Breaking a lease in Mississippi

A fixed-term rental agreement expires on the date it states, and the Act gives the tenant no general right to leave early. It does let a cosigner end a lease when the tenant dies. The Act has no early-termination rule for victims of domestic violence or for servicemembers; other Mississippi law and the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act were not read for this page (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-17(1); Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-29).

• A cosigner may end the lease before it expires when the tenant, or every tenant, dies, and is presumed to have done so unless the cosigner tells the landlord within 30 days of the death that the cosigner chooses not to terminate (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-29(2)).See Death of a tenant on the Mississippi page
• A court issuing a domestic abuse protection order may grant the petitioner possession of the residence or household to the exclusion of the respondent, by evicting the respondent or restoring possession to the petitioner, or both (Miss. Code Ann. § 93-21-15).

A cosigner of a residential lease may end it before it expires when the tenant dies or, if there is more than one tenant, when all of them die, and is presumed to have done so. A cosigner who chooses not to end the lease must notify the landlord within 30 days of the death. The estate and the cosigner still owe rent and other sums owed before the death, rent and other sums for the rest of the month or other 30-day period in which the death occurred, and the cost of restoring the premises to their condition at the start of the tenancy, ordinary wear and tear excepted (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-29).

• Any waiver of the cosigner's right to terminate, by contract or otherwise, is void and unenforceable (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-29(4)).
• The rule applies to leases entered into or renewed on or after July 1, 2011 (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-29(5)).

If you fail to repair a specific and material defect within 30 days after the tenant's written notice, the tenant may repair it and is entitled to reimbursement within 45 days after giving you receipted bills, but only if the tenant has met the tenant's own duties, the repair costs no more than one month's rent, the tenant has not used this remedy in the previous six months and the tenant is current on rent. Reimbursement is limited to the usual and customary charge, and the tenant may offset the cost against future rent (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-15).

• For a material breach of the lease or of your repair duties, the tenant may instead give written notice specifying the breach and that the rental agreement will terminate on a date not less than 14 days after you receive it unless you remedy the breach within a reasonable time of no more than 14 days (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13(2), (3)).
• Before repairing facilities shared with other units, the tenant must notify the other tenants and arrange the work to cause the least practicable inconvenience (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-15(3)).
• The repair remedy does not create a lien on the property (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-15(5)).
• Keep the written defect notice and its delivery date with photos, the landlord's replies, rent-payment records and itemized paid repair bills. Note any earlier use of this remedy so the six-month restriction can be checked. Match the claimed work to the defect reported and the usual local charge. A repair request alone does not establish that every condition for reimbursement or a future rent offset has been met (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-15).

Mississippi has no statute that sets a general rule on subletting a home. The lease controls, so state in it whether the tenant needs your written consent (Miss. Code Ann. §§ 89-8-1 to 89-8-45).

Unless the rental agreement fixes a definite term, a tenancy is week to week when the tenant pays weekly rent and month to month in all other cases. Either side may end a month-to-month tenancy by written notice given at least 30 days before the termination date, or a week-to-week tenancy by written notice given at least 7 days before it (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-19(1) to (3)).

• No notice to terminate is required when the landlord or tenant has committed a substantial violation of the rental agreement or the Act that materially affects health or safety (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-19(4)).
• If the tenant does not leave after the tenancy ends, you may start an eviction for failing to vacate, filing a copy of your written termination notice (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-31(b); Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-33(b)(ii)).See Eviction process on the Mississippi page

When a fixed-term rental agreement expires and the tenancy does not continue month to month, you may give the tenant notice that the tenant is holding over and that you will start eviction proceedings no earlier than three days after the notice. The notice must be in writing, or by email or text message if the tenant agreed to be notified that way. If the tenant fails or refuses to vacate after you notify the tenant to do so, you may charge double rent for the time the tenant stays past the date to vacate in your notice, unless the rental agreement says otherwise (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-17(2); Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-19(1); Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-45).

• A tenancy without a definite term is week to week when rent is paid weekly and month to month otherwise, and either side may end it on 7 or 30 days' written notice, so a tenant who stays on month to month with your consent is not holding over (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-19(1) to (3)).See Ending a month-to-month tenancy on the Mississippi page

You may keep only amounts reasonably necessary to cover unpaid rent, damage the tenant caused beyond ordinary wear and tear, cleaning when the tenancy ends, or other reasonable and necessary expenses caused by the tenant's default, and only if the deposit was made for those purposes. Claim them by written notice delivered to the tenant that itemizes the amounts, and return the rest no later than 45 days after the tenancy ends, the tenant delivers possession and the tenant demands the deposit (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21(3) (reprinted in 2024 HB 1580, not enacted)).

• The 45 days run only once all three have happened: the tenancy has ended, the tenant has delivered possession and the tenant has demanded the deposit (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21(3) (reprinted in 2024 HB 1580, not enacted)).
• Keeping a deposit in violation of the section and without good faith may subject the landlord, or a transferee, to damages of up to $200 on top of actual damages (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-21(4) (reprinted in 2024 HB 1580, not enacted)).
• When a rental agreement is terminated for breach, the landlord must return all prepaid and unearned rent and the security the tenant can recover under the deposit section (Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13(4)).