What Mississippi law does to your lease
These are the figures the builder holds you to. Each one is the statute's, not ours, and the citation is there so you can read it yourself.
| Rule | Mississippi | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|
| Most a landlord may take as a deposit | No statutory limit | Miss. Code 89-8-21 |
| Earliest a late fee may be charged | The day after it is due | Miss. Code 89-8-7(k) |
| Most a late fee may be | No statutory limit, but it has to be reasonableMississippi's Act mentions a late fee only to say that one the rental agreement requires counts as rent. It sets neither a grace period nor a ceiling. | Miss. Code 89-8-7(k) |
| Notice before the landlord may enter | None required by statuteMississippi's Residential Landlord and Tenant Act gives a landlord no right of entry and sets no notice period, so the figure this lease sets is the one that governs. | Miss. Code 89-8-1 to 89-8-45 |
| Notice to end a month-to-month tenancy | 30 daysNo notice at all is required where the other side has substantially violated the agreement or the Act in a way that materially affects health or safety. | Miss. Code 89-8-19(3) |
The clause most landlords get wrong
Rent stated as a base figure with mandatory fees bolted on beside it. If a fee is not optional, it is rent, and several states now say so outright: the lease has to carry one total figure that the landlord may not charge above. The builder asks for the total and then asks how much of it is fees, which is the same information in the order the law wants it.
The second is the assistance animal. A no-pets clause that does not carve one out is a fair-housing problem, not a pet problem, and no pet rent or pet deposit may be charged for one. Your lease says so whether or not you allow pets.
After it is signed
Download the PDF and it is yours, account or not. If you want the tenant to sign it without printing anything, a free Kouzr account sends it for signature, files the executed copy against the tenancy, and keeps it beside the listing, the rent record and the deposit accounting, so the paperwork for that home is in one place when the tenancy ends.