trespass and conversion claims. Unlike most states Mississippi does not set a statutory damages multiplier for a lockout, which makes it tempting and no less costly — a judge who sees it will not be inclined to help you.

Senate Bill 2328, approved April 10, 2025, amended the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, clarified eviction timelines, authorized sheriff removal of squatters and unauthorized occupants, and added removal procedures for RV parks. It also confirms the tenant's 72-hour window to retrieve personal property after a warrant of removal is executed, after which the landlord may move the remaining items.

The most common Mississippi mistake is using the wrong chapter: Title 89, Chapter 7 was rewritten in 2022 and § 89-7-27 now covers only premises that are not a dwelling unit, so residential landlords work from Chapter 8, the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. The second most common is the lease-violation notice — many landlord websites publish 30 days, but § 89-8-13(3) sets the floor at 14 days with 14 days to cure, and using the wrong statute can sink the case. Justice Court is built for people appearing without lawyers and an individual owner can file and argue a case, but a corporation or LLC generally needs an attorney. Nonpayment cases have a built-in escape hatch: no warrant of removal issues if the tenant pays everything owed by the court-ordered move-out date.

• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-19
• Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39