Abandoned Property Laws in Mississippi 2025

Mississippi keeps this area unusually simple. There is no elaborate abandoned-property statute directing you to store a tenant's belongings for a set number of days, sort them by dollar value, or auction them at public sale. The one provision that squarely governs the situation is Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39, part of the Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, and it applies to property left behind after a court eviction. The rule it lays out is a 72-hour access window tied to the warrant for removal, after which anything remaining is treated as abandoned.

Because Mississippi does not impose the notice, storage, and sale machinery you may have read about for other states, the practical risk here is different: it is applying another state's rules by mistake, or disposing of property before the eviction is actually final. This page walks through what § 89-8-39 actually requires, and what it deliberately leaves out.

Step-by-Step: Handling Abandoned Property in Mississippi

Follow these steps precisely to protect yourself from liability under Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13:

1. Document the abandoned property immediately. As soon as you regain possession of the unit, conduct a thorough walk-through. Take dated photographs and video of all items left behind. Create a written inventory listing each item, its approximate condition, and estimated value. This documentation is your primary protection against later claims.
2. Send required written notice. Mail or deliver written notice to the tenant's last known address and any forwarding address you have on file. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13, you must give 30 days notice before disposing of or selling the property. The notice should describe the items, their location, and the deadline for retrieval.
3. Secure the property during the notice period. While storage is not legally required in Mississippi, keeping items in a secure location establishes a clear paper trail and protects potentially high-value items from claims of damage or disappearance.
4. Assess the property. Even without a statutory value threshold, document estimated values for each item. If items appear potentially valuable, consider a public sale to maximize recoverable costs and minimize dispute risk.
5. Apply sale proceeds to costs. After the notice period expires and any required sale is conducted, apply proceeds first to unpaid rent, then to storage costs, then to sale costs. Remit any remaining balance to the tenant. Keep detailed records of all calculations.
6. Retain all records for at least 3 years. Keep your written inventory, photographs, notice letters, delivery confirmations, storage receipts, sale records, and proceeds accounting. If the tenant later claims improper handling, this documentation is your defense.

The governing rule: Miss. Code § 89-8-39

Mississippi's abandoned-property rule lives inside its eviction statute rather than in a stand-alone chapter. Under Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39, once a court has ordered the tenant out and a warrant for removal has been executed, the landlord must allow the tenant reasonable access to the premises for seventy-two (72) hours to remove personal property, including any manufactured home.

The statute then sets the abandonment line clearly. If the tenant moves out by the court-ordered date and leaves property behind, or leaves property still on the premises more than 72 hours after the warrant for removal is executed, that property is deemed abandoned and may be disposed of by the landlord without further notice or obligation to the tenant. After the 72 hours, the landlord may move remaining property to the curb, to an area designated for garbage, or to another location the tenant and landlord agree on.

This is the whole framework. There is no separate written demand you must mail, no waiting period beyond the 72 hours, and no requirement to inventory or appraise what is left.

What Mississippi does NOT require

Several widely copied online summaries describe a $300 value threshold, a 15-day tenant-notice letter, and a newspaper-published public sale with proceeds applied to unpaid rent. None of that is in the Mississippi Code. Those figures are lifted from other states' abandoned-property statutes and do not govern a Mississippi tenancy.

To be precise about the gaps in Mississippi law, § 89-8-39 does not impose:

• a mandatory written notice-to-tenant period before disposal;
• a minimum number of days you must store the property;
• a dollar-value threshold (such as $300) that triggers different handling;
• a public-sale or newspaper-publication requirement; or
• any rule directing that sale proceeds be applied to rent the tenant owes.

Because the statute is silent on sale and proceeds, a landlord who chooses to sell abandoned items is operating outside any statutory safe harbor. The clean, low-risk path Mississippi actually endorses is disposal after the 72-hour window.

Abandonment without an eviction

Section 89-8-39 is written around the eviction process: it keys off the court-ordered move-out date and the warrant for removal. When a tenant simply disappears mid-lease with no court judgment, the statute's 72-hour trigger has not been set in motion, and Mississippi provides no separate step-by-step procedure for property left behind.

In that gray zone, the safe practice is to first confirm the tenancy has genuinely ended rather than assume abandonment. Document the condition of the unit, keep any property you remove for a reasonable time, and make a good-faith attempt to reach the tenant at their last known address before discarding anything of apparent value. Better still, the cleanest way to avoid the ambiguity is to obtain a possession judgment and let the § 89-8-39 timeline govern, so your handling of the property rests on a clear statutory footing.

The federal baseline

There is no general federal statute telling a landlord how to store, notice, sell, or dispose of a residential tenant's abandoned personal property. That subject is left to the states. The federal law landlords sometimes confuse with this, the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, deals with tenants whose rental home is foreclosed, not with belongings left behind after a normal move-out or eviction.

So in Mississippi, the state rule is the whole rule. Where many states layer a detailed notice-and-sale scheme on top of a common-law baseline, Mississippi essentially stays at a streamlined version: a defined access window under § 89-8-39, then disposal.

A practical checklist for Mississippi landlords

To stay inside the statute and out of a conversion claim, work the sequence deliberately:

• Finish the eviction properly. The 72-hour clock only starts when the warrant for removal is executed. Disposing of property before the case is final invites a wrongful-disposal claim.
• Honor the 72-hour access window. Give the tenant reasonable access for a full 72 hours after the warrant is executed, including for a manufactured home if one is on site.
• Preserve the good-faith payment duty. Under § 89-8-39 you must accept full payment of all sums owed under the money judgment if the tenant tenders it on or before the court-ordered move-out date.
• Then dispose. After 72 hours, remaining property is abandoned and may be removed to the curb, a garbage area, or an agreed location, with no further notice required.
• Document everything. Photograph the unit and its contents and keep the eviction paperwork. Mississippi does not require an inventory, but a dated record is your best defense if the tenant later disputes what was left.

Related Guides for Mississippi Landlords

This summary reflects Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39, within the Mississippi Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (§§ 89-8-1 through 89-8-45), as in effect in 2026. Statutes and their interpretation change, and abandonment situations that fall outside a completed eviction are legally uncertain in Mississippi. This is general information for landlords, not legal advice; confirm the current statutory text and consult a Mississippi attorney before disposing of a tenant's property.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long must a Mississippi landlord keep a tenant's abandoned property?

After a warrant for removal is executed, Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39 requires the landlord to give the tenant reasonable access to the premises for 72 hours. Property still on the premises after those 72 hours is deemed abandoned and may be disposed of without further notice. Mississippi sets no longer mandatory storage period.

Does Mississippi require written notice before disposing of abandoned property?

No. Section 89-8-39 does not impose a separate written notice-to-tenant requirement before disposal. The tenant's notice is effectively the eviction judgment and the 72-hour access window; once that window closes, the landlord may dispose of remaining property without further notice or obligation.

Is there a $300 value rule or public-sale requirement in Mississippi?

No. Mississippi's abandoned-property rule contains no dollar-value threshold, no public-sale requirement, and no newspaper-publication step. Those figures appear in some third-party summaries but come from other states' laws, not the Mississippi Code. Because the statute is silent on sale and proceeds, disposal after the 72-hour window is the clean path.

What if a tenant abandons the unit without a court eviction?

Section 89-8-39's 72-hour clock is tied to a warrant for removal, so it does not directly cover a tenant who leaves mid-lease with no judgment. Mississippi provides no separate procedure for that situation, so the safe practice is to confirm the tenancy has ended, attempt to reach the tenant at their last known address, hold any valuable property for a reasonable time, and ideally obtain a possession judgment so the statutory timeline applies.

Can a Mississippi landlord keep or sell what the tenant left and apply it to unpaid rent?

The statute does not authorize a sale-and-apply-proceeds process, so there is no statutory safe harbor for selling abandoned belongings. Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-39 addresses disposal, not sale. A landlord who sells items and keeps the proceeds is operating outside the statute and risks a conversion claim; disposal after the 72-hour window is the compliant route.

Does any federal law govern how I handle a tenant's abandoned property?

No general federal statute governs how a landlord stores, notices, or disposes of a residential tenant's abandoned property; that is left to state law. The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act applies only when a rental is foreclosed, not to ordinary abandonment, so in Mississippi the § 89-8-39 rule controls.

Statutory citation: Miss. Code Ann. § 89-8-13. Laws current as of 2025, verify against your state's current statutes before acting. Last updated August 27, 2026. This page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney for your specific situation.