Mississippi

Mississippi HOA Laws: Statutes, Rules & Board Duties

What Mississippi statutes actually require of community associations — meetings, fines, assessments and liens, records, reserves, architectural review, and the resident protections a board cannot override. Every point is cited to statute.

By the Grihak Team · Researched 2026-07-09

Primary statute: No comprehensive HOA act. Condominiums: Mississippi Condominium Law, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 89-9-1 to 89-9-37. Most other HOAs: Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 79-11-101 et seq., plus the recorded declaration and common law.

Applies to: Community associations in Mississippi

⚠️ Informational summary only — not legal advice. Laws change and facts matter. Mississippi is one of the least-regulated HOA states, so most day-to-day rules come from your community's own governing documents rather than statute. Confirm current requirements with the statute, your declaration, and a licensed Mississippi attorney before acting.

Governing statutes

Mississippi has no comprehensive planned-community / HOA act. Non-condominium homeowners associations are governed almost entirely by their recorded declaration (CC&Rs), bylaws, and rules, the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 79-11-101 et seq.) if incorporated as a nonprofit, and general common law (contract and property). (Justia — Nonprofit Corporation Act)
Condominiums (and only condominiums) are covered by the older Mississippi Condominium Law, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 89-9-1 to 89-9-37 (enacted 1972), which addresses creation, the recorded plan, common areas, assessments, and liens. It does not apply to standard subdivision/planned-community HOAs. (Justia — Title 89 Ch. 9)
Where the declaration conflicts with a mandatory statute (e.g., the Condominium Law for condos, or the Nonprofit Act for corporate governance), the statute controls; otherwise the governing documents control because there is no overriding HOA code to fill gaps. (verify — general principle, not a single codified rule.)
Statutory gap: unlike California's Davis-Stirling Act, Mississippi provides no cross-cutting rules on fines, reserves, records timelines, disclosures, or dispute resolution for non-condo HOAs. Expect the declaration to be the primary source of authority throughout.

Meetings & notice

No open-meeting act. Mississippi has no statute requiring HOA board meetings to be open to members or requiring member comment periods; those rights, if any, come from the bylaws. This is a major gap versus states like California. (verify — no contrary statute located.)
For incorporated HOAs, member meeting notice must be "fair and reasonable": no fewer than 10 days (or 30 days if notice is mailed other than by first-class or registered mail) and no more than 60 days before the meeting (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-205). (Justia — § 79-11-205) (verify exact subsection.)
Special meetings of members may be called as provided by statute/bylaws (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-199); board meeting notice for regular and special meetings is governed by § 79-11-259 and the bylaws (no mandated open-to-members rule). (Justia — § 79-11-199, § 79-11-259)
Quorum for member action and voting by written ballot without a meeting default to the Nonprofit Act and the bylaws (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 79-11-217, 79-11-211). (Justia — § 79-11-217, § 79-11-211)

Fines & enforcement

No fine statute. Mississippi sets no statutory cap, notice period, or hearing/due-process requirement for HOA fines. Fining authority, amounts, and procedure come entirely from the declaration and rules; if the documents do not grant fining power, the association generally cannot fine. (verify against the specific declaration.)
Courts may review a fine or covenant enforcement under a common-law reasonableness / good-faith standard, and restrictive covenants are typically enforced as written but construed against the drafter where ambiguous. (verify — case-law based, not codified.)
There is no statutory right to a hearing, cure period, or written decision before a fine (contrast California Civ. Code § 5855). Any such protections must be found in the governing documents.
Because fines are not statutorily defined as assessments, whether unpaid fines can be secured by a lien depends on the declaration; do not assume lien/foreclosure rights for fines. (verify.)

Assessments, liens & foreclosure

Condominiums: an owner is personally liable for assessments made under the recorded declaration, and the debt arises when the assessment is made (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-9-21). (Justia — § 89-9-21)
Condominium lien: the management body records a notice of assessment with the county chancery clerk (in a condominium lien book, by owner name), stating amount, interest, costs, attorney fees, and the unit; the lien has priority over liens recorded after it, expires one year after recording (extendable one additional year), and may be foreclosed following the mortgage-foreclosure procedure of Miss. Code Ann. § 89-1-55 (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-9-21). (Justia — § 89-9-21) (verify one-year duration and extension.)
Non-condo HOAs: there is no assessment-lien statute. Any lien and foreclosure right must be expressly created in the recorded declaration; without it, the association's remedy is an ordinary lawsuit for the debt. This is a critical statutory gap. (verify against the declaration.)
Mississippi imposes no statutory minimum-balance or delinquency-period threshold before foreclosure (contrast California's $1,800 / 12-month rule); for non-condo HOAs, any threshold comes only from the governing documents. (verify.)

Records access

For incorporated HOAs, the Nonprofit Act requires the corporation to keep permanent minutes, appropriate accounting records, a membership record, and copies of articles, bylaws, board resolutions affecting members, recent minutes/communications, and the latest annual report (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-283). (Justia — § 79-11-283)
A member may inspect and copy certain records on at least five (5) business days' written notice, and, for accounting records, minutes, and the membership list, the demand must be in good faith, for a proper purpose, described with reasonable particularity, and connected to that purpose (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-285). (Justia — § 79-11-285)
A member's agent or attorney has the same rights; the corporation may charge a reasonable copying fee not exceeding the estimated cost of reproduction (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-287). (Justia — § 79-11-287)
If inspection is wrongly refused, a member may obtain a chancery-court order and recover costs and reasonable attorney's fees unless the corporation refused in good faith on a reasonable doubt about the right (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-289). (Justia — § 79-11-289)
Gap: these are corporate-law rights, not HOA-specific ones. There are no California-style tiered deadlines (e.g., 10 business days for current-year records) and unincorporated associations fall outside these provisions entirely.

Reserves & budgets

No statute. Mississippi imposes no reserve-study, reserve-funding, or budget-distribution requirement on HOAs or condominiums (contrast California Civ. Code §§ 5300, 5550). Budgeting and any reserves are governed solely by the declaration/bylaws and the board's fiduciary duty. (verify — no contrary statute located.)
Incorporated HOAs must keep "appropriate accounting records" under the Nonprofit Act, but that is a records-keeping duty, not a funding or reserve mandate (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-283). (Justia — § 79-11-283)
There is no statutory balcony/elevated-element inspection regime (no analog to California SB 326). Any structural-inspection obligation is contractual or arises under general premises-liability law. (verify.)

Architectural control

No statute. Architectural-review authority, standards, timelines, and appeal rights exist only if the declaration grants them; Mississippi has no statute requiring a fair/reasonable review procedure or written reasons for denial (contrast California Civ. Code § 4765). (verify against the declaration.)
Mississippi courts generally enforce architectural and use covenants as written, applying good-faith/reasonableness limits and construing ambiguities against the party seeking to enforce a restriction. (verify — common-law, not codified.)
No statutory deadline governs approval or denial of an owner's application; any deadline comes solely from the governing documents.

Protected activities (what an HOA generally cannot prohibit)

Very few statutory protections. Mississippi has no solar-access, EV-charging, clothesline, drought-landscaping, or political-sign statute overriding HOA covenants. In most areas the HOA's recorded restrictions control. (verify — no such statutes located.)
Solar / flags / antennas: guidance indicates an HOA may adopt only reasonable rules on placement and manner for items like the U.S. flag, solar panels, and satellite dishes/antennas rather than outright bans, but there is no clear Mississippi solar-access statute; satellite-dish limits derive mainly from the federal FCC OTARD rule (47 C.F.R. § 1.4000), not state law. (verify — no confirmed state solar statute.)
U.S. flag display is protected federally by the Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-243), which limits HOA flag bans nationwide, including in Mississippi. (verify applicability to the specific rule.)
No Mississippi statute protects ADUs, personal agriculture, or artificial turf against HOA restrictions; these remain governed by the declaration.

Fair housing & assistance animals

No general state fair-housing act. Mississippi is one of the few states without its own comprehensive fair-housing enforcement statute; HOAs are bound chiefly by the federal Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 et seq., which prohibits discrimination and requires reasonable accommodations (including waiving "no-pet" rules for service and emotional-support animals). (verify — reliance on federal FHA, not a state act.)
The only fair-housing text in Title 43, Chapter 33 is Miss. Code Ann. § 43-33-723 (prohibition against discrimination), but it sits inside the Mississippi Home Corporation Act and applies to state-assisted housing developments/loans, not to private HOAs generally. Do not treat it as a broad state fair-housing law. (Justia — § 43-33-723) (verify scope.)
Under federal law, an assistance animal is not a "pet," need not be professionally trained, and reliable documentation of a disability-related need may be requested when the disability or need is not obvious. (verify — HUD guidance under the FHA.)
Enforcement is generally through HUD / the federal courts, since Mississippi lacks a substantially-equivalent state fair-housing agency. (verify.)

Required disclosures

No HOA disclosure statute. Mississippi requires no annual budget report, annual policy statement, or standardized resale/transfer disclosure package from an HOA (contrast California Civ. Code §§ 4525, 5300, 5310). Any disclosure duty comes from the declaration or general contract law. (verify — no contrary statute located.)
Buyers typically learn of covenants because the declaration and plat are recorded with the county chancery clerk and appear in a title search; there is no statutory seller-must-deliver-HOA-package requirement. (verify.)
Incorporated HOAs file a status/annual report with the Mississippi Secretary of State to remain in good standing, which is a corporate filing, not a member disclosure. (verify frequency.)
Condominiums must have a recorded declaration/plan on file (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 89-9-1 et seq.), which functions as the public disclosure of the regime. (Justia — Title 89 Ch. 9)

Dispute resolution

No statute. Mississippi has no HOA internal dispute resolution (IDR) or pre-litigation ADR mandate (contrast California Civ. Code §§ 5900–5965). Members and associations resolve disputes through the procedures in the governing documents or ordinary chancery/circuit-court litigation. (verify.)
The main statutory dispute mechanism is the records-inspection lawsuit for incorporated HOAs, which can shift attorney's fees to the association (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-289). (Justia — § 79-11-289)
Arbitration or mediation applies only if the declaration or a separate agreement requires it; there is no statutory duty to offer ADR before enforcing covenants.

Recent changes (2023–2026)

No comprehensive HOA act enacted. As of mid-2026, Mississippi still has no planned-community statute; the Condominium Law (1972) and the Nonprofit Corporation Act remain the framework, and the Condominium Law has seen little substantive change. (verify — monitor each legislative session.)
Bills touching nonprofit/community-association topics have been introduced in recent sessions (e.g., 2025 Regular Session), but no broad HOA-regulation act appears to have passed. Treat any specific bill as pending/unconfirmed until checked against enrolled law. (verify — not confirmed.)
No Mississippi analog to California's 2024–2025 changes (fine caps, electronic voting, balcony inspections, utility-restoration rules) has been identified. (verify — none located.)
Practical takeaway: in Mississippi the governing documents plus federal law (FHA, FCC OTARD, Flag Act) are the moving parts, not new state legislation.

Sources

Mississippi Condominium Law, Title 89 Ch. 9 (§§ 89-9-1 to 89-9-37) — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-89/chapter-9/ ; assessments & liens § 89-9-21 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-89/chapter-9/section-89-9-21/ ; definitions § 89-9-5 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-89/chapter-9/section-89-9-5/
Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act (§§ 79-11-101 et seq.) — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/
Member meeting notice § 79-11-205 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-205/ ; special meetings § 79-11-199 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-199/ ; board meeting notice § 79-11-259 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-259/ ; quorum § 79-11-217 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-217/ ; ballot without meeting § 79-11-211 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-211/
Records to keep § 79-11-283 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-283/ ; inspection § 79-11-285 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-285/ ; copying/fees § 79-11-287 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-287/ ; court-ordered inspection § 79-11-289 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-79/chapter-11/mississippi-nonprofit-corporation-act/section-79-11-289/
FindLaw statute pages (§ 79-11-283, 79-11-285, 79-11-287, 79-11-199, 89-9-21) — https://codes.findlaw.com/ms/title-79-corporations-associations-and-partnerships/
Housing / anti-discrimination in Mississippi Home Corporation Act § 43-33-723 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-43/chapter-33/article-11/section-43-33-723/
Federal fallback: Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601 et seq. (HUD assistance-animal guidance) ; FCC OTARD rule 47 C.F.R. § 1.4000 ; Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-243)
Secondary overviews (no state HOA act; documents control) — https://www.hopb.co/mississippi ; https://ipropertymanagement.com/laws/mississippi-hoa-rules-regulations ; https://fightmyhoa.com/rights/mississippi ; https://www.steadily.com/blog/mississippi-hoa-laws-regulations

Turn Mississippi's rules into workflows

Noticed agendas, recorded votes, documented violation hearings, and a dues ledger built in — plus an AI assistant grounded in Mississippi HOA law.

Book a demo

Frequently asked questions

What laws govern HOAs in Mississippi?

Mississippi has no comprehensive planned-community / HOA act. Non-condominium homeowners associations are governed almost entirely by their recorded declaration (CC&Rs), bylaws, and rules, the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 79-11-101 et seq.) if incorporated as a nonprofit, and general common law (contract and property).

Can a Mississippi HOA fine a homeowner, and what process is required?

No fine statute. Mississippi sets no statutory cap, notice period, or hearing/due-process requirement for HOA fines. Fining authority, amounts, and procedure come entirely from the declaration and rules; if the documents do not grant fining power, the association generally cannot fine.

What are the board meeting and notice rules for Mississippi HOAs?

No open-meeting act. Mississippi has no statute requiring HOA board meetings to be open to members or requiring member comment periods; those rights, if any, come from the bylaws. This is a major gap versus states like California. - For incorporated HOAs, member meeting notice must be "fair and reasonable": no fewer than 10 days (or 30 days if notice is mailed other than by first-class or registered mail) and no more than 60 days before the meeting (Miss. Code Ann.

What HOA records can Mississippi homeowners inspect?

For incorporated HOAs, the Nonprofit Act requires the corporation to keep permanent minutes, appropriate accounting records, a membership record, and copies of articles, bylaws, board resolutions affecting members, recent minutes/communications, and the latest annual report (Miss. Code Ann. § 79-11-283).

When can a Mississippi HOA place a lien or foreclose over unpaid assessments?

Condominiums: an owner is personally liable for assessments made under the recorded declaration, and the debt arises when the assessment is made (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-9-21). (Justia — § 89-9-21) - Condominium lien: the management body records a notice of assessment with the county chancery clerk (in a condominium lien book, by owner name), stating amount, interest, costs, attorney fees, and the unit; the lien has priority over liens recorded after it, expires one year after…

Does HOA software make a Mississippi board automatically compliant?

No. Compliance is the board's legal responsibility, guided by your association's attorney. Software like Grihak lowers effort and error by turning requirements into default workflows — noticed agendas, recorded votes, auto-generated minutes, documented violation hearings, permissioned document access, and a timestamped dues ledger — but it supports compliance rather than guaranteeing it.