In Mississippi, an ambiguous covenant is construed against the person enforcing it
In Mississippi, an ambiguous covenant is construed against the person enforcing it
2026-09-15 · Mississippi · Courts
Mississippi has no homeowners association statute, so when a covenant fight reaches a chancellor the rules that decide it are judge-made — and the first of them tilts against the association.1
The canon, in the Supreme Court's own words
Kinchen v. Layton, 457 So. 2d 343 (Miss. 1984), states it twice over. First the policy: “The law of this and every other state that we know anything about favors free and unobstructed use of real property.” Then the rule that follows from it: “A logical outgrowth of this public policy has been the established rule of construction that restrictive or protective covenants, where ambiguous, are construed strongly against the person seeking enforcement.”
The sentence later opinions quote most often is older. Kemp v. Lake Serene Property Owners Ass'n, 256 So. 2d 924, 926 (Miss. 1971): “Generally courts do not look with favor on restrictive covenants. Such covenants are subject more or less to a strict construction and in the case of ambiguity, construction is most strongly against the person seeking the restriction and in favor of the person being restricted.”
But clear text is still enforced
Strict construction is a tiebreaker for ambiguity, not a licence to ignore what a covenant plainly says. Andrews v. Lake Serene Property Owners Ass'n, 434 So. 2d 1328, 1331 (Miss. 1983): “clear wording of protective covenants will not be disregarded merely because a use is restricted. So long as prohibition is expressed in unambiguous language, enforcement is available in the courts of this state to persons of proper standing.”
And Schaeffer v. Gatling, 243 Miss. 155, 137 So. 2d 819 (1962) supplies the limit on the limit: covenants “should be fairly and reasonably construed and the language used will be read in the ordinary sense… but the restrictions should not be extended by strained construction.”
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