Mississippi HOA Laws: What Homeowners Need to Know in 2026
Mississippi never enacted the general HOA bills filed from 2014 through 2018. Condominiums fall under the Mississippi Condominium Law (Miss. Code § 89-9-1 et seq.); HOAs incorporated as tax-exempt nonprofits must follow the 2021 money-handling rules in §§ 79-11-751 to -761; a subdivision HOA’s other powers come from its recorded covenants.
Three Mississippi rulebooks, three different sets of communities
Title 89 of the Mississippi Code (Real and Personal Property) has a Condominiums chapter and no chapter for homeowners’ associations. The legislature’s records show the attempts: House and Senate bills to “establish uniform law for the formation and administration of” homeowners’ associations (2014) or to “regulate the formation and legal administration of” them (2015 through 2018) each died in committee.
- Condominiums. Chapter 9 of Title 89 applies “only if” a plan is recorded with the chancery clerk: a survey map of the land, floor plans detailed enough to identify each unit, and a certificate consenting to recordation signed by the record owner and every record holder of a security interest (§ 89-9-9).
- Incorporated HOAs. Sections 79-11-751 through 79-11-759 define “association” as a homeowners association organized as a nonprofit corporation under the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act “and which is exempt from taxation under the federal Income Tax Code.” An unincorporated association, or one without that tax status, falls outside them.
- The covenants. For a subdivision association, incorporated or not, dues, fines and architectural control are set by the declaration and bylaws recorded against the lots.
The 2021 law on HOA money and managers
House Bill 953 took effect July 1, 2021; House Bill 933 rewrote parts of it effective July 1, 2022. The version in force now requires:
- Trust accounts. A managing agent must put association funds that are not in an escrow account or an account the association controls into an FDIC-insured trust account, or, at the board’s written request, into an insured account that meets every condition of § 79-11-751(2). It keeps a separate record of receipts, disbursements and interest and may not commingle the money with its own or anyone else’s.
- A $10,000 line. Transfers of more than $10,000 of the association’s combined reserve and operating deposits need prior board approval. The 2022 amendment deleted the word “written” from that approval (§§ 79-11-751(2)(f), 79-11-757).
- Bank statements at every regular meeting. Unless the governing documents set a stricter standard, the board reviews the latest account statements for its operating and reserve accounts at all regularly scheduled meetings (§ 79-11-753(1)). Every director individually, or a subcommittee of the treasurer and at least one other director, may do the review outside the meeting if the next board meeting ratifies it in the minutes (§ 79-11-755).
- Remote meetings. Board and member meetings may be held electronically “Unless prohibited by the governing documents” (§ 79-11-753(2)).
- Fidelity coverage. The association carries a fidelity bond or comparable insurance for directors, officers and employees at least equal to its reserves plus total assessments “for the highest balance during the previous year,” including computer fraud and funds transfer fraud, and covering the managing agent’s dishonest acts if it uses one. A majority of the board may vote at a regular or special meeting not to carry it; before 2022 that vote belonged to the members (§ 79-11-759).
The winner of a suit to enforce the trust-account section recovers reasonable legal fees and court costs (§ 79-11-751(6)).
Getting the records of an incorporated association
A member who gives written notice at least five business days ahead may inspect and copy the records kept at the principal office under § 79-11-283(5): articles and bylaws with amendments in effect, board resolutions on members’ rights and classes, minutes of members’ meetings and member actions for the past three years, written communications sent to the membership as a whole within the past three years, the names and addresses of current directors and officers, and the most recent annual report delivered to the Secretary of State.
Three more categories (the accounting records, the member list, and excerpts of minutes and action records not already covered) carry conditions on top of the same five-business-day notice. The demand must be made in good faith and for a proper purpose, describe the purpose and the records with reasonable particularity, and seek records directly connected with that purpose (§ 79-11-285(3)). The section does not affect a member’s inspection rights as a litigant in a suit with the corporation, or a court’s independent power to compel production. Copy charges may not exceed the estimated cost of production (§ 79-11-287), and a chancery court may order inspection and make the corporation pay the member’s costs unless it refused in good faith with a reasonable basis to doubt the member’s right (§ 79-11-289).
For members’ meetings, notice is treated as fair and reasonable when sent no fewer than 10 days (30 if not mailed first-class or registered) and no more than 60 days before the date, if an annual-meeting notice also describes any matter needing member approval under the sections listed in § 79-11-205(3)(b) and a special-meeting notice describes its purpose (§ 79-11-205).
Condominium assessments and a lien that expires
A reasonable assessment made under the recorded declaration is a debt of the owner. It becomes a lien only when the management body records a notice of assessment with the chancery clerk stating the amount, the unit and the record owner (§ 89-9-21). That lien ranks ahead of liens recorded after the notice, though the declaration may subordinate it to others.
The lien “shall expire” one year from recordation unless satisfied or enforcement has begun; the management body may extend it by recording a written extension, for no more than one additional year. It may be enforced by sale under § 89-1-55, the procedure for powers of sale in mortgages and deeds of trust, “or in any other manner permitted by law,” and the association may also sue for a money judgment without waiving the lien.
Selling in a Mississippi association
Transfer fees. A covenant requiring a buyer to pay a fee to the declarant or a third party on a future transfer is void under § 89-1-69. The statute exempts three kinds of fee tied to a conveyance of property in a subdivision: one payable to a property owners’ association that manages the subdivision (or its managing agent) when the subdivision has more than one platted lot and the fee right appears in a recorded covenant; one payable to a § 501(c)(3) entity whose right is likewise recorded; and one payable to a governmental entity.
Seller disclosure. When a Property Condition Disclosure Statement is required under §§ 89-1-501 to -527 (§ 89-1-501(1) limits it to property with one to four dwelling units transferred by, or with the aid of, a licensed real estate broker or salesperson, and § 89-1-501(2) excludes some transfers), the Mississippi Real Estate Commission’s current form (dated April 25, 2023) asks, in section V, whether the seller knows of “Restrictive Covenants,” “Special Assessments” and “HOA/COA Dues.”
A 2026 bill that failed. Senate Bill 2644 of 2026 would have required an HOA to issue an estoppel certificate within 10 business days and capped its fee; it died in committee.
Frequently asked questions
Does the 2021 law cover my small subdivision association?
Only if it is incorporated under the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act and exempt from federal income tax; § 79-11-751(7) defines “association” that way.
How long can a condo association sit on a recorded lien?
One year from recording the notice of assessment, plus a recorded extension of no more than one more year, unless the lien is satisfied or enforcement has begun (§ 89-9-21).
Can the board skip the fidelity bond?
Yes. Since July 1, 2022, § 79-11-759(2) lets a majority of the board, voting at a regular or special meeting of the association, opt out of the statutory coverage.