Mississippi HOA Assessment Limits

Section 1: Overview

Mississippi keeps government out of the assessment math. The state sets no percentage cap on how much a condo or HOA board can raise dues, and it gives owners no statutory mechanism to reject a budget. Whatever limit exists — if there is one — comes from the recorded documents the community filed at its founding: a declaration of restrictions for condominiums, or a set of covenants for non-condominium associations.¹

Condominiums operate under the Mississippi Condominium Law, Miss. Code § 89-9-1 et seq. That law authorizes assessments made in accordance with the recorded declaration under § 89-9-17 and creates a recorded assessment lien under § 89-9-21.² Boards set regular increases through the budget in whatever manner the declaration or covenants allow — there is no statutory ceiling and no statutory member vote required.³ Special assessments draw their authority and limits from those same recorded documents, not from any state statute.⁴

To understand where Mississippi lands nationally, consider the contrast: California's Civil Code § 5605 caps regular increases at 20 percent and special assessments at 5 percent of budgeted gross expenses without member approval — the textbook statutory-cap model.⁵ States in the Uniform Common Interest Ownership Act (UCIOA) family control increases through owner-veto ratification meetings. Mississippi belongs to neither group. It is a declaration-driven state where the recorded instrument supplies the rule.¹ Mississippi has not adopted UCIOA, and its condominium statute is an older horizontal-property-style law — originally enacted in 1964 — rather than a Uniform Condominium Act enactment.⁶ The sections that follow set out the framework, the practical procedures, and recent legislative and judicial activity.

Section 2: The assessment framework

2A. Authority to levy and allocate assessments

For condominiums, the authority to levy assessments flows from the recorded declaration of restrictions. The Mississippi Condominium Law permits that declaration to provide "[f]or reasonable assessments to meet authorized expenditures of any management body, and for a reasonable method for notice and levy thereof, each condominium to be assessed separately for its share of such expenses in proportion, unless otherwise provided, to its owner's fractional interest in any common area" — the operative text of Miss. Code § 89-9-17.⁷ The statute makes the declaration the controlling instrument. The management body — which the statute defines as "the condominium owners, a board of governors elected by the owners or a management agent elected by the owners or the board or named in the declaration" — holds the power to set assessments through the budget in the manner the declaration prescribes.⁸ The allocation formula, typically tied to each unit's fractional interest in the common areas, is fixed by the declaration rather than by statute.⁷

For non-condominium homeowners associations, Mississippi has no comprehensive HOA statute.⁹ Assessment authority comes from the recorded covenants (the declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions) and from the corporate power of the association as a nonprofit corporation under the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act, Miss. Code § 79-11-101 et seq.¹⁰ That Act gives a corporation the power "[t]o impose dues, assessments, admission and transfer fees upon its members," and it makes members liable for those dues and assessments.¹¹ The board sets the assessment through the budget; the covenants control the allocation formula and any rate limit. The Condominium Law does not apply to these planned-community associations.⁹

2B. Limits on regular assessment increases

Mississippi imposes no percentage cap on a regular assessment increase and provides no budget-ratification or owner-rejection mechanism.¹ The limit, if any, is whatever the recorded declaration or covenants impose. The Condominium Law requires only that an assessment be reasonable and made in accordance with the recorded declaration under Miss. Code § 89-9-17 and § 89-9-21; it sets no numeric ceiling and requires no member vote to approve a budget or an increase.³

In practice, the recorded documents govern. They may grant the board authority to raise assessments to meet the budget, or they may set a maximum annual increase, a dollar ceiling, or a member-approval threshold above a stated figure. Where the declaration sets such a cap or vote requirement, that provision controls — it is the source of the board's authority. An association that acts outside the declaration's authority risks having the increase or the resulting lien challenged as unreasonable or inconsistent with the recorded declaration.¹²

For an association organized as a nonprofit corporation, the Nonprofit Corporation Act provides that "an article or bylaw provision or a resolution adopted by the board authorizing or imposing dues, assessments or fees does not, of itself, create liability"; the obligation still rests on the recorded covenants and the member's acceptance of them.¹³

2C. Special assessments, the lien, and the declaration

The same rule governs special assessments: authority and limits come from the recorded declaration for condominiums and from the recorded covenants for homeowners associations. Mississippi imposes no statutory percentage limit on a special assessment and no statutory ratification step; any approval threshold or dollar limit comes from the recorded documents.⁴

For condominiums, Miss. Code § 89-9-21 makes "[a] reasonable assessment upon any condominium made in accordance with a recorded declaration of restrictions permitted by Section 89-9-17 ... a debt of the owner thereof at the time the assessment is made," and it creates a lien when the management body records a notice of assessment with the chancery clerk of the county where the condominium sits.¹⁴ That recorded lien "shall be prior to all other liens recorded subsequent to the recordation of said notice of assessment except that the declaration of restrictions may provide for the subordination thereof to any other liens and encumbrances" — it is not a super-priority lien over earlier-recorded mortgages.¹⁵ The lien expires one year after the notice is recorded unless it is satisfied or enforcement begins, and the management body may enforce it "by sale of same by the management body, its attorney or other person authorized to make the sale ... such sale to be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Section 89-1-55, applicable to the exercise of powers of sale in mortgages and deeds of trust, or in any other manner permitted by law."¹⁶

For homeowners associations, the lien depends entirely on the recorded covenants, which must create both the lien and the remedy.¹⁷ Emergency handling of an unbudgeted expense is governed by the declaration as well. The operational takeaway is consistent: the recorded documents set the limit and the lien rights, and the association looks to the declaration or covenants for any cap or approval threshold.

Section 3: Assessment limits and procedures in practice

A. Regular assessment increase procedure

Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS: the procedure is declaration-defined or covenant-defined, with no statutory rule; the board adopts the budget and levies the assessment in the manner the recorded documents prescribe, including any notice and effective-date provisions.³ For condominiums, the declaration must provide "a reasonable method for notice and levy" under Miss. Code § 89-9-17.⁷

B. Special assessment procedure

Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS: authority and procedure are declaration-based or covenant-based, including any member-approval threshold; Mississippi supplies no statutory special-assessment cap and no ratification step. Any vote requirement is whatever the recorded documents impose.⁴

C. Caps, ceilings, and override mechanisms

Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS: Mississippi supplies no statutory percentage cap and no ratification or owner-veto mechanism. Any cap, ceiling, or override is declaration-defined; if the recorded documents are silent, the board's budget authority is limited only by the reasonableness standard that the Condominium Law applies to condominium assessments under Miss. Code § 89-9-21 and by general principles applied to covenant-based assessments.¹⁴

D. Notice, documentation, and disclosure tied to assessments

Applies to CONDOMINIUMS and HOAS: notice is given per the recorded documents, with no separate statutory assessment-notice rule. For condominiums, the declaration of restrictions must be recorded to be enforceable under Miss. Code § 89-9-17, and the assessment lien is perfected by recording a notice of assessment with the chancery clerk under § 89-9-21.¹⁸ Assessment disclosure on transfer is governed by the documents and ordinary conveyancing practice; Mississippi does not impose a statutory resale assessment-disclosure certificate for either condominiums or HOAs.⁹

Section 4: Recent legislative and judicial activity

A. Recent bills

The 2024 and 2025 regular sessions produced no bill that amended the assessment or lien provisions of the Mississippi Condominium Law (Miss. Code § 89-9-17 or § 89-9-21) and no bill that created a statutory assessment cap, a ratification mechanism, or a comprehensive HOA framework. The most relevant measure touching association governance was a bring-forward vehicle for the Nonprofit Corporation Act — the statute under which most Mississippi HOAs are incorporated.¹⁹

B. Recent appellate rulings

No Mississippi Court of Appeals or Supreme Court opinion in the past 36 months squarely addresses an HOA or condominium assessment limit, the validity of an increase or special assessment, or the assessment lien. The governing appellate authority predates that window.

In Loblolly Properties LLC v. Le Papillon Homeowner's Ass'n, No. 2021-CA-00767-COA, 2022 WL 4478395 (Miss. Ct. App. Sept. 27, 2022), the Court of Appeals held that foreclosure of an earlier deed of trust did not extinguish later-recorded covenants creating an HOA with the power to levy assessments — the covenants and the assessment obligation ran with the land against the post-foreclosure purchaser.²⁰ In Alexander v. Wardlow, 908 So. 2d 757 (Miss. Ct. App. 2005), the court held that a covenant running with the land provides implied consent to assessment of association dues and supports a lien and remedy for nonpayment even where the charter and bylaws are silent.²¹ Both decisions confirm the declaration-driven rule: assessment authority and limits are read out of the recorded instruments. The most recent Diamondhead Property Owners Association appellate decision on association governance, Feola v. Marthouse, addressed derivative-standing requirements under the Nonprofit Corporation Act rather than assessment limits, and is included for context.²²

C. Active legislative debates

No pending Mississippi proposal seeks to cap assessment increases, create a budget-ratification mechanism, or enact a comprehensive non-condominium HOA statute. Legislative attention to associations in recent sessions has centered on nonprofit-corporation compliance matters rather than on assessment authority or lien priority.¹⁹

Section 5: National positioning and related coverage

Mississippi sits in the declaration-driven group on the assessment-limit spectrum. That spectrum runs across three families.

First are the statutory-cap states, led by California, where Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) provides that "the board may not impose a regular assessment that is more than 20 percent greater than the regular assessment for the association's preceding fiscal year or impose special assessments which in the aggregate exceed 5 percent of the budgeted gross expenses of the association for that fiscal year without the approval of a majority of a quorum of members."⁵ Second are the ratification-mechanism states in the UCIOA family — Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington — which control increases by letting owners veto the board-adopted budget at a ratification meeting.²³ Third are declaration-driven states such as Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia, where assessment limits come almost entirely from the recorded declaration or covenants and the statute supplies no cap.¹

For a multi-state operator entering Mississippi, the practical implication is straightforward: read the declaration or covenants to find the limit, because no statutory ratification step exists to clear before an assessment takes effect. Mississippi also has no comprehensive HOA statute, and its older condominium law contains no ratification mechanism — the recorded instruments carry the full weight of any limit.⁶

HOA Weekly's Mississippi Assessment Limits coverage updates quarterly as the Legislature and the Mississippi appellate courts act. Federal frameworks also bear on Mississippi assessment practice regardless of the state rule — in particular the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and the bankruptcy treatment of association assessments.

Recommendations

1. Before raising a regular assessment or levying a special assessment, read the recorded instrument first, not the code. For a condominium, confirm the increase is reasonable and made in accordance with the recorded declaration as Miss. Code § 89-9-17 and § 89-9-21 require; for an HOA, confirm the covenants authorize the increase and any required member vote. The threshold that would change the analysis is a declaration or covenant provision that sets a maximum annual increase, a dollar ceiling, or a vote requirement — if one exists, follow it exactly, because it is the source of the board's authority.
2. For condominium collections, perfect the lien correctly and watch the one-year clock. Record a notice of assessment with the chancery clerk in the county where the unit sits, recognize that priority runs only against liens recorded after that notice (with no super-priority over earlier mortgages), and begin enforcement or obtain satisfaction within one year of recordation or the lien expires under § 89-9-21. If a first mortgage was recorded earlier, do not assume the assessment lien primes it.
3. For HOA collections, do not rely on any statutory lien. The lien and remedy exist only if the recorded covenants create them. If the covenants are silent on a lien, the association's path is a money judgment under general contract and covenant law, as Alexander v. Wardlow and Loblolly Properties illustrate. Audit the recorded covenants now to confirm a lien provision exists before a delinquency arises.
4. Track corporate compliance separately from assessment authority. Because most Mississippi HOAs are nonprofit corporations, confirm the association is in good standing with the Secretary of State and meets nonprofit annual-reporting obligations; loss of corporate status can complicate enforcement even though it does not change the declaration-driven assessment rule. Note that a bylaw or board resolution alone does not create member liability under § 79-11-183.
5. Re-evaluate if the Legislature or the appellate courts act. The benchmarks that would change these recommendations are: a bill that amends § 89-9-17 or § 89-9-21 or enacts a general HOA statute; any measure introducing a percentage cap or a budget-ratification mechanism; or a Mississippi Court of Appeals or Supreme Court opinion squarely ruling on assessment-increase validity or lien priority. None of these existed as of the 2025 regular session.

Caveats

• This page states the framework as of June 9, 2026. Mississippi legislative sessions run roughly January through April, so check the position after each regular session against legislature.ms.gov.
• The lien mechanics in § 89-9-21 — debt of the owner, recording with the chancery clerk, priority only over later-recorded liens, one-year expiration, and power-of-sale enforcement under § 89-1-55 — apply to condominiums. They do not automatically apply to non-condominium HOAs, whose lien rights exist only if the recorded covenants create them.
• No Mississippi appellate opinion within the past 36 months squarely decides an assessment-limit, assessment-increase-validity, or assessment-lien question. Loblolly Properties (2022) and Alexander v. Wardlow (2005) are the closest on-point authorities and predate that window; Feola v. Marthouse (2023) concerns derivative-standing procedure, not assessments. A live trial-court dispute in the Diamondhead community over whether dues survive covenant expiration had not produced a reported appellate opinion as of this writing.
• The Loblolly Properties citation includes a Westlaw identifier (2022 WL 4478395) because a free published-reporter citation could not be independently confirmed; editors should verify the opinion by docket number 2021-CA-00767-COA on courts.ms.gov.
• The grouping of states into statutory-cap, ratification-mechanism, and declaration-driven families reflects the structure of each state's assessment law; individual states within the UCIOA family vary in detail, and the recorded documents in any specific Mississippi community may impose stricter limits than the statutory baseline described here.

1. Miss. Code § 89-9-21 (assessments and lien tied to the recorded declaration; no statutory percentage cap or ratification mechanism appears in Title 89, Chapter 9) ↩
2. Miss. Code § 89-9-1 (citation of chapter as the "Mississippi Condominium Law"); see § 89-9-17 and § 89-9-21 ↩
3. Miss. Code § 89-9-17 (declaration provides for reasonable assessments and method of notice and levy; statute states no numeric cap and no budget-ratification requirement) ↩
4. Miss. Code § 89-9-17 (assessment authority and limits flow from the recorded declaration of restrictions) ↩
5. Cal. Civ. Code § 5605(b) (20 percent regular and 5 percent special assessment limits without member approval), offered as the contrasting statutory-cap model ↩
6. Miss. Code § 89-9-1 (Sources: Codes, 1942, § 896-01; Laws, 1964, ch. 270, § 1, reflecting the statute's 1964 horizontal-property origin) ↩
7. Miss. Code § 89-9-17(5)(i) (verbatim: reasonable assessments to meet authorized expenditures, reasonable method for notice and levy, proportional to fractional interest in common area) ↩
8. Miss. Code § 89-9-17(1) (verbatim definition of management bodies: condominium owners, board of governors elected by owners, or management agent) ↩
9. Mississippi Condominium Law applies only to condominiums; Mississippi has no comprehensive non-condominium HOA statute (Homeowners Protection Bureau overview, cross-verifying Title 89, Chapter 9 scope) ↩
10. Miss. Code § 79-11-101 (Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act short title; et seq. governs HOAs incorporated as nonprofits) ↩
11. Miss. Code § 79-11-151(p) (power "[t]o impose dues, assessments, admission and transfer fees upon its members"), reproduced verbatim in 2025 HB 1554 bring-forward text ↩
12. Miss. Code § 89-9-21 (only a reasonable assessment made in accordance with the recorded declaration is a debt of the owner) ↩
13. Miss. Code § 79-11-183 (verbatim: an article, bylaw, or board resolution authorizing dues, assessments or fees "does not, of itself, create liability"), reproduced in 2025 HB 1554 bring-forward text ↩
14. Miss. Code § 89-9-21 (verbatim: reasonable assessment is a debt of the owner; lien arises on recording a notice of assessment with the chancery clerk) ↩
15. Miss. Code § 89-9-21 (verbatim: lien "prior to all other liens recorded subsequent to the recordation of said notice of assessment except that the declaration of restrictions may provide for the subordination thereof") ↩
16. Miss. Code § 89-9-21 (verbatim: one-year expiration unless enforced; enforcement by sale conducted under Section 89-1-55, the deed-of-trust power-of-sale procedure) ↩
17. Alexander v. Wardlow, 908 So. 2d 757 (Miss. Ct. App. 2005) (covenant running with the land supports an HOA lien and remedy for unpaid assessments; cross-verify via courts.ms.gov by docket) ↩
18. Miss. Code § 89-9-17 (declaration of restrictions must be recorded to be enforceable as equitable servitudes); § 89-9-21 (lien perfected by recording a notice of assessment) ↩
19. House Bill 1554, 2025 Regular Session (Rep. Bounds), bring-forward of the Mississippi Nonprofit Corporation Act for possible amendment; did not advance into law and made no change to assessment authority ↩
20. Loblolly Properties LLC v. Le Papillon Homeowner's Ass'n, No. 2021-CA-00767-COA, 2022 WL 4478395 (Miss. Ct. App. Sept. 27, 2022) (later-recorded covenants creating HOA assessment power survive prior deed-of-trust foreclosure); verify by docket on courts.ms.gov ↩
21. Alexander v. Wardlow, 908 So. 2d 757 (Miss. Ct. App. 2005) (implied consent to assessment of HOA dues by covenant running with the land); verify by docket on courts.ms.gov ↩
22. Feola v. Marthouse, No. 2021-CA-01078-COA (Miss. Ct. App. Mar. 28, 2023) (derivative complaint against nonprofit must be verified under Miss. Code § 79-11-193; fee award reversed) ↩
23. Mississippi has not adopted UCIOA; UCIOA-family states control increases through an owner veto on the adopted budget (contrasted with the declaration-driven Mississippi model under Title 89, Chapter 9) ↩